The 1377 Project, The Buttstock, Part 9

This will be the last 1377 post for a while, I want to move on to other subjects while I mull over what needs to be completed in the conversion.

I need a knurled screw for the stock slider lock. Drilling for a press fit on a #8 SHCS.

Knurling.

Cutting a shoulder.

Parting off.

Ready to press onto a screw.

Pressing matters.

Here it is with the stock retracted.

And the stock extended.

I need to learn how to take better pictures of rifles, when I get closer to being completely done I'll take some larger shots...

All that's left is maybe some new grips, some sort of sight although I may just keep the red dot sight, maybe a brass safety button, and some finishing on the aluminum bits. I don't know if I'll anodize, paint or just polish/finish the bare aluminum. We'll see. I also need to take some of the slop out of the pump linkage, it's a bit wiggly.

All that remains of the original 1377 is the grip frame, pump linkage, safety, sear, trigger, tube, grips (more or less, these came off of a 2300), hammer and hammer spring. This has certainly been a fun first modification project.

The 1377 Project, The Buttstock, Part 8

Will it be done soon?

Centering the 6" rotary table under the Taig mill spindle.

A stop set against a stack of gage blocks.

The spindle moved over for a .75" radius.

The butt blank aligned with a vernier depth gage. I didn't need it perfect as I was going to cut a little larger than an exact .75 radius to leave some room for sanding.

Keeping with the imprecision, two Mighty Mag magnets are used to make a channel that the butt part fits in.

Halfway down the part.

The radius done. You can see a shim sticking out in the center, that's to keep from milling the surface of the rotary table.

The other end getting clamped up.

All four radiuses done. Next is sanding, blending and deburring.

Short Wednesday Ramble

A friendly airgunner sold me the puzzle below:

The top bits are most if not all of a Crosman 120 pump rifle, and the bits below are some of the parts of a Crosman 101 rifle. I'm not sure what is missing, and I don't have a good idea how to put everything back together, but it'll make for some interesting times in the shop.

I think I'll tackle it after I disassemble and fix (or rather hopefully fix) the Benjamin 317.
I have a couple more posts about the Crosman 1377 buttstock before that.

First thing is to clean up the shop...it's a total wreck.

The 1377 Project, The Buttstock, Part 7

Almost done...

I flycut the flat surfaces.

And milled a 1/4" slot all the way through, with a 3/8" shoulder.

I clamped the two pieces together in the vise and flycut the edges. This was a bit easier than milling both pieces to the same width separately.

Hey, it's an edgefinder pic! Finding the centerline on the other piece.

I spotted and then drilled for a #8 screw.

A piece of 1/2" steel rod was chucked, faced, centerdrilled and drilled for a #8-32 tap.

Tapping on the lathe (by hand) using the Fisher tap guide.

A 1/4" section was turned down.

Cutting 3/8" wide flats on the rod.

Parting off the nut.

The two piece butt. Adjustable up and down and lockable.

Just need to trim that screw, debur and round over the ends of the butt plate. Right now you could cut your face open on it...

The 1377 Project, The Buttstock, Part 6

This project is a bit involved, isn't it?

I finally get some use out of my Barker horizontal mill.

A nice series of rather coarse vee grooves.

Next time I'll make them half as deep and spaced half as much apart, but for now this is great.

Taking off the sharp tops with a flycutter. This will allow some clearance for any schmutz that gets between the two pieces.

Trimming the ends.

Spotting for the mounting holes.

Drilling one hole...

And the other...

Counterboring for the #8-32 mounting screws.

25% done, and it fits on the stock.

A Quick Job, Daisy 777 Elevation Nut

Rick on the Vintage Airgun forum picked up a Daisy 777 the other day, but it was missing the (unavailable) elevation nut. So Grant in New Zealand measured his and made a sketch of the dimensions, then I made one in about 25 minutes. Sorry about the picture quality, but I was rushing...but it was nice to help out those who have been so helpful in the past. Read the whole post, it's interesting.

Turning the shoulder.

I used the parting tool to create some clearance so I could get the caliper in to measure the other shoulder diameter. Then I drilled for a #6-40 thread.

Tapping the #6-40 thread.

Ready to knurl.

I broke the edges after knurling.

Using a pointed centerfinder to determine center. I just used my fingernail to make sure it was lined up, not a high tolerance setup...

Cutting the elevation detents with a 1/32" ball end mill.

Done...

The grooves ended up being off a bit as once again I forgot how to read the stupid Sherline rotary table dial. But hey, he's happy with the part and the gun is now complete.

"30" actually means 30 tenths of a degree, or 3 degrees. Why not just make the handwheel say "3"? I have now written the proper markings with a sharpie on the dial. Of course it's really my fault for not remembering since the last time I made this mistake...