So I have an old Mini 14 serial number 188. Grew up shooting it on the farm. (It is a ranch rifle isn't it) I love the gun, its reliable, tough and durable.
From shooting prairie dogs to keeping coyotes away from the cattle. It works well in the snow and rain. Never had an issue.
Well just one issue. And that is accuracy! Shooting 4-5 inch groups at 100yd well that's just not gonna cut it. So I set out to make my mini the best rifle I could.
So first things first the stock. I wanted it lighter and to be a better fit to me. So well what's light. And strong?
Carbon fiber! No not a wrap. I'm talking legit carbon fiber.
To start I got a 36"x3"x3" piece of balsa wood. For around 80$ canadian.
I started by cutting the balsa wood to a rough shape using a band saw. Then cleared out some room for the housing. Using my rotor.
Then I made room for my slide assembly
Once I was done carving out the inside of my wood it was time for a fit test to make sure everything was gonna line up perfectly.
After a few hours with some sand paper and wood chisels I got everything to fit loosly in place . Now I was on to shaping the outside. This is where the time consuming work really began. Many hours of sanding to get perfect shape. Without taking to much off.
I had a lot more photos of the sanding process but where lost on my other phone.
Once I had a almost final shape done it was time to bed the rifle. Not glass bed. Carbon bed it or atleast my take on it.
I brushed on a coat of epoxy and placed a piece of carbon fiber roughly in place and locked in my action.
Let this sit overnight then removed.
Then I layed a layer of epoxy over the slide assembly shroud.
Once this was done I put on my first coat of epoxy followed by my first layer of carbon fiber. Then sanded down to a smooth shape.
I put the rifle back together to see how it all fit. Sanded down the inside of the foregrip to free float my barrel/gas block to make sure there there was zero spring in my barrel.
Once I was happy with how everything fit together I was on to my second and final wrap of carbon fiber. So I layed down another base coat and applied my fiber.
Let it dry over night then sanded down. And made sure everything still fit good and was how I wanted it to look.
Once I was happy with it's fit it was on to sanding and polishing it down to a nice smooth finish.
This will be part one for the day. I'll try and get the rest of the project upload to day or in the next couple days. Along with all the other mods I did and the accuracy improvements after each. With photos.
From shooting prairie dogs to keeping coyotes away from the cattle. It works well in the snow and rain. Never had an issue.
Well just one issue. And that is accuracy! Shooting 4-5 inch groups at 100yd well that's just not gonna cut it. So I set out to make my mini the best rifle I could.
So first things first the stock. I wanted it lighter and to be a better fit to me. So well what's light. And strong?
Carbon fiber! No not a wrap. I'm talking legit carbon fiber.
To start I got a 36"x3"x3" piece of balsa wood. For around 80$ canadian.
I started by cutting the balsa wood to a rough shape using a band saw. Then cleared out some room for the housing. Using my rotor.
Then I made room for my slide assembly
Once I was done carving out the inside of my wood it was time for a fit test to make sure everything was gonna line up perfectly.
After a few hours with some sand paper and wood chisels I got everything to fit loosly in place . Now I was on to shaping the outside. This is where the time consuming work really began. Many hours of sanding to get perfect shape. Without taking to much off.
I had a lot more photos of the sanding process but where lost on my other phone.
Once I had a almost final shape done it was time to bed the rifle. Not glass bed. Carbon bed it or atleast my take on it.
I brushed on a coat of epoxy and placed a piece of carbon fiber roughly in place and locked in my action.
Let this sit overnight then removed.
Then I layed a layer of epoxy over the slide assembly shroud.
Once this was done I put on my first coat of epoxy followed by my first layer of carbon fiber. Then sanded down to a smooth shape.
I put the rifle back together to see how it all fit. Sanded down the inside of the foregrip to free float my barrel/gas block to make sure there there was zero spring in my barrel.
Once I was happy with how everything fit together I was on to my second and final wrap of carbon fiber. So I layed down another base coat and applied my fiber.
Let it dry over night then sanded down. And made sure everything still fit good and was how I wanted it to look.
Once I was happy with it's fit it was on to sanding and polishing it down to a nice smooth finish.
This will be part one for the day. I'll try and get the rest of the project upload to day or in the next couple days. Along with all the other mods I did and the accuracy improvements after each. With photos.