A fiber laser cutting machine cuts into a metal plate at a gun manufacturing facility. It’s a high-tech sheet metal process.

Sheet Metal Fabrication Techniques for Gun Manufacturers

Sheet metal fabrication plays a crucial role in the creation of high-quality firearms. Understanding the various techniques in this process can help you appreciate the craftsmanship involved. Let’s explore the key sheet metal fabrication techniques for gun manufacturers, focusing on the most important processes.

Blanking

Blanking is the initial step in the sheet metal fabrication process. It involves cutting out the required shape from a sheet of metal, setting the stage for further processing.

Fiberoptic Laser Cutting

Fiberoptic laser cutting is a precise blanking technique. The laser beam can cut intricate patterns and shapes with minimal waste. The precision of fiberoptic laser cutting ensures each component fits perfectly, reducing the need for adjustments and maintaining consistency across batches.

Waterjet Cutting

Waterjet cutting is another effective blanking method. It uses a high-pressure stream of water mixed with abrasive materials to cut through metal sheets. This technique is particularly useful for cutting thick materials without generating heat, which can alter the properties of the metal. Manufacturers use waterjet cutting to handle many materials and thicknesses, making it invaluable in the firearms manufacturing process.

Bending and Forming

After blanking the metal pieces, a manufacturer will shape and form them to create the necessary contours and dimensions. Here are two pieces of machinery for shaping metal sheets:

Folding Machines

Folding machines are essential for creating precise bends in metal sheets. They work by clamping the metal, then lifting and folding it to the desired angle. This method ensures uniformity and accuracy, which are critical for producing reliable firearm components.

Press Units

Press units apply force to shape metal into the required form. These machines can perform a variety of operations, including punching, bending, and embossing. The versatility of press units allows for the creation of unique shapes and designs.

Assembly

After blanking, bending, and forming, the manufacturer must assemble the individual components to create the final product. Here are two common fabrication techniques involved in the assembly process:

Welding

Welding is a fundamental technique in assembly. It involves joining metal parts by melting and fusing them together.

There are various welding methods, including MIG, TIG, and spot welding, with unique advantages and disadvantages. Professional welding ensures the structural integrity and durability of the firearm, which is essential for its safety and performance.

Riveting

Riveting involves joining two pieces of metal by inserting a rivet through a hole and deforming the tail to hold the parts together. Riveting provides a strong and reliable connection for components that experience significant stress and movement.

Finishing

Finishing, the final step, enhances the firearm’s durability and appearance. Finishing techniques include powder coating, anodizing, and electroplating. Powder coating involves applying a dry powder to the metal surface and curing it under heat to create a tough, protective layer.

Anodizing increases corrosion resistance and adds a decorative finish. Electroplating deposits a thin layer of metal onto the surface, improving wear resistance and appearance.

Understanding sheet metal fabrication techniques for gun manufacturers gives insight into the precision and care required in producing high-quality firearms. These techniques highlight the everyday uses of sheet metal and inspire trust in firearm professionals. They can rely on firearms that undergo a rigorous manufacturing process.

5 Tips to Keep your Ruger 10/22 Running Like a Top

5 Tips to Keep your Ruger 10/22 Running Like a Top

5 Tips to Keep your Ruger 10/22 Running Like a Top
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Who doesn’t love a Ruger 10/22?  That are fast, accurate, and beyond fun to shoot.  Nearly everyone has one and many people (like me) have several.  They are very easy guns to operate and maintain.  If you want to get the most out of your 10/22, here are some tips to help!

Keep It Clean

Starting here because it’s a no-brainer but you have to keep it as clean as you can.  This is even more important with newer models than the older ones that were a little more forgiving.  Some modern advancements have made the gun overall safer to use but added complex parts that gather grit.

Additionally, most .22 rounds tend to be extra dirty to shoot and leave a lot of powder fouling.  This is a sure fire way to make your reliable Ruger semi-auto into an inconvenient single shot rifle.

Clean every moving part well and use a quality lube.  I will often take mine outside and use a large can of Rem Oil and flush everything out of it then blow it out with an air compressor before final lube.  Make sure you don’t have to much lube or oil remaining when you do final assembly, it just makes the gun gum up worse.

