The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

I know we have lots of home machinists on the forum so what are you making at the moment that is shooting related?

A recent one for me was a couple of utilitarian stainless T handles for the Lewis lead removal system. The standard T bar is made out of aluminum and not really long enough for anything UK related so a couple of lengths of 316 stainless and some time with the lathe and Tig welder and they were done. Certainly not the prettiest of things however they are tools and functional which is all that was required.

A 3.5mm hole was drilled one end and tapped to suit the Lewis (8-32 from memory) Other end reduced to 6mm and threaded M6, the T handles were cut to length and squared with a chamfer then tapped M6 to accept the shaft. Finally a quick blast with the Tig welder stops the handle unscrewing.

Top is for a .44 Marlin and bottom for a 44 LBR

I guess a few minuted with a polishing wheel would probably make a difference at some stage :)

Bloody hell!

How on earth do people get their barrels so leaded that you need kit like the Lewis to shift it????

If a barrel starts to lead stop shooting that bullet and get a proper fitting, soft alloy bullet that won't lead foul!!

I was going to say you would be surprised however I doubt you would be. I used a Lewis system this week to remove the leading from a .44 Mag and was amazed at just how much lead came out, I should have saved it and sent it to Dodgyroger!

Not a machining project per se, but I'm working on a pretty simple wood fixture for my bench.

With bench space being a premium for me, I use clamps to hold my Uniflow powder measure + stand to my bench for loading ball powders, and remove for storage when not in use. Problem being that the stand wobbles slightly even when clamped so you need to take care when dispensing powder.

I'm using a scrap piece of shelving to make a base whereby I can screw powder measure into and I'm also making a pocket to hold a loading tray, to avoid the tray being knocked about accidentally. This shelf can then be easily clamped to my bench. I've been using sharpened, Narex wood chisels to create the pocket, but in hindsight I should have bought some mortice chisels specifically for this. Live and learn! It's going to be a challenge to keep the pocket base flat using just hand tools, ut we'll see how it goes.

Don't have any pictures at the moment, will post some when completed if I remember!

I'm in the process of buying an old Soviet era Strela .22 target rifle which has a dovetailed side-mounting rear aperture sight, so I'll be looking for somebody to make a bracket so I can use either a scope or the original peep sight.

Why don't you do it yourself, I hear you mutter. Why? Because it takes me all my time to knock a nail in straight, never mind doing anything that involves machinery!

Not machining anything special at the moment but the 3D printer is working overtime.
The latest project is a bullet seating force gauge for use with arbour presses.


Some fittings for beam scales.


3D printed magnetic shotgun racks, single or doubles - stick firmly on the side of your car or inside/outside your cabinet.

Some good looking knurling there Alan, personally I think it is the work of the devil and I dread orders for 10 identical parts with knurled handles as I just know one of them is going to go very wrong. I pressure knurl and I am trying to justify cut knurling on the CNC however I am not convinced...

Certainly an element of luck with the knurling. I've tried working it out with the calculator but still don't get consistent results. Fortunately I don't do much that is dimensionally critical - "suck it an see" works most of the time for me.

I guess I'm very lucky with my part-time job at the Marina; loads of little bitties of stainless steel lying about the workshop.

I'm making an adapter bracket to mount an ex-German Army Uzi quick-detachable wooden stock on the Walther 22LR Uzi with the folding stock removed.
I'm on the second attempt as I missed a critical dimensions on the first one.