Gunsmithing K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

[LRI]

Here's the latest:

Tac build on a Dakota Arms Model 76. I'm having a flashback and I love it!

No pics yet. Just about to start dingin out the action for the stock program.

More to follow. . .

Might have a little fun with this one. . .

 

[LRI]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Stock inlet ready for proofing out. Dakota actions are a little different from others so this one took a pinch longer to square away. Ended up writing 2 programs. One for synthetics and one for wood stocks. Not much changed other than a few parameters with the surfacing and feeds/speeds.

I may "undercut" the showline a bit with wood. .05" is a pretty wide bedding seam along the edge. I can tighten it up to around .015" and use a lollypop endmill to undercut the showline a bit. This would be pretty cool as it'll make a really tight seam along the edge while still providing a .05" film thickness at the bedding just underneath the showline. Fine walnut kinda demands this.

We'll see. I'll have to order up some tooling to pull this off correctly.

The downside is it'll complicate the bedding process a little. Any trapped air bubbles are going to be inclined to stick at the lip just below showline. Have to play with that one a bit.

Simulation looks good so I'll save this "master file" to the cst's action and stitch in the barrel channel potion. Then its off to the mill with a 2x4 to proof it out.

We'll be rolling here shortly.

C.

 

[LRI]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Channel is done. Off to the mill!

 

[LRI]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

"Exibition grade" 4x4 post for the test run:

Onto the stock. Few minor adjustments to cut depths and feeds/speeds was all she needed.

 

[Bernarde]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

"Exibition grade" 4x4 post for the test run:

Chad

Is this some kind of fancy new style benchrest stock?

 

[LRI]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Antifancy maybe. . .

BTW. Now that this is done I've got some stocks to paint. You know what that means. . .

 

[LRI]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Inletted, clayed up, masked, and goobered in the soup.

Now its the waiting game!

Back at this one in the morning. Onto some paint work for other stuff!

 

[jswhitesell619]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

I love seeing all the build threads from your shop, tons of cool stuff coming from you guys!

 

[Mike Casselton]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Bernarde</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

"Exibition grade" 4x4 post for the test run:

Chad

Is this some kind of fancy new style benchrest stock?

</div></div>

It's a Menard's Special Purpose Stock. Lowe's is closer to Sturgis, but Menard's is closer to Cabela's and Scheels...

Might as well paint it to match the stock car...

 

[LRI]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

This project just got interesting.

After a conversation this am, the owner and I decided that a detachable magazine system is the only way to make this thing supah cool.

Problem is nobody makes one. . .(guess what's next)

Till now.

Remember, this is a Rigby length Dakota Arms Model 76. A freak child by all rights. Dakota offers nothing for a DBM as they cator to the safari crowd. You'd be laughed into suicide if you ever did this to a dangerous game rifle. Prolly wouldn't even be allowed to bring a gun like this to Africa. They have some very peculiar rules there regarding the configuration of a gun.

Anyway, this is a "tacti yuppy" gun so who cares what Africa thinks!

Savages!

Been at this all day.

Here's where were at this far.

Frame is done and I'm surfacing the bow right now. Were using Sako TRG magazines (cuz they the coolest in all of planet gun land)

Anyways, fun stuff. Nothing like a billet floor metal to wake up a Monday.

Enjoy:

C.


Started with modifying the magazine mortise/box in the receiver. Too narrow for the TRG magazine. Next was making a mechanical ejector to take care of kicking out the fired stuff.

Once we proved we could make it feed well (it's super slick!) we moved onto the floor metal.

"Rough" surfacing the bow. I'm running a preliminary finish pass right now (+.01" from final finish) just to see how the tool path behaves.

Takes awhile with a .005" stepover, but it sure beats the hell out of a form tool. (blech!)

Fun stuff!

Late night fer Chad.

 

[krisp]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Looking good, you needed a project that made your mind work, if they were all the same and easy you'd have a shop in China or Mexico.

Ha just kidding,

Kris

 

[lonely_wolf]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jswhitesell619</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I love seeing all the build threads from your shop, tons of cool stuff coming from you guys! </div></div>

+ 1

 

[cactusbrew]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Its amazing watching a craftsman at work. I work in a fast paced go, go, go environment where taking time for perfection just isnt an option.

