Fun with Frank dehaas

[redneck1]

More then a few people have this crazy notion that you need a shop full of machine tools and a huge assortment of hand tools to build a rifle .

They are wrong !

I used to have this same misguided notion myself , then I found a frank dehaas book Mr singles shots book of rifle plans .

So here is my rendition in progress ... made with a very bare minimum of tools .

A general Hodge podge of parts in the rough .

Attachment 194107

And all of the major components in the beginning stages of being fitted together ... about 35-40 hours of labor at this point .

The trigger guard is backwards . I somehow missed that when I took the picture .

Attachment 194108
Attachment 194109

Progress will be slow for a week or two , I need to gather up some funds for a few things I still need ... along with a barrel .

[Texas by God]

I'm watching this with interest!

[joatmon]

Looking good, have you picked a cartridge yet?
Aaron

[redneck1]

If I buy a new barrel it will be a 25-20 , otherwise I am pretty open minded if I find a deal on a barrel .

Before I can permanently weld the reciever sides to the reciever ring I'll need to fit a barrel , but I have quite a bit I can get done before I have to worry about it .

[smokeywolf]

Promises to be a fascinating thread.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Whoa, hoss! Let's start at the beginning of the project. Where did you acquire the steel? What grade (alloy) is it? What form did it come in (like 1/4" thick plate)? How did you derive the dimensions for the parts--did De Haas give measurements or a pattern or both? How did you cut out the parts to the forms we see in your original photos? (Looks like layout fluid on one part). The best instructive threads start at the very beginning.

[nekshot]

Whoa, hoss! Let's start at the beginning of the project. Where did you acquire the steel? What grade (alloy) is it? What form did it come in (like 1/4" thick plate)? How did you derive the dimensions for the parts--did De Haas give measurements or a pattern or both? How did you cut out the parts to the forms we see in your original photos? (Looks like layout fluid on one part). The best instructive threads start at the very beginning.

DeHass has a book with this action all laid out. I got that book about 17 years ago and haven't been the same since. Shame we cannot put the book with this build. Looks like alot of fun this summer!!

[cold1]

More then a few people have this crazy notion that you need a shop full of machine tools and a huge assortment of hand tools to build a rifle .

They are wrong !

I used to have this same misguided notion myself , then I found a frank dehaas book Mr singles shots book of rifle plans .

So here is my rendition in progress ... made with a very bare minimum of tools .

YEAH!!!!! Another one. I am watching with great interest.

[Jedman]

nekshot, PM sent. This is a project of interest to myself as well !
Please keep us informed on your progress.

Thanks, Jedman

[redneck1]

You'll have to forgive me , I started this on another forum . Unfortunately I found out a few disturbing things about the forum ownership and packed up my project and left .

Soo... from the beginning .

Materials , everything but the breech face is made from 1018 cold rolled stock . And the breech face is 01 tool steel .

The receiver ring that the barrel screws into was turned out of 1-3/8
Round stock .
I started by squaring up the ends and then boring the piece out to .680 and then I threaded it halfway 3/4-16
After boring and threading I turned the piece sideways in my four jaw Chuck and cut the flat surfaces seen in the picture below .

That was the easy part , then using an angle grinder , square and a file I cut the two slots for the reciever sides . As soon as I got this far a friend offered the use of his shaper , so I took advantage of that and whipped out two more of these for future endeavors .

Attachment 194161

Next up was the reciever sides ... these will be welded to the reciever ring . Material is 3/16 crs. Tools used , hacksaw and file .

Attachment 194162

Then came the breech block , material used is 1/4 crs
These have quite a bit of work in them aside from the effort it takes to hacksaw them out . Once I had the basic shape cut out the first challenge was to cut the radius on the one end
Attachment 194163

I did this by using my lathe and face plate in one very shaky set up .
Sorry about the poor pic , the set up would have been less dubious if I owned a clamping kit , but I got it done .
Attachment 194164

Once I got done sweating that , it was a few hours work to square the breech block up to the reciever ring .

Next job was the two support shoulders for the breech block , this would have been easy if I had a bigger lathe . But alas I didn't have enough swing to do these on the faceplate so it was file , sandpaper and Prussian blue to fit them to the breech block

Attachment 194165

More to come once I eat dinner

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Great! Very good explanation and photos. Now those who do not have the book (I do!) will have a better understanding of how to do this.

[smokeywolf]

redneck1,
Can you be more specific as to what machine tools you might use and already have used in this build?

[redneck1]

That's easy ... the only machine tool you need to own or have access to is a lathe . You need it to bore the reciever ring and do the barrels shank .

Everything else is hand tool eligible .

[redneck1]

So next up we have the breech face and firing pin block ,
The breech face will get a 6-40 screw to attach the breech face .
And then both will be pinned to the breech blocks .

Attachment 194166

And to give prospective to how things fit together.

Attachment 194167

Obvious from the pile of parts pictured above I am a little further along then this , but up till this point most of the work has been just cutting out parts , now I am at the point where it is time to start fitting things together and making it work ... i.e. the hard part .
So I'll start going into actual detail with my progress .

Uhmm lets try to get the pics right side up.

Attachment 194168
Attachment 194169

[Blackwater]

Gee whiz, Redneck! I have to many semi-finished projects laying around now, and now THIS???? Have mercy! I've long thought that I'd love to build my own action. A buddy once told me I'd make my own air if I could! (sigh) It never ends, does it?

[rancher1913]

thanks for posting this, don't know that I will ever be brave enough to try this but it is fascinating to see your progress.

[redneck1]

Don't be bashful about starting one , the worst that can happen is you screw up and have to make a new part .

The book doesn't give a lot of dimensions , before I started I found that to be quite intimidating. As I go along I find it does a good job of making things easier . It allows you to make changes as you please . And leaves a lot of room to make part A fit with part B

As to to many projects .... what would you do if you ever finished them all anyways .

If you can read / follow directions and have access to a lathe ... you can build this !

[TCLouis]

32-20, 32 S&W Long, 327 Federal seems like the perfect fall back if 25-20 falls through

[nekshot]

if you start and get spooked it would be simple to go 22lr with a Ruder 1022 barrel. Just get the firing pin at the right place. Thats what I like about this build if you mess up you did not lose a whole lot of sweat to get it right. I never cut up my book but I thought the drawings were to scale and could be traced? I need to dig that book out again.

[redneck1]

The drawings are to scale in the book , if you have the book .
It's been out of print for quite awhile now . But finding a pdf version to download is pretty easy .

Caliber , I am most definitely sticking with a center fire.
25-20 is my first choice , but I've run into some financial constraints
With some unexpected bills . So I am not going to get stuck on one caliber in case I find a cheap barrel somewhere once I have some cash to spend .

Moving on , last night was date night with the girlfriend, but after dinner I plan on going out and spending a couple hours working on something, not 100% sure what yet , I'm at the point now where the book calls for a barrel to already be fitted so I can weld the reciever sides to the reciever ring .
But I believe I can cheat a bit by just tack welding and starting to fit things .
Either way , something's getting done