Use Good Ammo

There are a ton of reasons to use good ammo.  It’s more reliable, it can be more accurate, and sometimes it’s more powerful or potent.  All of those are great reasons to use a quality round made by a good manufacturer.

The best reason to use good ammo is that they are often coated with a thin layer of brass or copper and that thin plating can save you a ton of issues with cleaning later.  With the size of the bore, a .22 rifle barrel can be very hard to clean.

Get Quality Mags

For too many reasons to list here, having extra mags is a really good idea.  The 10 round mag that comes with the Ruger is perfect and used to be very expensive if you wanted a second one.  Now you can get a three pack made by Ruger for around $50.00.  It’s a worthwhile investment.

You are also going to want some bigger mags, trust me on this.  There was a time that Butler Creek made the only decent quality 30 round mag on the market but now that Ruger offers its own BX-25 mags, those are probably preferred.  For one, some Butler Creek mags won’t fit some 10/22s.  I had a lot of trouble with my 10/22 takedown and finding an extended mag.

Whatever you get, stick with the best quality mags.  Factory is preferred but there are a few other companies like Butler Creek that make good stuff.

Don’t be Afraid to Mod

The true beauty of the 10/22 is that with around 5 million of them made, the market for mods is huge.  You can do as little as adding a new scope or trigger all the way up to building a 10/22 that has no parts made by Ruger at all.  Additionally, you can get a stock or a gun that shoots less than a half MOA at 50 yards.

You can make a rifle to emulate an AR-15 and many other popular firearms or just fine tune it to do any job you would ever need.  Add a suppressor for a lot of fun and a great way of taking care of those night time varmints without waking the neighbors.

Some popular mods are a new stock, new trigger, and new barrel.  They are easy to change out and can really improve the function, comfort, and accuracy of your rifle.

Add an Optic

Whether you go with the ever-popular red-dot sights or sup your gun up with a proper scope, this can add so much functionality to an already great rifle.  There are so many tasks that the 10/22 excels at that can be improved with an affordable optic.

I have several different optics on my Rugers ranging from no magnification up to a 20x scope on a heavily modified 10/22 I use for varminting.  There is truly no more fun toy and it makes a superb training gun for youths and first-time shooters.

Of course, you don’t want to just grab any scope where there are quite a few 10/22 scope choices that are perfectly suited for your purposes.

 

No matter what you do with your 10/22, a little time, care, and experimentation can turn it from a somewhat run of the mill gun to something truly outstanding.  Of course, there is nothing wrong with a run of the mill gun if that’s your style but no matter what you do, the tips above will keep your little Ruger running for a lifetime or more!

How to Build a 0% Polymer AR Lower Using a Kit: Is it Worth It?

 

Plastic Fantastic AR-15 IV Lower Build
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I got back into building AR pattern rifles last year and made a couple to meet my personal desires. As always I like pushing the envelop and thought of manufacturing my own lowers for my personal use.

Research into this lead me to cast epoxy lower receivers. I have heard good things about them.  The cost is reasonale.  However,  I do have some reservations to having a plastic rifle.

In the spirit of exploration and trying new things I want to build a plastic fantastic AR-15 and see just how useful a home cast AR lower can be.

Legal Caveat:

I don’t know your state and local laws and I am not a lawyer.

I do know that this is federally legal as long as you don’t build them for commercial purposes or transfer the guns to someone without having serial numbers and proper federal paperwork.

Since this is my gun to never leave my state or my possession it is my right per the Tennessee Firearm Freedom Act to be able to make a legal semi-automatic rifle.  However, there are regulatory restraints within that law as well.

So please watch the Plastic Fantastic AR-15 I Introduction as the first of a 5 part series.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG7NRMyLtXw

 

In this video above I show how I went about molding the lower receiver  using the freedom-15 mold kit. This kit is not hard to put together, and it is a pretty ingenious idea.

It is pretty well documented on their website and the kit comes with instructions.

The only thing I found difficult in the molding process is bending the buffer tube support to fit inside the mold.

