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Post by jettalewis on May 15, 2011 18:21:29 GMT -5
The first photo shows the rifle "kinda" put together. There are no screws or bands holding it together. This is to give an idea of what I am hoping it will turn out to be. There appears to be a crack along the seam between the stock and upper handguard but the upper piece simply slid to one side. Approximately an inch and a half has been removed from the top of the magazine. ![]() [/img] Attachments:
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Post by thisissparta on May 15, 2011 18:28:13 GMT -5
nice, you and remrat doin custom airsoft, I like this new progress
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Post by jettalewis on May 15, 2011 18:29:57 GMT -5
I used about 7 inches of the original barrel. To drill it out I cut a masonry bit down to the correct diameter and it went through the barrel like a hot knife thru butter. I removed about a half inch from the airsoft magazine guide so I would not have to cut too deeply into the wood stock and possibly cut thru the finger grooves. The airsoft barrel is cut to the exact legnth to meet the upper handguard and the rear sight will sit flush with the airsoft barrel to meet the upper handguard. Um...let me clairfy something. Regarding cutting the barrel so easily. This was after I burned up 3 or 4 regular drill bits. I remembered using the masonry bits on a steel plow many years ago. Attachments:
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Post by CharleyNovember on May 15, 2011 18:37:49 GMT -5
Great work. Masonary drill bit is inspired.
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Post by jettalewis on May 15, 2011 18:42:29 GMT -5
The reciever/bolt has proven to be the toughest so far. And I am not certain it will work. If not, I will have a bunch of time consuming junk. I bought a piece of stainless steel pipe that is the exact inside diameter as the OD of the airsoft bolt. Then I cut the OD of the SS pipe down to 31 32's. Then I bored the interior of the airsoft reciever out to 1 inch. This allowed the new SS bolt to slid thru the airsoft reciever and the airsoft bolt to slide thru the SS bolt. Here are all of the pieces. I saw a photo of another gun done this way, but the builder never showed a photo of the bolt area with the bolt open. I think this was because a portion of the cut would show when the bolt is open. I will show this area when I am done. If it looks like crap it may save someone else the trouble. Attachments:
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Post by jettalewis on May 15, 2011 18:52:07 GMT -5
Here is the stock work todate. So much cutting  I used a 3/4", 1/2" and a 1/4" chisel and ofcourse the ever popular drimmel tool (2 so far) You can see how much has been hollowed out. I did not want to cut the exterior of the original metal mag so I rebuilt the airsoft mag. I will cover that in the next post. Attachments:
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Post by jettalewis on May 15, 2011 19:01:02 GMT -5
OK, This will be my last post on the progress todate. I still have a ton of work to do on the bolt and reciever area and I am not convinced it will even work or be presentable. If not I will scrap all this and start with a fresh rifle. This is the mag I have ended up with. I have shortened the length of the mag by about an inch and a half. I have increased the height by about 3/8's of an inch and I have added a tab at the back of the mag. The purpose of the tab and the addition to the height is to keep the mag just inside the stock and from going too far up into the gun. I am not interested in a whole bunch of shots with one loading, but did want to preserve as much of the original appearance as possible. So where ever possible I have kept original. Attachments:
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Post by jettalewis on May 16, 2011 20:21:56 GMT -5
Ok, I finally figured out how to make the bolt actually work. Unfortunately, it exposes the airsoft bolt, but it's really not that noticeable when working. Later this week I will be posting some photos. I have the back portion of the bolt to figure out now.
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Post by jettalewis on May 24, 2011 16:25:49 GMT -5
Finally finished this thing. I will say right now that I will never attempt another like this one. The bolt was an absolute nightmare. The final stainless sleeve had about another 50% of the metal removed to accomidate the original internals. I still have a little bit more fitting, but only cosmetic now. Here is an overall view of the finished rifle. Attachments:
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Post by jettalewis on May 24, 2011 16:32:44 GMT -5
This is a view of the bolt area. We are all familiar with the airsoft barrels and they are generally about an inch in diameter. To look more like a Mosin Nagant I have used the same flare to increase the diameter to about 1 3/16s of an inch. I also wanted my rifle to look like one used by the Cossacks so I made the bolt area into an 8 sided rather than round bolt. The bayonet still works as orginal. Attachments:
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Post by thisissparta on May 24, 2011 16:34:54 GMT -5
nice very realistic.
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Post by jettalewis on May 24, 2011 16:41:00 GMT -5
Ok, these are my final shots. If you look closely under the bolt you will see the SS sleeve that is sliding over the original airsoft mechanism. The rear sight has a new hidden mount which is attached to the barrel and the last is a closeup of the bayonet mount. Thanks for putting up with me on this job Attachments:
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Post by thisissparta on May 24, 2011 16:41:59 GMT -5
does the bolt go back?
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Post by jettalewis on May 24, 2011 16:45:10 GMT -5
I lost that photo. Yes the bolt pulls back to the same distance as it did on the original airsoft rifle. The only difference now is that there is a SS sleeve fitted over the bolt to turn and operate the orginal bolt. It's a very complicated mechanism and I would not ever make another. I spent hours honing, filing and fitting to get this thing to work. I'm done with it!!!
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HornetWSO
Private 1st Class
"We may not have a history, but we have a rendezvous with destiny!"
Posts: 551
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Post by HornetWSO on May 24, 2011 17:59:48 GMT -5
You really did a fantastic job!!
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Post by CharleyNovember on May 24, 2011 19:00:10 GMT -5
That looks great man. I had considered the sleeve approach with my last one but was worried about getting a sleeve to fit in there like that. You did a great job getting it in there and making look awesome. Way to go.
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Post by jettalewis on May 24, 2011 19:22:00 GMT -5
Charlie, when I get over this rifle I would be happy to disassemble it and take some close ups of the finished SS bolt. It's just not pratical tho unless you could pick up some tubing that is as thin as the airsoft mechanizm. Boring out that airsoft reciever is really tough. I was worried that I would make it too large but that was the least of my worries. Getting the bolt to slide by the parts from the trigger assembly is the biggest problem. There are just so many areas that would ruin the project that it takes a lot of fun out of it. My next project is going to be a heck of a lot simpler. Thank you for the kind words |
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Post by remrat on May 24, 2011 19:32:04 GMT -5
This looks awsome. Hope mine comes out halfway decent I love the bolt idea ill try that on my next project.
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I used a 3/4", 1/2" and a 1/4" chisel and ofcourse the ever popular drimmel tool (2 so far) You can see how much has been hollowed out. I did not want to cut the exterior of the original metal mag so I rebuilt the airsoft mag. I will cover that in the next post. 
