The Home Machinist!

I was trying to think of some gunsmithing or reloading projects to help me practice and develope my lathe skills. I had considered some chamber gauges but was cautioned on another board by a skilled rifle builder that it would be difficult to establish the datum line without specialized drawings and instruments.
So, I'm in search of another project or two. I was thinking of case length gauges but I'm stumped from there. There are more simple ways of measuring case length but remember, I'm after a project, not necessarily the best way of making that item. Any help will be appreciated!

TIA,
Chiz

EDIT I thought that this might be helpful: Enco 9 x 20, spindle through hole is shy of 7/8 (real machinest accuracy there, huh!)

You could make some muzzle brakes, many different designs. Aluminum blocks bored to sizes to accomodate different barrel profiles, then split, to use when removing actions from barrels.
Small bushings, flat on one end, coned on the other end with angle to match shoulder angle of specific cartridges. These allow you to measure the amount of "bump" when resizing brass.
Make some aluminum and/or stainless pillars for pillar beddinig.
Aluminum or brass funnels with the i.d. of the tube matched to case neck o.d. are real neat when reloading.

That should keep you busy until lunch time. By then, others will have come up with a number of additional projects.

The stuff I have made on a lathe for gunsmithing:
Spider
Barrel vise [bore the 1.5" hole between 2x2 held apart with shim]
Draw bar for collets
Mandrel for truing receivers
pillars for pillar bedding
gas piston [922 compliant US made part]
Cut threads on barrel
Cut chamber on barrel
Cut forcing cone on barrel
Cut crown

Make a cannon. Always a handy item to have around.

See gbocannons.com for cannon info.

You could give this a try.

Take a piece of muzzleloading barrel that has been cut off... or take a piece of cold rolled and drill/ream it out... and install a breechplug (hardened bolt) in one end... bore the breech plug out so that you have the minimum thickness you need to install the nipple and inlet into a piece of wood.

If you study the plan you will see that there is a 'plate' between the bolt and the breech end of the barrel. The bottom extrusion of the 'plate' is a recoil lug and the top extrusion is the rear sight.

Create the hammer and trigger out of plate... the triggerguard out of brass... the spring out of spring stock and assemble. Requires one spring for the mainspring and one spring for the trigger return. The design is all there and you can see that it is a straight line muzzle loader... with only 4 working parts.

Make a paper pattern (full scale) to get the actual measurements and pin relationships so that the hammer will hit the nipple flush. There is no way for me to know what diameter your barrel will be in the round or, if you choose, across the flats.

how about a reloading die? I am thionking about trying to make a 45-70 trim die . and the reamer .

I turn my brass necks on the lathe . First make a mandel for the inside of the case necks (w/ tapered end) . Next get a ram from a reloading press cut to desired length and turn down the end to fit a drill chuck in the tailstock . Now just insert the proper shell holder in the ram ....
Use the tailstock to push the case neck onto the mandrel then back off alittle and the case will rotate freely in the shell holder . No spinning the neck on a mandrel like the high dollar sinclair cutter . I honestly believe this is important in accuracy . Yes , I'm a bench nut .
I'm currently shooting a 6.5 WSSM . Next build will be a 30 WSSM .

Steve S

Hey folks, I just wanted to apologize for abandoning this thread. I've had some pretty tough health issues and just haven't been online much. I liked the suggestions. I wish this lathe had a spindle opening of at least an inch. The larger calibers - more than 22 lr - just don't fit. I'm pretty darn green to be trying to cut chambers but that's a dream of mine.

Thanks again and what the heck, it's a good thread for beginning machinests to make something useful for their hobby.

Here is a simple but a demanding one.

Make a shotgun choke guage. 12 through .410 as a single piece with choke designations for each guage step. Bronze or hard brass is recommended.
This is not as simple as it may appear.

Galazan makes one that you could probably improve upon.

I had fun making some muzzle brakes for my AR-15... The only extra expense was for a 1/2-28 tap.



Here I have the lathe turned off and in low gear, using it as a vice. The tailstock is holding the tap in perfect alignment as I turn it by hand.



Click the image to see it full-size.

Golf Ball caliber mortar. It's on the project list!!