Mike McDonald
01-07-2001, 22:51
Okay boys and girls, everybody has been dancing around this subject for quite some time, or bitching about the inaccuracy of the little Ruger, so I decided to take the plunge and see just how well I can get the little Mini to shoot without sending it out to one of the big boys with a thousand dollars taped to the stock.
My objective is to make the Mini shoot as well as my buddie's .243 Savage Model 110 that he got for Christmas and shot sub-MOA out of the box with factory ammo. Stop laughing, everybody needs a goal!!!
I will post everything I do, both the brilliant flashes of genius and retarded boneheaded aw****s.
So far I have gotten a used wooden stock in excellent condition for $30 including shipping from an Ebay auction. Got a new after market plastic hand guard for $12.55 including shipping off of Ebay too. I didn't need to buy the hand guard for this project, but I'm going to camo the stock for coyote hunting, so I didn't want to spray paint my one and only. Bought a Brownell Accuglas Gel glass bedding kit at the local shop for $14.
Since the Mini-14 is first cousin of the M-1 Garand, I bought the NRA publication at a gun show titled "The M-1 Rifle" for $5. It has a section on glass bedding including diagrams and good photos. It also has a section on accurizing the action, but the action doesn't share much in common with the Mini, so it's not too applicable. A section on trigger work is pretty good.
The first thing I did was scratch a line on the stock around the top side of the action and magazine well. After removing everything from the stock I routed the stock inside the scratched lines with a Dremel tool and the smallest carbide burr I had (appx 1/16). I did this based on the information in the M-1 book. The book calls for some rather exact measurements, but I just gouged out the wood and figured the Accuglas would take care of it. The Accuglas will be placed in the voids.
I completely degreased all the metal parts with methel ethel ketone (MEK) from Ace Hardware, so the release agent should have no problems sticking to them. MEK is some nasty stuff, so make sure you have plenty of fresh air. I must admit the thought of gluing the rifle together with epoxy resin is kinda scary.
I plan on using the metal op rod shield in the fore of the stock only during the glassing procedure, then removing it so the barrel free floats. I am using it during the fit up to positively locate the barrel.
Back to work...
Glass bedding mission accomplished. Nothing too exciting, just make sure you follow the directions in the Accuglas kit to the letter or you are going to have a mess on your hands.
Also, if you are not planning on refinishing the stock, you should put masking tape on all the finished wood. The Accuglas resin is the consistancy of cold honey, but it gets on everything when you are working with it. You can remove boo boos with vinegar while it's still tacky, but it's a real pain keeping it out of places you don't want it. Like all over the stock. Rubber gloves are nice too.
The release agent in the kit is some sort of brush on stuff. I swiped a paint brush from the kids modeling equipment to apply it. Thin coats are the order of the day. If you put the agent on too thick, it won't dry. Put a couple of coats on everything metal you don't want the resin to permantly bond to. And I mean everything. If you glue the gun together, it's forever or until you chisel the stock off.
I slathered the resin goop into all the places starting with the magazine well bracket. Don't forget to put some release agent on the two screws that hold it in. Then do the action and trigger assembly. Put it all back together and wait 5-8 hours. I put a little space heater close to the gun to speed things along. I also sat the trigger guard on an upside down coffee cup to put some pressure on the internals. I supported the barrel in a vice so the thing would not flop over. When everything is set up, take a sharp razor knife and carefully trim all the goop away where it's squished out. It's still pretty easy to cut at this point.
I used some left over clear polyurathane paint I had on the shelf to seal all the bare wood on the inside, like the barrel channel and such. Nothing fancy, just put a coat on and go. It's supposed to keep humidity from swelling and shrinking the stock.
After it was all done, the pieces fit like a glove. There is absolutely no slop in anything. The action comes out with some gentle knocks on the barrel with your hand, instead of falling out when you touch it.
I put a Krylon Camo Paint job on the stock and handguard. They are making a Camo paint system with woodland and desert colors. I used kahki for the base color then cut out some stencils from poster board and held them about 1/4 to 1/2 inch off the stock and sprayed with olive drab, black amd brown. Looks really good too. Hope it fools the coyotes.
I hope to go shoot tomorrow. Hopefully it will show some improvement. I will be shooting 55 grain soft nose bullets with 25 grains of H-335 and federal #400 small rifle primers.
After a session of target shooting, the next project will be lapping the gas block on a buddies surface plate and retorquing it with an inch pound torque wrench.
