Category Archives: DIY

Speed Cycling and reliability mod for Baikal MP-153

There is always that one particular brand, type or batch of shotgun ammunition that does not work with semiauto shotguns. Some shotguns are more picky than others and even same shotgun models some individual guns cycle same ammunition that other guns struggle with.

For DIY person it’s tempting to fix this uncertainty. Naturally lapping the bolt carrier rails, polishing all metal-to-metal contacts will help the gun to cycle. With gas operated shotguns drilling gas ports slightly larger might also help.

After doing all above I still found that there exists ammunition that does not cycle reliably with my Baikal MP-153.  Mostly really old 24g skeet and trap ammunition. Some may ask that why bother? Those asking that question don’t get the tickling sensation when fixing something makes things better.

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Phillips head screw mod to roller cam pin

Some time ago I acquired a roller cam pin to my AR-15. Gas key had to be machined to match the new round cam pin, but that was not an issue as I had planned to give my bolt carrier some diet in a form of tender milling from my trusted gunsmith. (Final weight for bolt carrier is 173 g.)

My roller cam pin had one problem though. The screw that was supposed to hold the brass roller in place had a tendency to loosen up and then jamming itself against gas key.

talvi_sra_2016_IMG_3694_bulging_roller-cam-pin
Roller cam pin screw loosen up and hitting gas key. Effectively preventing bolt from opening.

Original screw was completely flat, without any screw drives. I did not had adequate tools and strong enough thread lock to hold the screw in tightly.

roller_orig

I contacted the roller cam pin manufacturer and they offered to fix it for me. They apparently have some adhesive to semi-permanently attach the screw to rest of the cam pin.
I, being more of an DIY-guy, opted to fix the roller cam pin myself.
After two iterations I was finally happy with the solution.

ph2rollerr
Custom made phillips head screw for roller cam pin.

It may not be the best possible steel strength for this particular application, but the brass roller leans against small bulge in the cam pin, so the screw don’t have to take any force coming from side. It just has to hold the roller in place and avoid any contact with gas key.

luisti

Time: 1 hour
Tools used: one random M4 screw, hand-file, cordless drill, hacksaw, PH2 head screwdriver and “Extra hard thread lock”

DIY Shell Prepper

Shotgun Slug and Buckshots have nasty tendency to cost much more than most smaller shotsize ammunition. This has driven many shooters to seek cheaper ways to achieve Slugshots by modifying birdshots or using the birdshot cartridge as a base and just changing the shots to slug.

I came up this brilliant idea of a shotgun shell prepper from Youtube user Mountain Storm . All credits to him for the idea.

Shell Prepper will cut the star crimp away leaving a small rim which will act as the crimp to hold the wad and slugshot in place.

Without further ado – DIY Shell Prepper v.1.0

DIY Shell Prepper

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Fixing bugs in Nextorch WL10

Nextorch WL10 is a reasonably priced, bright and light weapon light with rail mount.

I don’t go to details about the lamp itself, please refer this review http://www.laymanslights.venturous.org/blog/2013/09/nextorch-wl10/

The issues with the lamp are:

  • The switch can toggle (turn ON / OFF) from recoil (or simulated recoil by slapping)
  • Sometimes the power switch doesn’t click, i.e. the lamps work only as push activated, not toggled on

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Light Mount to Special EDCE

The year turns to time with less light which means some SRA competitions in the dark w/ weapon lights.

I have currently shot mostly with my custom 2011, Special EDCE, but my only pistol with a light mount is CZ Shadow.

As we all know, xx11 pistols have different grip angle than CZ, which is a problem as currently my wrists tend to turn to xx11 angle, so in the dark when you can’t properly see, the CZ points upwards if the wrists are not adjusted.

So set to enable mounting my pistol light (Nextorch WL10) to the Special EDCE. The options were to attach or machine some rail. We went with the latter.

Here are few pictures of the process:

nextorch_light_profile
measuring the mounting profile on Nextorch WL10
Milling the mount to dust cover
Milling the mount to dust cover
Finished mount
Finished mount
End product
End product

Unfortunately the dust cover does not have very much structural strength so we had to make some compromises which makes this a custom fitting between the gun and the lamp in question. So the result is not an actual picatinny/weaver rail, only similar to.

IPSC Semi Auto Open Division Rifle Build

Last season (2014) I decided to try shooting in Open Rifle Division and started more detailed specification (i.e. spreadsheet) on will be in the rifle.

