Workbook

kinds of gunsmiths: those who have crawled around the floor for hours looking for parts . . . and

liars.

Safety Glasses. ($5 and up) I am not going to baby you with safety precautions. Use common sense.

You WILL have springs hit you in the eye eventually. Want to gamble on when?

Calipers. ($30 and up) Plastic reloading calipers are probably accurate enough for most work. Have

an inch to millimeter conversion chart or a calculator. A micrometer will work also, of course, if you

know how to use one.

Vise. Bigger is better. Minimum 4” Replace jaws with aluminum or hard wood slabs. Can be

rubber-banded over steel jaws. Thick leather will work in a pinch. Brass or aluminum blocks cut

with semi-circular grooves is a great assist in holding a barrel tightly. Needs to be bolted to the

bench. After breaking three $60 5" Chinese ones, I finally bought a $350 American made Wilton,

but for a hobbyist, the cheaper imports are fine.

Lapping Compound. Final fitting and smoothing of close-tolerance parts. While there are several

brands, I like JB Bore cleaner sold through Brownells (part #083-065-002, $6).

Receiver Wrench. You can make your own for one-

time use by taking a wooden block and tracing the

outline of the receiver face. Cut in half and it will hold

your receiver in a vice tight enough for torquing the

barrel. Casey Elliot Enterprises makes a nice FAL one

($70?), with a few annoying features, as does the

American Gunsmithing Institute ($65?). You can also

shim a receiver in a vice if you support by an installed

bolt-carrier and cocking handle to prevent crushing.

Dies. ($35) 9/16"x 24 tpi RH (most L1A1 flash suppressors and muzzle brakes). 9/16”x 24 tpi LH

(most metric flash suppressors and muzzle brakes) or 14mm x 1.0 LH (AK-47 flash suppressors and

muzzle brakes). Brownells finally has the latter at a reasonable price (part #246-100-000, $45).

14mm x 1.0 LH is close enough to 9/16 x 24 LH for most uses. A 15mm x 1.0 RH (HK flash

suppressors and muzzle brakes) is also an option. A 1"x 16 tpi RH is used for rethreading Israeli

barrels to L1A1 and Metric barrel standards. Prices are $35-$60. I usually say never skimp on

quality when buying tools because you'll have them for life, but even cheap dies, kept cool, will last

5-10 barrels. Best to have one end of die tapered and one end flat. This way, you won't have to cut a

shoulder (some come tapered both ends). One guy can buy the die and "rent it" to others to reduce

cost. Dies that are hex shaped are for chasing or cleaning already cut threads. The round split dies

are for cutting new threads. The differences are in the cutting angle and important only in production

work. The round ones require special T-handles, the hex can be turned with an appropriate size

wrench.

But Stock Tool. Definitely a good thing to have. Makes

removal of the recoil spring cap easy. About $15 from

TAPCO.

Torch. MAPP Gas is the way to go. Or Oxygen - Acetylene

if you have it. Propane just doesn't get hot enough for high-temperature silver soldering. Complete

Benzo-Matic MAPP setup available at most Home Depot/Home Base type stores ($25).