Cz 455 FUGLIE

[justin amateur]

Spent a few minutes prepping the barrel for epoxy bedding.
Rub on a coat of mold release wax, let haze, buff to gloss.
Let set for 4 hours to ensure wax cure. Repeat 4 times.
I use a wax designed specifically for working with resins.
I've seen neutral shoe wax used with good results.

After 5 coats of wax, mixed up about a tablespoon of 5 minute epoxy
and an equal amount of wood flour to make a bedding,
that has the consistency of creamy peanut butter.

Smeared it in the channel, coating all areas that might contact the barrel.

Then set the waxed barrel in the channel,
pressing it all the way in, until it contacts the bottom of the channel.
Excess epoxy is squeezed up and out as is all air bubbles.

Leave it alone for 6 hours, even though it is 5 minute epoxy
and as the barrel changes temperature through the day, in the garage,
it will separate itself from the epoxy without any assistance from me.

For those who don't know, vinegar can be used to clean that
little bit of epoxy stickiness off your skin, if you take your glove off too soon,
or insist on checking to see if it's cured yet. Yeah, voice of experience.

Barrel slid out of the cured bedding leaving a glossy hard liner

Sur-form shaved off the excess epoxy and some 120 grit paper
eased any sharp edges that the sur-form left. Set the hold plates
in position to mark the screw holes, 7/64th drill bit used to fit the screws

Ready to assemble and install.
Way easier than bedding a receiver.

4/23/2014

There it is, the match grade CZ 455 FUGLIE.

Lilja 17 hmr barrel
CZ Set Trigger
Mueller 8-32x44 target reticle side focus scope
Accushot/UTG RGPM-30H4 rings (11mm dovetail 30mm tube)
all locked down into a couple dollars worth of scrap lumber

and 99 cents worth of rattle can black paint.


A close look at the bipod, showing the gap between the stock and bipod
that allows the stock to be tilted vertically left or right.

 

[justin amateur]

Enough with the rear bag.
Time for an elevator screw.

Started with a piece of scrap from the burn bucket next to the workbench,
(what has to be removed from the blade when using a 3 inch hole saw)
and a 4-1/2 inch x 3/8 coarse thread carriage bolt, nut and fenderwasher.

Drill the center hole in the scrap to 3/8"
a little sanding and assemble.

Drill a hole 1/16th smaller than the outside diameter of the carriage bolt
into the underside of the stock, add some wax to lubricate the insides
and screw the elevator up and in. No more rear bags. Measurements taken
during the last trip to the range show there's only 1/2 inch of vertical adjustment
necessary to sweep the target, 26 inches top to bottom, at 50 yards.

I guess the fuglie now qualifies as rimfire artillery.

 

[RicosRevenge]

Pure greatness... heck, by the time that stock shows up you wont need it.

 

[justin amateur]

Clear and sunny this morning, with a breeze switching back and forth from my 4 to 8 o'clock.
Made it rough to judge wind as the ribbon kept swinging back and forth, too.

The elevator worked well.
Round head of the carriage bolt kept the wheel clear of the bench.

On the bench with the Lilja 17 hmr locked in the block

After 20 rounds of warm up, the first target of the morning

Followed by an unasked for critique of what I was doing wrong, by the bench rest gallery.
Then a second target attempted. They must have offered some valid points.
The distance from poa to poi got appreciably smaller.

Each trip with the fuglie has shown improved target averages.
Anything that produces continuing positive results is a good thing.
When I caught a lull in the breeze, rounds hit where the crosshairs were.


05/16/2014

Talked with CZ customer service this morning.
They still have no idea if/when the Manners will be in stock.
Not a problem. I was able to try out a Precision Trainer at the local range
and decided that although it's an attractive option, the fuglie is more fun,
and more accurate. CZ apologized for the delay, but it didn't matter,
I canceled my order. I'm going to stick with the barrel block idea
and see if I can fabricate a a setup that's not quite so ugly.

 

[justin amateur]

How to turn a Fuglie v1.0, into the Fuglie v1.2.

First you figure out a basic leveling/stabilizer system

Give it a coat of paint and install with a few handy dandy zip screws

Then take it to the range to test ammo and learn how to judge wind.

Found another use for the fuglie v1.2, shooting bench diagnostics.
With the rigid 3 point setup, any weakness in the wood shooting benches
becomes immediately apparent just by looking through the scope.
I can watch the crosshairs track back and forth across the target
as my weight shifts on the seat or if I rest any of my weight on the bench top.