Initial specs were pretty simple with at least 15 inch free float and 1-6x variable scope, but soon came more complicated. First I was thinking about a carbon float but with some insights from an experienced gunsmith and thorough browsing through the web I came to conclusion that a slim keymod float would be the choice:  keymod is mostly holes –> light, but enables accessories and slim profile (1½”) gives better grip and adds to lightness, still being stiff enough. At the moment I couldn’t find many ways to acquire 15+ inch slim keymods to Finland so I went with Leapers UTG in FDE and thus started acquiring also the magpul parts in FDE.

I had grown fond of Magpul MIAD grip (with the largest back piece) in my two other rifles (Standard and Minirifle) so that was the obvious choice for this build too. The A2 stock was also a little clumsy on some specific stages and adjustable stock would have had it’s place. I was wondering between Commercial- or MilSpec, when I found out that Commercial stock can be extended further than the MilSpec enabling a setting for proper eye-relief in both prone and standing positions as head is usually on more forward position on prone and some other specific shooting positions (more about this on a later post). Combined with a proper pull length for my physique/shooting style, the longer setting has its place (at least when shooting with t-shirt instead of plate carrier which would add to the pull length). So the stock was selected to be Magpul CTR Commercial Spec.

Status of the Open Division build with standard division rifle for scale
First parts have arrived! (current standard division rifle for scale)

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Tuning unused USGI Magazines

I recently acquired some USGI style magazines. The magazines were Brownells branded and “3rd generation” (light brown colored and non-tilting follower). One note about the followers was that the “top round” bulge is on the other side than in magpuls and my previous usgi magazines (gen1 and gen2)

I ran into some problems while test firing the magazines in my tuned competition rifle: the action made some rounds stood up and collision to inside corner of the barrel extions and bolt slipped to the rim. This of course happened on stage 2 in a small weekly competition ( http://youtu.be/ISoByoDOwyY?t=16s )

jam with un-modified and un-used usgi mags
jam with unmodified and unused USGI mags

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NEA15-22 part VIII – A functioning minirifle!

I got a new Chiappa firing pin which (as described in previous posts) is not very good as it is: fat striker head, does not protrude for proper contact with the hammer. So off to the range for test fire and some “gunsmithing” i.e. filing the pin into the place.

From top: the enchanded (broken) pin, new Chiappa pin and the old (broken) Chiappa pin
From top: the enchanded (broken) pin, new Chiappa pin and the old (broken) Chiappa pin
firing_pin_evolution
Firing pin evolution: Some light strikes with the fat pin, going down to the sharpened pin and also some duds

In the beginning I got a lot of Failure-to-Fires (FTF) which was sort of a good thing as I  noticed that there was some problems with the extraction of rounds that had been deformed, i.e. the non-fired rounds extract fine, but the ones that have been hit with the striker did not always extract.

It still appeared that there might be some contact between the weight behind the bolt and possibly the hammer was also touching the slide rail (wear on the side of the hammer). So I once again filed the weight and also did a little polish/dremel on the bolt rail where the hammer might be touching.

Continue reading NEA15-22 part VIII – A functioning minirifle!

NEA15-22 part VII -yet enough?

While testing the DIY Brass Catcher, there again was some failure to fires, so I took the rifle apart for checking. It seemed that there might still be too much material on the recoil spring guide / bolt weight.. So I machined (read: dremeled) off some more.

nea15-22_bolt-weight_mk3
from left: previous and new protrusion, top: markings that had appeared since last session and the new modifications “painted”, bottom: current state of material

Continue reading NEA15-22 part VII -yet enough?

Chinese “NSR” Free-float

I have been looking for a 15″ slim keymod freefloat(s) for my AR build(s) and I found multiple manufacturers with suitable freefloats, like BCM, Leapers, Noveske, MI, etc. but these are from not very easy to nearly impossible to acquire to Finland.

So I came across a “noveske NSR” on AliExpress.com. Thinking that maybe it is a “night shift” or “back door” model from the actual factory, maybe an airsoft rip-off, but the price was pretty good, so one was ordered.

When the float finally arrived, it seemed sturdy and pretty well finished (including the Noveske engravings). A closer look and the installation process gave away some cues for the cheaper price. Another friend of mine ordered the same float in 9 inch and said instead of nice engravings, he had some shitty laser engravings.

left: Rail is not in same plane with Upper Receiver, Right: mounting screws with and without spacers
left: Rail is not in same plane with Upper Receiver. right: Mounting screws with and without spacers.

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