The Guns and Weapons Thread

[Deacon]

Pretty neat, but the operation all looked normal to me. You called it an m16, he calls it an AR, but theoretically it should be an m4 since it has full auto.

[raptor9k]

Sort of. If we're getting technical it's an AR15 lower with a drop in auto sear and an M4 upper. The absence of a pin directly above the selector eliminates the presence of a traditional M16/M4 auto sear. The M4 was generally safe, semi, burst. The M4A1 is generally safe, semi, auto. I probably spend too much time looking at guns...

[Deacon]

Well, yes, you are correct on all counts. Most people don't get into the M4 variants, just happy enough to know it's an M4.

It looks like they did decent enough research or had a decent consultant advising them.

[raptor9k]

I may just document this process here since it's a weapon. I plan on starting my first knife this week and figured I would take some pictures along the way. This is the sketch I came up with yesterday evening. I plan to make a wooden template this evening to make sure the feel of the handle is correct. I've been wanting a Benchmade Hidden Canyon hunter for a while so I figured, why not just make my own take on it.

[raptor9k]

I've been a little busy this last week but I've actually been working on the knife most evenings. At this point I've transfered the template from paper to 1/4" poplar for durability and to have a rigid template for scribing a line on the steel. The first attempt at a wood template wasn't great because all I had on hand was some 23/32nd plywood left over from making my beveling jig. The outer layers of the ply kept wanting to splinter and peel around the edges as I filed. The next day I picked up some 1/4x2 poplar (actual width 1.5 which is the same as the steel) and recreated the template using a coping saw and files with much better results. I've also cut out the steel blank with a hacksaw and filed it to it's final shape. This step took considerably less time than I thought it would. It's amazing how quickly a double cut bastard file removes annealed steel. I was out of town this weekend but I'll start filing the bevels this evening. I ordered some black linen micarta and 1/4" stainless pin and tube material for the handle scales.

I have a pic of the template but i haven't taken a pic of the steel blank yet.

[Deacon]

Does your poplar template feel satisfying in your hand? Think the balance will be good, too?

[raptor9k]

Yes, I think it's going to be a pretty awesome knife. I'm actually glad I made a template out of the thicker plywood to start because it more closely simulated the thickness of the handle in the hand. I'm pretty happy with the feel. I can play with the balance once I get closer to final form by removing excess metal. Most of the guys I've watched on Youtube drill a series of holes in the tang to lighten the knife overall and create more area for epoxy to bind the scales directly together. I'll snap a pic of the blank before I start filing the bevel this evening and upload it this evening or sometime tomorrow.

[raptor9k]

I didn't get to work on the knife last night because I spent the evening tearing apart my fridge and flushing the condensation drain. I did snap a pic of the blade blank in it's current state. Hopefully, tonight I'll actually get to start filing the bevel. At this point I probably have 3 hours of work in the knife including making both templates. Actually cutting out the blade blank and filing the profile only took about 2 hours total and most of that was hacksaw time.

[Deacon]

Wow, that looks clean.

[raptor9k]

Last night I got both bevels filed in. It took around 50 minutes to do the first one and maybe 40-45 for the next one. One pic shows what it looked like while filing (using layout dye to gauge progress). The other shows an 80 grit finish that I will take down to 150 grit before I heat treat to relieve stress in the metal to prevent cracking during the quench. I still have to do some minor cleanup and true up the plunge lines on the bevel. I want both to hit around the center of the spur in front of the finger choil. The edge of the knife is somewhere between half and 3/4 the thickness of a dime at this point. If you take it any thinner you run a much larger risk of the blade warping in the quench.

Tonight I'll be doing a ton of sanding and minor filing to true up some edges and get the finish up to heat treat readiness. This weekend I'll get some time on my step father's drill press (and maybe a bridgeport mill ) to do the pin holes and lighten up the handle a bit. At this point the knife balances perfectly on the finger choil so I'll try to preserve that as I remove material in the tang to offset the weight of the pins and scales. At this point I'm thinking 1/4" SS tube for both pins and the lanyard hole.

[Rorschach]

drill a series of holes in the tang

[Deacon]

Bae you crazy...

[gunsurfer]

My Remington 870:

[raptor9k]

New project. Have a 16" classic M4 handguard + A2 FSB upper coming in Monday that will get chopped to 12" after I put a few hundred rounds through it.

[Deacon]

You’re doing the machining yourself on that? Even if I had the tools I would feel compelled to shorten it bit by bit to try to get comfortable getting the cuts and crowning right before I ended up at my destination.