My Mercury Ratting Rig

[TonyL]

Very involving and beyond most of our talents but looking good, Mick.

Quickie, when the time comes for final assembly, do you think you'll be using a HW35/80 breech bolt, shortened, or the 95/99 one?

[T 20]

When the time comes for final assembly, do you think you'll be using a HW35/80 breech bolt, shortened, or the 95/99 one?

I'll be using whichever looks more subtle, Tone.

Anyway, this morning I've reached the point of no return. :-

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I just have to work out where to put the weld joint now.




All the best Mick

[TonyL]

Yay! Nice one, Mick; off she comes!


Now......are you REALLY sure you're not tempted to sleeve it down having come this far?

[T 20]

Now......are you REALLY sure you're not tempted to sleeve it down having come this far?

Unfortunately, Tone.

I'm not tempted to do anything else to this at present as I came down with Kung Flu yesterday morning.

As the next stage of machining needs to be spot on for the placement of the weld joint which also dictates the stroke, the cocking arm clearance and takes into account the front stock mounting bolt I've walked away from the job for now.

I'll get back to it when I feel up to it.

[TonyL]

Kung Flu?

I hope you don't mean Covid, Mick?

Whichever, here's to a full and speedy recovery.

[T 20]

I hope you don't mean Covid, Mick?

Whichever, here's to a full and speedy recovery.

Yes, I've got Covid, Tone.

[TonyL]

I hope your symptoms are mild, remain so and that you make a swift recovery my friend.

[TonyL]

Hope you're not feeling too poorly there, Mick.

[evert]

I hope your symptoms are mild, remain so and that you make a swift recovery my friend.

Yes, hope you stay safe Mick!

[T 20]

Hope you're not feeling too poorly there, Mick.

Yes, hope you stay safe Mick!

Cheers, Lads.

But truthfully I'm not finding it too bad at all, it's just like having a bad cold, but Shirl's absolutely knackered with it.
I'm only feeling slightly worse than I did from the side effects of my third jab so no problem.

Anyway while I'm not feeling up to standing over the lathe for hours I've been cleaning up my rust bluing cabinet and boiling tank ready to black the action and barrel when their done.

I may start stripping my new stock tomorrow, but I won't be able to finish it without a test fit of the action --- I know I'll have to open up the front end for the Weihrauch breech but I'm unsure about the cocking lever slot.




All the best Mick

[NickG]

Get well soon Mick

[T 20]

Get well soon Mick

Cheers, Nick,

But it's really not as bad as I expected --- just like having a bad cold really.




All the best Mick

[TonyL]

Glad to hear you're not suffering badly with it, Mick.

We were the same in January. Mine just like a nagging cold, but Sarah was much worse. I hope Shirl gets over the worst of it in super-quick time.

Hope the not-too-bad symptoms continue and it sounds like you're managing to keep yourself entertained.

[T 20]

Hope the not-too-bad symptoms continue and it sounds like you're managing to keep yourself entertained.

Entertainment today involved renovating a scrap lathe I want to use as a welding jig, Tone.

While I'm not firing on all cylinders I decided to get some essential bits sorted for setting up and welding the Weihrauch breech into the BSA cylinder.
My idea is to press the breech plug into the heated cylinder, revolve the assembly to check for true with a DTI gauge, tack weld, check for true again and then fully weld the jaws in.
It dawned on me the other day that all the above could be done on a lathe, but not wanting to weld over my decent lathes I decided to use a little scrap lathe I'd bought for its tooling.
This lathe also has the added advantage of being next to my gas axe and MIG welder so everything I need is to hand.

The only problem now is that this little lathe has cleaned up that well I'm now wondering if I should carry on get it up and running as it could do for someone as the chuck is running dead true --- bugger.



All the best Mick

[TonyL]

Ah, an unexpected bonus there leading to a possible re-route of your plans. Nice to hear the little lathe's looking good.