It was, without a doubt, the most difficult portion of the process. It is also something that caused blemishes in the final product.

I had places where the metal support touched the side of the mold so that it showed through the epoxy on the side of the finished receiver.

This did not impact the final product in terms of usability, it did hurt the lower cosmetically.

Once again I have my doubts about a plastic AR-15 Lower receiver, but if it works it would be awesome to be able to make my own 100% lowers whenever I want. The price of that is not bad. However, it you are looking at straight cost, there are cheaper ways of getting AR-15 stripped lowers.

 

In part III I focused on Heat Treating the Polymer AR-15. This is am additional step in making the freedom15 lower stronger and is recommended by the manufacturer.

I also compare the finished lowers side by side to show the various shades of black and grey and tell the corresponding numbers of drops of black pigment per lower.

Additionally, I talk about how I broke one of the lowers in the de-molding process and how that happened so you can avoid wasting one of your lowers.

Making these were pretty easy. You can allot about 2 hours per lower, and the company says and one hour and forty five minutes per lower is average.

I took somewhere between the two, but I was closer to 1:45 than 2.

Heat Treating the Polymer AR-15

  • The manufacturer recommends a 12 hour air cure at 70F+ air temps before heat treating the Feedom15 lower receiver.
  • Set a small toaster oven at 135F
  • Insert the lower into the oven so that it sits upright on the mag well
  • Bake for 2 hours.

Heat Treating the Polymer AR-15 is not required…..however the manufacturer states it will make the lower stronger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKL9y7VIJzw

 

This video is a 10 minute instruction on building and AR-15 Lower Receiver. This lower build happens to be on a Freedom15 Polymer lower, so it is a little different.

Building an AR-15 lower is not hard, and can be done with common hand tools in less than 30 minutes, even by a first time builder.

However, building an AR is pretty simple, but sometimes things go wrong and may take a little more to get functioning.

 

 

I took the plastic fantastic to Royal Range for the Polymer AR-15 Test Fire. You may remember I went to Royal Range and did a construction video before they opened.

I did like the range setup a lot, but the rifle did not meet my expectations.

It fired, but would not pick up a second round. At this point I am willing to assume that it is my 1990’s era GI magazines, as they are pretty old and banged up.

My plan is to go get me some new p-mags and try again after working on the gun a little.

Hopefully my next Polymer AR-15 Test Fire will live up to my expectations and I can test the gun until I burn it up.

If I can get 100 rounds out of the gun in a row I will feel like it was a positive test, as some who want an off the books lower would only need it to get a better gun in the event of a total confiscation of weapons. At least that is a thought process of a potential reason to make your own 100% lower.

 

 

Okay I bought new magazines, I cleaned up the gun, and I have brand new ammunition.

As you can see from the video it did not go well. After taking the gun back to the shop I found that the pins walked and elongated the hammer pin hole.

Elongated Pin holes can cause the gun will fire more than one round when the trigger is pulled.  As you can imagine that is dangerous if not anticipated.  Additionally, the BATFE has gotten convictions for the possession of an unregistered machine gun.  They have pursued this on occasion knowing that it was the result of an undesired firearm malfunction.

To keep this from happening again I built up one of the other lowers and too my surprise the upper did not fit.

4 out of 5 of my freedom 15 lowers my upper did not bolt on. I could not find an upper to fit them.

The freedom15 company gave me the story that they have loose and tight US Mil-Spec and they make the lower to the tight spec and I needed to find an upper that was made to loose spec.

That sounded like BS, but I asked them if they knew a “loose specification upper” manufacturer. They could not tell me and I could not find any company that advertised such.

The gunsmiths I talked to thought I was an idiot for asking.

Anyway, to try to salvage it I got some anti-walk pins, but even that did not solve the problem on the original lower.

I rule this entire thing a bust. I know that some have had good results with these lowers, but their customer service showed that they are plastic guys not gun guys and they could not answer specific questions about the AR.

Buying Guide: Best Scope Mounts

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It is very important that you ensure that rifles work as intended.  Owning am expensive rifle does not guaranty accurate shots. Proper quality firearm accessories play a massive role into ensuring that you weapon can give its 100% every time, there are few accessories more vital and essential to a gun than a scope mount.

