Chicopee Build

[oldred]

Trust me, this walnut is dry and stable! I have made stock/forearm sets for three 1885 Highwall type rifles, an old Stevens 94 12 gauge shotgun, an 1895 Marlin lever action and a Contender Carbine and that was mostly before the wood had dried as long as it has now. I also have some new Walnut crotch wood that has been drying only 6 months or so and I think at this point it is past the critical checking/cracking stage, at least as long as I leave it where it is for another year at least. This wood has some really nice feather grain with two pieces in particular having heavy feather figure on both sides, I have another SS project in the works and plan to use one of those pieces for that.

Cold1, any time you are ready just send me a PM and the dimensions you want it cut to, the pieces I have in mind are over 6 years dry now and about 3" thick.

[cold1]

Cold1, any time you are ready just send me a PM and the dimensions you want it cut to, the pieces I have in mind are over 6 years dry now and about 3" thick.

Thank you! I will definitely do so!

[44man]

I assumed so but I was somewhat puzzled about the previous poster's concern over the chamber? Most any scratch build is going to use a donor barrel or a barrel blank so strength and/or heat treating is a non-issue. I use Green Mountain raw blanks that are actually little more than a piece of 4140 bar bored and rifled for the given caliber with no contour, breech stub, threading or chambering. These things are a real bargain as they are high quality and dirt cheap, some of them are less than 50 bucks!


BTW, 357 mag is a neat choice for that project and it should make for a nice light&handy rifle, what do you have in mind for wood?

Not the barrel or chamber but what it is screwed into.

[44man]

Trust me, this walnut is dry and stable! I have made stock/forearm sets for three 1885 Highwall type rifles, an old Stevens 94 12 gauge shotgun, an 1895 Marlin lever action and a Contender Carbine and that was mostly before the wood had dried as long as it has now. I also have some new Walnut crotch wood that has been drying only 6 months or so and I think at this point it is past the critical checking/cracking stage, at least as long as I leave it where it is for another year at least. This wood has some really nice feather grain with two pieces in particular having heavy feather figure on both sides, I have another SS project in the works and plan to use one of those pieces for that.

Cold1, any time you are ready just send me a PM and the dimensions you want it cut to, the pieces I have in mind are over 6 years dry now and about 3" thick.

Good man with such an offer, good wood is hard to find. Years ago in Ohio I would get a card from the mill when they opened the kiln. I got curly maple planks cheap. I would inlay and the wood would push it back out so I had to get it back in. I hate to double cut an inlay.
I was always at the Log Cabin, Kindigs. They sold precut, machined stocks to fit. All were warped. Took as much work to fit parts as a slab of wood.
Dan and Wes seen my work and wanted me to make guns for them. Sorry I would lose my butt with the work. This is what I did. Cherry stock from my woods.

[oldred]

Not the barrel or chamber but what it is screwed into.

I believe on the Chicopee that would be 1018, or mild steel, so the strength will remain the same whether it's case hardened for scratch and wear resistance or left as is because mild steels can not be hardened/tempered. A person could use an alloy such 4140 which would be way stronger than 1018 but on a design such as this at the intended pressures it would be a classic case of over-kill. Actually 1018 is a good choice for this rifle since it works easily and will polish up nicely for a good finish and it's plenty strong enough.

[cold1]

Not much to update. I am spending most of my time learning how to use the combo machine and figuring out what gets priority in the money spending department for it. I had to attempt to remake the hammer because I got a little carried away with the file when making the sear notches. I did not have any CRS 1018 left that would work so I used some 1/4 inch hot rolled. It is not the same in thickness, its thicker than the CRS. WHen I went to thin it down, I found out that the vise is not as good as it should be, one side is bang on at the same dimension as the CRS, the other side is about 0.030 thinner.

I am also remaking the receiver section. The original tenon that I cut was 0.005 under sized. If I weld the sides to this tenon,then there is not enough clearance in between for the action to work. Hopefully I can get this sorted out and get back to fitting everything and making progress.

[cold1]

A little video update. Not much progress, just showing some of the "do overs" and a few of the hand tools i have been using.

https://youtu.be/wZCkuXWRwNQ

[cold1]

I didnt realize that i hadnt updated this thread in 3 years. Long story short, i finished the rifle at the beginning of 2020. I chambered it for 38special because i chickened out on the 357Mag. I believe the design can handle it, but my crafstmanship may not.

I have bad eyes so i opted to install a cheap red dot on it instead of irons. I have put around 200 rounds through it and its a great little rifle.

[JM7.7x58]

Great job! Thank you for the update. I intend to build a Chicopee someday, so I follow threads like this one.

Please post updates as your round count goes up regarding any wear or insights you may have.

JM

[Greg]

cold1

the wood, while quite different, is very good to look at. I like it