Accuracy on target is limited only by the quality of the ammo, wind or stability of shooting platform.
17 plus lbs of inertia, 3 point leveling adjustments and fixed barrel produces consistent trajectories.

Free floated for accuracy? Not for me.

 

[Captain Kirk]

It looks like something that came out of Jeppetto's Workshop....love it!

 

[Hammer47]

How to turn a Fuglie v1.0, into the Fuglie v1.2.

First you figure out a basic leveling/stabilizer system

Give it a coat of paint and install with a few handy dandy zip screws

Then take it to the range to test ammo and learn how to judge wind.

Found another use for the fuglie v1.2, shooting bench diagnostics.
With the rigid 3 point setup, any weakness in the wood shooting benches
becomes immediately apparent just by looking through the scope.
I can watch the crosshairs track back and forth across the target
as my weight shifts on the seat or if I rest any of my weight on the bench top.

Accuracy on target is limited only by the quality of the ammo, wind or stability of shooting platform.
17 plus lbs of inertia, 3 point leveling adjustments and fixed barrel produces consistent trajectories.

Free floated for accuracy? Not for me.

The seat being attached to the shooting platform is the worst possible combination. Use a detached seat and watch the groups shrink.............g

 

[IPSC]

For version v1.3 ..... go a bit more on the barrel hold-downs. Instead of 4 clamps on the barrel, use 8 clamps evenly spaced all the way to the end of the muzzle. Of course, would need a new barrel support / bedding that goes all the way forward.

 

[justin amateur]

Naw, not gonna happen.
Tried that already with a Savage 64 action/barrel.
That was the project platform: Heavy Metal

Which was where I began to question free floated as a rule
after clamping down the barrel in different locations with the results below:

Groups 1 through 5 were adjustments to the muzzle clamp.
Groups 6 through 10 adjusted the mid barrel clamp.
Group 11 overtightened the mid barrel, created a spread.
12 through 14 were with the muzzle locked down hard,
with the mid barrel clamp same tension as group 10.

 

[IPSC]

Barrels of different diameters/lengths will have different frequency responses.....so your experiment with the earlier skinnier barrel may have different results this time around. That said.....with your response of different tightness on the previous barrel.....doesn't your data say having clamp-down throughout the barrel length yield best results ( 12 thru 14)?.....or am I looking at the data wrong?. My thinking is why allow the last half of the barrel to vibrate?

 

[justin amateur]

Y'er reading it right. Best results with middle and muzzle clamped down.
Problem that occurs next is the limitation created by ammo quality.
A fully bedded barrel will have minimal vibrations and trajectory spread at the target,
as long as ammo quality is consistent. But if you run into what I did today, y'er screwed.
Testing Wolf ME and SK Pistol Match (just delivered) at 100 yards from a one piece rest,
resulted in vertical dispersions of 1.5 to 2.25 inches at 100 yards. That just reeks.
Same rifle with Midas plus and RWS R50 at 100 shows a vertical dispersion of 0.25 to 0.75 inches.

 

[IPSC]

Bear with me...as I'm still confused. If you're saying best *gun* results were with a fully clamped barrel....then my suggestion of a v1.3 has merit. The fact that different *ammo* creates different results....is more of an *ammo* question than a gun question..... right? Just tryin' to get this straight in my head....thanks.

 

[justin amateur]

You have the concept correct.
Fully locked down barrel does not suffer from harmonics/flex.
If the ammo is consistent, trajectories will be also.
Look at bench rest rail guns, the barrels are large diameter, no flex

Instead of bedding a small barrel to increase rigidity,
it's machined as a single structure to eliminate any movement

 

[IPSC]

Let me then come back to my original comment.....you're at v1.2. The (relatively heavy) barrel is unsupported for its final half-length. An earlier experiment by you showed the validity of tieing down the entire barrel length. For Fuglie....the next level of improvement then is v1.3....where the final 1/2 of the barrel is cinched down....that was all I was trying to convey.

 

[justin amateur]

Understood, I've obviously over-complicated the situation.
Full bedding would shut down all movement. 'Nuff said

Version 1.3 will not be built by me. I'll let someone else do that one.
I'm going to carve an actual barrel block stock for bipod/range/field use.

There's no skill required with the fuglie, it's an artillery piece.
Good for ammo testing, fun for the kids, great for double-takes.