I just happened to pick up a Snap-On in-lb torque wrench last year for 30 bucks! I wondered what I was going to use it for when I bought it.
[
[This message has been edited by Mike McDonald (edited 01-07-2001).]
My objective is to make the Mini shoot as well as my buddie's .243 Savage Model 110 that he got for Christmas and shot sub-MOA out of the box with factory ammo. Stop laughing, everybody needs a goal!!!
I will post everything I do, both the brilliant flashes of genius and retarded boneheaded aw****s.
So far I have gotten a used wooden stock in excellent condition for $30 including shipping from an Ebay auction. Got a new after market plastic hand guard for $12.55 including shipping off of Ebay too. I didn't need to buy the hand guard for this project, but I'm going to camo the stock for coyote hunting, so I didn't want to spray paint my one and only. Bought a Brownell Accuglas Gel glass bedding kit at the local shop for $14.
Since the Mini-14 is first cousin of the M-1 Garand, I bought the NRA publication at a gun show titled "The M-1 Rifle" for $5. It has a section on glass bedding including diagrams and good photos. It also has a section on accurizing the action, but the action doesn't share much in common with the Mini, so it's not too applicable. A section on trigger work is pretty good.
The first thing I did was scratch a line on the stock around the top side of the action and magazine well. After removing everything from the stock I routed the stock inside the scratched lines with a Dremel tool and the smallest carbide burr I had (appx 1/16). I did this based on the information in the M-1 book. The book calls for some rather exact measurements, but I just gouged out the wood and figured the Accuglas would take care of it. The Accuglas will be placed in the voids.
I completely degreased all the metal parts with methel ethel ketone (MEK) from Ace Hardware, so the release agent should have no problems sticking to them. MEK is some nasty stuff, so make sure you have plenty of fresh air. I must admit the thought of gluing the rifle together with epoxy resin is kinda scary.
I plan on using the metal op rod shield in the fore of the stock only during the glassing procedure, then removing it so the barrel free floats. I am using it during the fit up to positively locate the barrel.
Back to work...
Glass bedding mission accomplished. Nothing too exciting, just make sure you follow the directions in the Accuglas kit to the letter or you are going to have a mess on your hands.
Also, if you are not planning on refinishing the stock, you should put masking tape on all the finished wood. The Accuglas resin is the consistancy of cold honey, but it gets on everything when you are working with it. You can remove boo boos with vinegar while it's still tacky, but it's a real pain keeping it out of places you don't want it. Like all over the stock. Rubber gloves are nice too.
The release agent in the kit is some sort of brush on stuff. I swiped a paint brush from the kids modeling equipment to apply it. Thin coats are the order of the day. If you put the agent on too thick, it won't dry. Put a couple of coats on everything metal you don't want the resin to permantly bond to. And I mean everything. If you glue the gun together, it's forever or until you chisel the stock off.
I slathered the resin goop into all the places starting with the magazine well bracket. Don't forget to put some release agent on the two screws that hold it in. Then do the action and trigger assembly. Put it all back together and wait 5-8 hours. I put a little space heater close to the gun to speed things along. I also sat the trigger guard on an upside down coffee cup to put some pressure on the internals. I supported the barrel in a vice so the thing would not flop over. When everything is set up, take a sharp razor knife and carefully trim all the goop away where it's squished out. It's still pretty easy to cut at this point.
I used some left over clear polyurathane paint I had on the shelf to seal all the bare wood on the inside, like the barrel channel and such. Nothing fancy, just put a coat on and go. It's supposed to keep humidity from swelling and shrinking the stock.
After it was all done, the pieces fit like a glove. There is absolutely no slop in anything. The action comes out with some gentle knocks on the barrel with your hand, instead of falling out when you touch it.
I put a Krylon Camo Paint job on the stock and handguard. They are making a Camo paint system with woodland and desert colors. I used kahki for the base color then cut out some stencils from poster board and held them about 1/4 to 1/2 inch off the stock and sprayed with olive drab, black amd brown. Looks really good too. Hope it fools the coyotes.
I hope to go shoot tomorrow. Hopefully it will show some improvement. I will be shooting 55 grain soft nose bullets with 25 grains of H-335 and federal #400 small rifle primers.
After a session of target shooting, the next project will be lapping the gas block on a buddies surface plate and retorquing it with an inch pound torque wrench.
I just happened to pick up a Snap-On in-lb torque wrench last year for 30 bucks! I wondered what I was going to use it for when I bought it.
[
[This message has been edited by Mike McDonald (edited 01-07-2001).]