Keep the pics coming.

 

[lw8]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

I think i just heard the sound of the bar being raised...

 

[coldboremiracle]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Beautiful work chad, your gonna need to give a price on all this stuff for those that want you to do the same thing.

 

[LRI]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

The steel DBM was a tank. After a lengthy conversation with my neighbors (Horizon Machine, where the Badger Ordnance stuff gets made) I decided to whittle it out of "aloominiiuummmz" instead.

Made a few changes while I was at it. Added some more box length to offer more support to the magazine. Always a good thing. Also got lots more aggressive with the tooling/machine ops since AL is basically effortless when compared to 4140 prehard.

Here's the 2nd op! Were going for a reduced radar signature like the stealth bomber. We figured it'd match the digital camo patterns too.

Or enter a Leggo challenge. . .

Actually this is after rough surfacing the bottom side. Going over it now with a .1875" ball on a .007" step to make it perty and bring to final shape. After this its sorting out the release mechanism. (fun)

 

[Sportin Wood]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Can't wait for the final pics!!

 

[jbell]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

THANK YOU, its about time someone makes a DBM using the TRG mags. I dont know why everyone craps on them for being too pricy, they feed smooth as eels in a bucket of snott! The double stack single feed is one of many reasons why I love my TRG.

Another great build Chad, thanks for taking the time to post the pics and info. Its cool to see it all go down. Cant wait to see how this one turns out.

 

[300sniper]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

please don't be like many of the manufactures that won't take the one extra setup to chamfer or radius the edges of the trigger guard. that is something that drives me crazy. that is one of those things that has always bugged me. we spend big bucks to have cool machined parts and it comes with sharp edges. if you are going to make something, make it right

 

[LRI]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 300sniper</div><div class="ubbcode-body">please don't be like many of the manufactures that won't take the one extra setup to chamfer or radius the edges of the trigger guard. that is something that drives me crazy. that is one of those things that has always bugged me. we spend big bucks to have cool machined parts and it comes with sharp edges. if you are going to make something, make it right

</div></div>

Bert,

I surfaced the entire bottom half. To include the 3* draft angle. To make life easy on me for the installation into the stock, I put a digital protractor on the bottom of the stock with the showline against a surface plate that's qualified level. 3.01* is what I got. .01* isn't enough to get excited over so I rounded it to 3* even. The entire bottom side was done with a .1875" ball stitching back and forth on a .007" step over@75ipm/7500rpm. Pretty cool to watch. . . for about 10 seconds. Then it gets old quick. Surfacing is cool, but it's not racy. Least with my machine it isn't. It's kind of a letdown to spend an hour or two drawing/programming something to see a machine just wizz back and forth in a zig/zag pattern. One would think (wish?) it'd be more interesting. Parallel surfacing is very stable though and code comes out really clean. Big files, but clean so there's little worry about it taking off and doing something stupid.

This was right after the op finished. Far cry from the leggo block I had earlier.

The trigger bow has a radius on the outside contour. All surfaced. No form tools. Then I flipped it 90* and "hourglassed" the sides. I've never liked floor metals that are boxy. Put some hips on her!

Then it was a mirror image of the tool path, set it up on the opposite side, and let it rip again. If I were making a bunch of these I'd of built a 4th axis fixture and consolidated. That'd take a whole day. Not worth it for a single part.

Anyways. The "easy" part is over. Now I have to sort out the latch mechanism. It does feed, really well in fact. The hole locations are Jonny on the spot. I wish all the others we use were. . . (Winchester DBM's being the absolute worst!)

 

[Cascade Precision]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

The problem with Chad: Everytime I read his posts and see the coolest chit he can make out of nothing makes me feel stupider and stooooopiderrrr...

Chad, you sir have mad scientist skillz!

 

[Gunfighting Inc]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Absolutely awesome work!

 

[LRI]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Fitted it to the stock first thing this morning. Easy job. Nice when you make it from scratch cuz then you know the exact geometry/foot print for the stock inletting.

I did this first because the magazine height has to be spot on in order for it to feed, etc. Seemed to make sense to fit it first rather than trying to guess my way through it with a pair of calipers and a calculator.

