CountryBoy19
Grandmaster
I had a need for a small piece of rail for a secondary piece of optics equipment. With no good options of mounting a rail to the receiver I decided to try a stock-mounted rail to see how well it would hold zero.
I have a Bell & Carlson Medalist stock (I think that's the one I have)...
So I started by clamping my stock in my mill vice. This was a pain-staking process. This is for optics so having a good "bore-site" was crucial so I made sure the stock was straight so the resulting rail would be straight.
I then milled a pocket into the composite material down to the aluminum bedding block to get to a good, solid surface that I could dowel pin my "spacer block" into.
I drilled/reamed holes for the dowel pins and then took the stock out and started on the "spacer block".
The spacer block is a solid block of steel that I milled out to shape (at this point I got a bit lax on taking pictures, mostly because my wife stole the camera for other uses). I machined it to the overall outer size, drilled/reamed the matching dowel-pin holes, and machined the mating surface for the rail. As part of the spacer block, to ensure the rail did not slide on the block, I included a small "recoil-lug" in the front for the rail to "seat against". I drilled & tapped for the 2 mounting screws that would hold the rail in place
I then machined the corresponding recess into the rail section for the "recoil-lug". If you look carefully in the first pic you can see the chips flying through the air. I use carbide tooling and high cut speeds for a good surface finish (notice the mirror finish) in the 2nd pic.
I rounded the corners of the spacer block to fit in the recess in the stock, then I used my grinder to make "cuts" into the bottom of the block for the devcon steel putty that would hold it in place.
I used a chisel to make cuts in the composite stock material for the steel putty. If you look closely you can see it in one of the pictures.
I then used dowel-pins and devcon steel putty to mount the "spacer block" in place permanently. Again no pics of this so use your imagination. I smeared glue into the pocket and onto the steel spacer block then pressed it in place
After a 24 hour cure the moment of truth came. I mounted up my secondary optics already set on the factory bore-site. I calculated that with my 300 yard zero my POI/POA coincide at about 17 yards so I set up 17 yards from a wall in my basement and looked through my primary optic with my secondary in place as well. As it turns out, the offset between the 2 POI's were EXACTLY what I hoped for, about 1.7" down and 1" right of the cross-hairs in my scope. Which meant I nailed the "bore-site" in mounting the rail. Using that, I went to the range and zeroed the rifle and then tested groups.
With the current location of the rail, I can "induce" about 2 MOA flex into the stock when pre-loading the bipod. So to ensure accurate sighting using the secondary optics I have to shoot from a rest that is back under the receiver, not the front of the stock. Which isn't a problem. The groups I shot in this manner were very acceptable at the distance I plan to shoot like this...
I have a Bell & Carlson Medalist stock (I think that's the one I have)...
So I started by clamping my stock in my mill vice. This was a pain-staking process. This is for optics so having a good "bore-site" was crucial so I made sure the stock was straight so the resulting rail would be straight.
I then milled a pocket into the composite material down to the aluminum bedding block to get to a good, solid surface that I could dowel pin my "spacer block" into.
I drilled/reamed holes for the dowel pins and then took the stock out and started on the "spacer block".
The spacer block is a solid block of steel that I milled out to shape (at this point I got a bit lax on taking pictures, mostly because my wife stole the camera for other uses). I machined it to the overall outer size, drilled/reamed the matching dowel-pin holes, and machined the mating surface for the rail. As part of the spacer block, to ensure the rail did not slide on the block, I included a small "recoil-lug" in the front for the rail to "seat against". I drilled & tapped for the 2 mounting screws that would hold the rail in place
I then machined the corresponding recess into the rail section for the "recoil-lug". If you look carefully in the first pic you can see the chips flying through the air. I use carbide tooling and high cut speeds for a good surface finish (notice the mirror finish) in the 2nd pic.
I rounded the corners of the spacer block to fit in the recess in the stock, then I used my grinder to make "cuts" into the bottom of the block for the devcon steel putty that would hold it in place.
I used a chisel to make cuts in the composite stock material for the steel putty. If you look closely you can see it in one of the pictures.
I then used dowel-pins and devcon steel putty to mount the "spacer block" in place permanently. Again no pics of this so use your imagination. I smeared glue into the pocket and onto the steel spacer block then pressed it in place
After a 24 hour cure the moment of truth came. I mounted up my secondary optics already set on the factory bore-site. I calculated that with my 300 yard zero my POI/POA coincide at about 17 yards so I set up 17 yards from a wall in my basement and looked through my primary optic with my secondary in place as well. As it turns out, the offset between the 2 POI's were EXACTLY what I hoped for, about 1.7" down and 1" right of the cross-hairs in my scope. Which meant I nailed the "bore-site" in mounting the rail. Using that, I went to the range and zeroed the rifle and then tested groups.
With the current location of the rail, I can "induce" about 2 MOA flex into the stock when pre-loading the bipod. So to ensure accurate sighting using the secondary optics I have to shoot from a rest that is back under the receiver, not the front of the stock. Which isn't a problem. The groups I shot in this manner were very acceptable at the distance I plan to shoot like this...
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