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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,162
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,162 |
Mickey lived about an hour from here and I visited him a couple of times-- he was a gentleman. He did some bedding work for me back before I started building my own guns and, candidly, it wasn't his best work-- this was near the end of his life and I'll blame his macular disease. I'm sure his earlier rifles were great. As for chambering, I use the method described by William Hambly-Clark in his excellent book, Centerfire Rifle Accuracy. It involves holding the breech end in the 4-jaw by a set of gimbals, allowing the bore to be indicated over the length of the chamber. Robert Gradous uses a similar method, but with a different gimbal design. I'm not going to argue with anyone on whether it is the "best" method but my results with it have been excellent in terms of accuracy.
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Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 10,345
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 10,345 |
Mickey lived about an hour from here and I visited him a couple of times-- he was a gentleman. He did some bedding work for me back before I started building my own guns and, candidly, it wasn't his best work-- this was near the end of his life and I'll blame his macular disease. I'm sure his earlier rifles were great. As for chambering, I use the method described by William Hambly-Clark in his excellent book, Centerfire Rifle Accuracy. It involves holding the breech end in the 4-jaw by a set of gimbals, allowing the bore to be indicated over the length of the chamber. Robert Gradous uses a similar method, but with a different gimbal design. I'm not going to argue with anyone on whether it is the "best" method but my results with it have been excellent in terms of accuracy. I have a few buddies that hold their barrels in a similar way. They do excellent work. Mr. Hambly-Clark's book is excellent.
Last edited by butchlambert1; 01/21/20.
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 16,971
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 16,971 |
Woodhits,
Cool shims - are those steel ?
Unfortunately I don’t think a lot of people knew when Mickey was really sick, some guys were getting pissed off that he wasn’t responding.... when they just didn’t know.
Last edited by Spotshooter; 01/20/20.
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,162
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,162 |
Woodhits,
Cool shims - are those steel ?
Unfortunately I don’t think a lot of people knew when Mickey was really sick, some guys were getting pissed off that he wasn’t responding.... when they just didn’t know.
Shims are 3/8" 0-1, milled in half. I also had the lathe jaws milled with a 3/8" ball end mill to provide a pocket for the gimbals.
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 16,971
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 16,971 |
That is a pretty cool Idea...
I did the brass tip screws on the spider thing which works well because it’s a soft / sticky (holds well) contact point with the barrel, and am using aluminum shims on the chuck side. I’m been experimenting with pivotal surfaces but the softer metal is not condusive (it will pass metal plasticity and dis form) to maintaining a pivotal joint.
HOWEVER... if I took your approach and created a soft surface between your pivot and the barrel - say by putting in an permanent aluminum shim ..by creating a small dovetail like channel on the flat of your drill rod, and then insert the shim and stake the ends... I would have the best of both worlds.
A strong pivotal surface that is hard, and a nice soft sticky barrel contact... NICE...
Thanks for sharing that...
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,162
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,162 |
Glad you found it helpful. It takes some getting used to but it works.
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 16,971
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 16,971 |
I’d still want some way to handle it from outside of the chuck, I don’t think there is any perfect way, but each one has its own virtues.
A lot of us are always trying to improve methods to get the best stress free barrel dial in as possible.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 7,478
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 7,478 |
I have 9 rifles done by Mickey. Every single one is a sub-moa rifle.
To anger a conservative, lie to him. To annoy a liberal, tell him the truth.
Promoted to Turdlike status 03/17/12
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 3,757
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 3,757 |
Just like every other Kult following on the Fire.....it's a sacrilege to speak against the norm.
Asked him to rebarrel a 7mm Rem Mag into 300 Ultra. He did. I got it back. Couldn't even get a round into the magazine, as the feed rails were never opened up. He flat out refused to take it back and correct it. Sent it to Montour County Rifles. That clown soaked me $80 shipping and sent me the same barreled action back that would not load or feed.
Same with me, BUT he built an entire rifle that was all out of wack when I got it. I named it ScarFace being FIVE gunsmiths had to work on it. This was my very first custom build, and at that time my sound knowledge of really good smiths wasn't known. Got one now and he's(GRADOUS) all I fool with EXCLUSIVELY.
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