L42 Style Build

[tbonesmith]

Hi Guys,

I want to build an L42 style rifle in 308. I have a proofed body, the mag and all the required scraps.

I thought I'd start by fitting the barrel. I sourced a new blank, 1:13" twist to suit 155gn matchkings of the correct profile (approximately). I threaded and chambered the barrel and cut the extractor cutout by hand. That job went well and the chamber looks very nice and she it TIGHT. I will cut the crown and turn down the muzzle to fit a foresight base, which I will bore out to suit and solder on.

I intend to fit No32 scope pads, I have only one set and they are almost too nice to fit to a rifle that I'll sell. It occurs to me to make some from scratch, but that might just be silly... We'll see. The wood will be done next.

Here are today's photos:

Information

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[Salt Flat]

Tbone, This will be an interesting thread to follow. It is very nice to see there are still some old world skilled people out there. Your tooling and equipment are first class. I can appreciate the time and effort it takes to do work at this level--kudos! Salt Flat

[tbonesmith]

Hi Guys,

today I completed the barrel by turning the muzzle down a bit and crowning the muzzle. I also bored out the foresight base to fit. There is a little bit of clearance on it to allow for solder. The foresight base I used was a bit butchered already as it had been on a non-standard barrel before, so rather than duff a standard one I think this will serve its purpose just fine. I will have to put the barrel back in to index the foresight, but this can wait a bit.

Cheers

[tbonesmith]

Hi Guys,

I bought a NOS No4 Mk2 forend a couple of years ago and it was badly warped. Most of this is in the front of the forend, but it is also substantial right at the rear. The question has been asked many times if you can steam bend forends back to straight, and my answer is always "No way", but I have cut most of the warped section out, and I just have to bend one side of the rear part of the forend a bit. If I halved the deflection it would be servicable... maybe. Anyway I'm giving it a run. If it's some of the way there I can heavily relieve the area and glass bed it to eliminate tension, or steam it again and re-try. So if it doesn't work then fine, but if I can get this piece of junk to make an accurate and servicable rifle, all the better.

Cheers!

[tbonesmith]

Hi Guys,

I didn't dream this jig up myself, but copied it from the one pictured and described in Peter Laider's excellent article and instructions (that I'm trying to follow): Milsurps Knowledge Library - Making Up a Useable No.4 Sniper - Part 2 (by Peter Laidler)

I expect it to work well. I still have to machine and attach the main body clamp. It occurs to me that it might be a good idea to attach a piece steel along where the base of the receiver will sit on the jig, ajdacent to the main body clamp. The reason for this is that I intend to machine the side of the receiver for the pads on this fixture, and it would be good to have the receiver indexed to the jig, so if the vice if aligned to the X-axis of the mill, then so is the base of the body and presumably to bolt way axis and the axis of the bore.

Anyway that's one for tomorrow, here are the pics:

[xa-coupe]

This is the part I am watching closely. I have my own L42 clone in progress and am leery of drilling into the receiver unless I am 100000% sure it will be correct

[tbonesmith]

Me too, hence the jig.

[tbonesmith]

Hi Guys,

I completed the jig this afternoon and the body aligned perfectly with the X-axis of the mill.

In order to get the pad to sit flat I machined the area of the front pad. Thank heavens for the DRO! I only took about 0.2mm to clean/level the area and remove that little hump at the front. I had to file the bevel on the top of the receiver a bit at the front, as this was a bit raised too.

I have lock-tite'd the pad in place for now and will drill and tap for the front mounting screws tomorrow if I can find some time.

I'm happy there were no dramas with this little operation. Thankyou Peter for the Good-Oil on the jig.

[xa-coupe]

It does take the guesswork out of it. I'll be interested to see how much ( if any ) you need to add to the pads to make them align properly.

[tbonesmith]

Hi Guys,

Today I drilled and tapped the front pad in place, and then fitted the rear pad.

It was a pretty fussy little job, and I had to machine about 0.5mm off the back of the rear pad and do lot of file fitting of the pad, to affect elevation. After a couple of tries bore sighting the rifle is now perfectly collimated with the scope and bracket I have. As described in Peter Laidler's article: Milsurps Knowledge Library - Making Up a Useable No.4 Sniper - Part 3 (by Peter Laidler) I have soft soldered the pad in place and it is now ready to drill and tap, but I don't have 1/4BSF tap! Pretty dopey of me, but a mate is kindly going to lend me one.

By the way, the forend looks like a go'er, it wouldn't surprise me if it doesn't pan out somehow but at this stage it looks okay.