My draft angle trick using the protractor worked too. The edges marry up with the belly of the stock really well.

Ok, now for the latch mechanism. I'm nervous. I get one shot at this. Failure means making another one of these from scratch.

Fingers crossed!

C.

 

[Sportin Wood]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Good luck!!! It is always amazing watching your work through these pics!!

 

[LRI]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Latch mechanism looks like it's gonna work. One of my other pet peeves with DBM setups are the release levers.

Its never dawned on me yet why a guy needs a tongue depressor on his rifle.

So, in the interest of complicating my life and making this kinda' different I decided to put a spin on the release setup typically found on hinged floor plates.

I fattened one side and made the release as part of the trigger bow. then slotted the center of the floor metal to locate/register the locking portion.

The idea being the chooter comes off the trigger after the last round, pokes the release mechanism on the R/H side of the bow, mag drops out, gas the gun back up, run the bolt, and get back in the fight.

That's the idea anyway.

All that's left is the reset spring counterbore and the cross pin to register the piece in place.

We shall see, but so far so good. I made the release from SS. Fun little part to make. A 1/2" reach with a .0938" OD endmill on a final contour is always interesting. Got lucky and was able to finish the OD without any chatter.

I left the release a pinch proud so that I can surface contour it to match the bow's "hips" that I put in yesterday. Hopefully I'll be able to match it up nice. I didn't dare try it with this in place as the hardness between steel/AL would have likely made a mess of my tool path.

I'm going home to BBQ!

C.

 

[LRI]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

It works! Pics tomorrow!

Just finished drilling/reaming the hole. Now just for the set spring.

 

[softcock]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Man that Mag. Release that is cut-flush in the Trigger Guard is SO Sweet . That is nice detail & personal touch to your work .
.

 

[Bernarde]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

That is such a bad arse setup!

Chad, your attention to detail is outstanding!

 

[ugsly]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Very nice Chad,

Any chance you will start making any of those?

Kc

 

[1snowcat]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Super cool Chad!!!! Looks awesome!!! Cant wait to see it when its all finished up...

 

[pistolpacknpete]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

holy fuck i wish i could do what chad can do!! that is really awesome that customer is going to be happy as hell! i wanna see the finished product

 

[Blackbrush]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

You guys going to stay with the 2pc bases?

HUGE Dakota fan here - no better all around action than the 76 IMHO.

 

[normbal]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: abbott</div><div class="ubbcode-body">You guys going to stay with the 2pc bases?

HUGE Dakota fan here - no better all around action than the 76 IMHO.</div></div>

Ken Farrell makes a 20 MOA base for this action, and can make one in 40 MOA on special order.

 

[krisp]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

What two piece weavers on a dakota don't cut it??? Ha, Chad looking great I'm sure you'll figure out the bases, you seem like you have a bit of talent!!!!!

Kris

 

[LRI]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Well, were making some changes (yet again)

I've decided to bed the stock over. We gutted/filled it up and are about to inlet it here in a few.

My reasons are cause the action had a lot of tool marks. I was hoping it'd look better but it's been bugging me the last 3 days as I worked on the floor metal.

I took the morning to go over the action with a file/emery to remove the deep form tool marks back in the tang area. Then brought everything up to a 220 finish and blasted it in the cabinet.

Much nicer now.

I also whittled off all the stamp marks on the bottom of the receiver. Dakota does this to track work through the shop. (one would think a SN would suffice) It was watermarking the digits in the bedding which aggravated the snot out of me.

So, some mill/file work and they are gone too.

Back to square one sometimes.

Anyways, were looking good. Garrett is fitting the brake here in a few minutes. We'll have this bedded up again by day's end.

C.

 

[lw8]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: midkansasguy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">holy fuck i wish i could do what chad can do!! that is really awesome that customer is going to be happy as hell! i wanna see the finished product </div></div>

+1 The guy who gets that rifle is getting something special.

 

[cbennett]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Chad, I too really enjoy the Dakota 76's. I have handled several and marveled at the smoothness and execution. My question: There was an old internet rumor about these actions being soft, when pressed the posters always" heard it from a guy".
If you do not mind based on your experience ( real) , How hard do you find the Dakotas compared to some others that you work on.
Thanks for all of the pictures and interesting builds.

