Installing that pesky barrel band sight ramp

[John P.]

I have installed about 10 barrel band front ramps in the past. Sort of a juggling job, as I always silver solder the ramp to the barrel. Alignment was by eye. Must be a better way to have the top surface parallel to the base of the action!

So I pulled scrap from the junk boxes and went to work.

The V Blocks have a 3/4" dia round bar stock extending into the base blocks. An allen setscrew from the side into the base blocks secures the height of the V-Blocks. Bolt the receiver to the main block (which is bolted to the base plate) loosen the set screws in the base blocks, raise the V-Blocks up to the barrel. Tighten the base block set screws, then tighten the clamps across the top of the barrel.

Align the ramp with the two squares below. The solder area is fluxed before slipping the ramp on.

The pad for the bottom square is bolted to the round spacer, which is bolted to the base plate. All mating areas are machined.

The base plate is machined on the bottom so I can use the jig on the vertical milling machine table for drilling and tapping.


I fit the band this way prior to soldering:

I leave about 0.003" to 0.005" clearance for the silver solder to flow.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Very cool, do show the final product.

 

[John P.]

The rifle is a 9.3x62. I have not final fitted the barrel yet. Might take a touch with the chamber reamer, which I ordered from Pacific Tool & Gauge some 6 months ago. It now resides in my tool chest.

 

[Shootist43]

You need to patent this idea and market it through Brownell. Simple, straight forward and accurate.

 

[John P.]

.Brownells sells a similar unit made by Forester. Not as long as mine, the barrel overhangs 10 inches or so. Years ago there was a jig called the Billy Best, it looked like the Forrester but larger. Was also sold by Brownells. Both were marketed as a drilling & tapping jig.

 

[Shootist43]

Sorry for the "blunder" I'm a retired engineer not a gunsmith. Your "jig" looked very robust yet was very simple hence my comment. I apologize to those of you who were aware of similar previous efforts and or offerings.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

So I pulled scrap from the junk boxes and went to work.

Your scrap from the junk boxes looks like some pretty good stuff! Thanks for sharing, very interesting.

 

[John P.]

Sorry for the "blunder" I'm a retired engineer not a gunsmith. Your "jig" looked very robust yet was very simple hence my comment. I apologize to those of you who were aware of similar previous efforts and or offerings.

No problem, if I were few years younger I would redesign the unit and market it, but at 70 years old I can barely keep up with my personal projects! As the jig is now I consider it a prototype. An aluminum cast base with integral bosses for the V-blocks would be simpler to machine.

The problem with the Forester jig is it is a drilling and tapping jig, is not long enough for leveling a front band and does not have a pad for the squares.

 

[John P.]

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Your scrap from the junk boxes looks like some pretty good stuff! Thanks for sharing, very interesting.

As we machinists say, "Happiness is a big scrap box full of material". I have been in the machining world since I was a young teenager, I am now 70. Over the years I managed to stock up my back yard shop with machinery and materials for those retirement years projects.

 

[Shootist43]

Your shop looks like my basement. The lathes, mill, grinders etc. all belonged to my father that passed away in Dec. of 2015. I finally found a fellow shooter that is going to buy all of it. If I knew how to use the stuff it would be different so moving it out is going to be a win, win for both of us. We scraped about 4 tons of metal just to be able to get our stuff into the house. I could not bring myself to scrap the machines and the tooling he had to go with them. About the only thing that I see in your shop that he didn't have was the profiler.

 

[MartyJ]

All, very nice and very interesting. But for all that, that is why I go to a gunsmith.
I do like the caliber of project rifle. The 9.3x62 has become a favorite of mine.

Sent from my SM-G930T using AfricaHunting mobile app

 

[PLM]

I like that jig. Your shop is awesome.

 

[GuttormG]

Really interesting stuff! Thanks for sharing☺
Hope you post more tricks and tips.