First Custom Rifle Build Page 4
Marlin Action
Green Mountain Barrel
Caliber 17 Fireball

June 10th, 2015

At the end of page 3, 2 weeks ago, I had cut the chamber and was basically ready to thread the shank.

There exists this Pythagorean theorem that says something like A+B=C which translates to "Here is how to screw up a threading job".

But seriously, I thought I had it figured out. I was wrong. So when I ordered a second barrel from Green Mountain I was both anxious and nauseated.

If you are not familiar with lathes, the actual cutting tool is mounted on a compound slide which is mounted on a cross slide. Cross slide is exactly as it sounds. It only moves across the lathe perpendicular to your work and it can travel the full length of the lathe bed. The compound slide, sitting on top of the cross slide can swivel to any angle you need in relation to the work and it travels in the direction of the angle chosen.

In order to cut standard threads, which are generally 60 degrees, the compound is set to 30 degrees. Unless you fail to understand the compound, it should be pretty painless. Needless to say, I did not have the concept down, had the angle set wrong and completely destroyed the threads that were cut on the first pass when I moved the compound IN for the second pass.

All is not lost, I can use the barrel later on a different project but there was not enough meat left on the shank to cut new threads and still have it fit the Marlin receiver.

Before I even ordered the second barrel, I had to figure out how I screwed up the first one and then practice. The second barrel has arrived. It has been contoured and I am nearly finished polishing the newly cut contour. I left enough length in the shank that if I screw it up again, I can cut it off and start fresh once.

So as I write this, the barrel is still 27 inches long with 1.5 inches to be sacrificed in the lathe chuck while I cut the chamber and threads. All I have to do is take a deep breath and start cutting.

The laminate stock arrived today from Boyd's Gun Stocks so now I am a little more excited about getting it finished. I ordered the stock as if I had a factory pencil barrel so that I can custom fit it to my contour. I figure that shouldn't take more than 20 or 30 hours of sanding.

Bill

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