 

[Sportin Wood]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Damn... I would hate the final bill at shop rate for this rifle

 

[LRI]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: cbennett</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Chad, I too really enjoy the Dakota 76's. I have handled several and marveled at the smoothness and execution. My question: There was an old internet rumor about these actions being soft, when pressed the posters always" heard it from a guy".
If you do not mind based on your experience ( real) , How hard do you find the Dakotas compared to some others that you work on.
Thanks for all of the pictures and interesting builds. </div></div>




Dakota 76's aren't "soft." Imagine a 25+ year old receiver chambered in a Rigby or some other big monster type cartridge.

Over time the lugs would occasionally yield a bit. Meaning headspace would grow slightly. The pressure/cycles over a couple decades would cause this.

When it happened (I personally remember a handful of them during my tenure there) we'd fit a new barrel, give it back to the "wood peckers" (stock guys) and they'd finish it off and send it back out.

Problem solved, no drama, no eyeballs being ripped out of skulls due to actions blowing up, etc. . .

Dakota receivers are heat treated to around 40 rockwell C scale. Just like a majority of other actions. They are made from double arc melt aerospace certified, blah, blah, blah chromoly material.

It's good stuff.

Interesting note: Many action manufacturers state that big magnums like the 338LM cannot be safely run on 1.350" receivers with 1.0625 diameter tennons.

FWIW this Dakota uses a 1" thread and the receiver is 1.350".

Dakota's built hundreds of em just like this one since 1984. . .

Rumors are often good for fictional entertainment and little more.

Hope this helps and to all: Thank you for the nice remarks and comments. It's appreciated greatly.

C.

 

[cbennett]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Chad, Thanks for the time. Finally an answer based on real world Dakota experience!!

 

[Engine 22]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Any chance this BM could be "shortened" to fit a Winchester LA????? If so, I'd be interested in hearing a price

 

[LRI]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Were kicking around a few ideas.

One is even "kewel".


Were not done with this stuff just yet. . .


C.

 

[lw8]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Make Win Model 70 DBM that takes AICS Mags reliably and I would send my Model 70 to get turned into a tac rifle the same day...

 

[LRI]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

BooYaah!

It works. . .

I ended up making a whole new piece. The original would have worked, but the bow was just waaay too big. Looked like it was made for a Gorrilla.

I ended up shrinking up the bow and leaving a block portion up front for the release mechanism.

For that I took my inspiration from a Sig pistol mag release. Had to fiddle with the design a little, but the lineage is there. There's really nothing new to this stuff, just regurgitated good ideas. The Sig is pretty simple/cool/elegant.

The reset spring is a pretty cool setup. For that I borrowed the principle of a 1911 leaf spring. I made mine from a mag well spring off a Ruger.

All that's left to do is shorten the button. It's sticking out a pinch too far right now.

So, were onto trial assembly, then its to paint/coating.

We'll be done by week's end Kris!

C.

 

[krisp]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Chad,Garrett

I'm digging the new release looks great, can't wait to check it all out.

Thanks for all the hard and imaginative/creative effort!!

Kris

 

[Neil Allen]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

One word.....CLEAN.

N

 

[LRI]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Neil,

Check yer email. Barney threw up all over your lovley bride's rifle.

Almost there. Kalli will have the stock done in the am.

C.

 

[normbal]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

You ready to take another one of these on?

PM me.

 

[LRI]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

Norm,

I'm still not done with it. To date I've made 4 of these buggers and haven't been happy with any of them. So, back to the drawing board. I've got a couple rifles that have to go this month so were focusing on them for now.

This stuff seems deceptively simple, but in practice its fun (ego for pain in the butt)

The last one looked cool, but it didn't have the lockup I wanted on the magazine. Every setup I've seen allows the magazine to rattle like a marble in a can. I'm trying some creative ways to get around this.

Afterall it is "tactical". Wouldn't want Alqueda to hear us.

I should have some time to work on it this weekend. We'll see what we come up with.

C.

 

[normbal]

Re: K. Plandell's 338LM on a Dakota 76! (woo hoo!)

When you're happy, I'll be happy to send my Longbow to you as we discussed. You know, I'd be fine with a badger-style mag release. Have two on my Remingtons.