Today I am posting a guest article to introduce you to the best scope mounts in the opinion of the guest author.

Benefits to using a scope mount:

Let’s start with the most primary benefit which is to actually lock and hold scope in place. A scope doesn’t come in design that lets it attach to the gun itself. So, you obviously need a mount to do that.

With a mount, the scope is securely locked inside the rings of the mount. This keeps the device put in one place no matter how to move and maneuver.

Buying Guide: best scope mounts!

1. Type of scope mount

There are many different types of scope mounts out there in use today. And the most popular choices are either a weaver style mount or a picatinny style mount.

A weaver style mount is the new craze. It has flat rails that have vertical slots and are used with Weaver style rings. These rails run under the rings and click into the crosswise slots in the bases. This is what prevents movement from recoil. A picatinny style mount is pretty identical to weaver style, except is has wider slots.

2. Material

Most scope mounts today are made out of aluminum. But steel mounts are also still in use. For a learner or beginner, we recommend aluminum mounts which is far more lightweight and inexpensive.

Best scope mounts reviews

Modkin High Profile Scope Mount

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The first mount to make it to our list of the best scope mounts is dedicated to everyone out there who is looking for a good quality mount without having to burn a hole through their wallet: the High Profile Scope Mount from Modkin.

The Modkin High Profile Scope Mount is made for scopes with a 1-inch tube diameter on a for picatinny or weaver rail that is of 20mm in size. What’s nice about this scope mount is that it features a hollowed out design between the sbest cope ring and the bottom of the base. This makes releasing super easy and yet, makes for a very tight attachment.

Speaking of which, this mount has just 1 rail clamp screw and 1 scope clamp screw on each side. All you have to do detach it is twist off the nut and you are good! And to ensure that the scope does not scratch or slide due to the impact for the shot fired from the weapon, the Modkin High Profile Scope Mount has a built-in tape in the scope ring. This keeps the scope nice and put even during hard recoil. A great plus for shooters who have 0 seconds to play around with adjusting the scope after a shot. One other thing we really like is that the scope is just 2.1 inch from the rail of your weapon. This makes re-targeting so much easier and quicker. Apart from these, it weighs less than 1.5 ounces and is made from decent quality aluminum alloy. Pretty neat for price.

Speaking of which, who doesn’t love a good deal? The Modkin High Profile Scope Mount comes in a set of 2. That’s twice the value!

Pros:

  • Easy to attach and detach
  • Built-in tape; prevents scratching and sliding
  • Close to the rail
  • Set of 2
  • Includes wrench

Cons:

  • Loosens after a few shots; single screw

Lirisy Dovetail Scope Mount Rings

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If you liked the value-packed nature of our first pick for the best scope mount, but are still looking for something a little more reliable, then look no further than the Lirisy Dovetail Scope Mount Rings.

The Lirisy Dovetail Scope Mount Rings, like the Modkin High Profile Scope Mount, come in a set of 2. Woohoo! This ring however is hands down a little more robust than the former.

The Lirisy Dovetail Scope Mount Ring is made for 11mmdovetail rails for a 1-inch diameter scope. Made out of high quality aluminum, has a 14mm profile and features a tape inside the ring to prevent scratches on your scope as well as hold it tight.

Speaking of which, unlike many mounts which have 1 screw on each side, this scope mount goes on to over 4 screws!

This obviously makes for a more securely held scope with minimal shifting or sliding after shots.

Pros:

  • Very secured and put; 4 screws
  • Built-in tape; prevents scratching and sliding
  • Close to the rail
  • Set of 2
  • Includes wrench

Cons:

  • Poorly designed threads
  • Takes a while to attach and detach

Final words

And that was everything you need to about picking out the best scope mounts! We have put together everything from a comprehensive buying guide to FAQs. But most importantly, we introduced you to detailed review of 5 of the best scope mounts so that you get a better understanding and insight of what goes into making a winner product.
With that, it’s wrap! We hope you found everything you were looking for. Thank you for staying with us. Adios!