texasdawg

The gas port thru the gasblock is bigger than the hole in the barrel; originally due to helping if I missed the alignment up slightly. Could I have gone too big? The ports in gas block are all .1360" and the port in the barrel is .073. The gas block was painted. In the pic of the inside of the gas block it is shiny around the port. On the barrel pic you can tell where some of the gas left a mark. This was one of the ways that I could tell the block was aligned with the port correctly. The build up on the barrel is paint. I only fired 10 rounds from half opened to full opened on the gas adjuster. You can tell that gas was escaping in places it shouldn't have due to it haveing to go somewhere when the rifle was fired and not fully stroking relieving pressure thru the piston bleed hole,,,

Good news, Bad news,,,had a chance to shoot the rifle and the gaspiston system didn't break, but it also didn't fully cycle. Wasn't sure the two piece rod would hold up, but it did. The alignment was spot on, and nothing was dragging that I could tell. Just seems to have been a case of the piston not being sized right? Or something else? I have included some pics as they came off the rifle to see if anyone has any comments or suggestions. I will start on making a larger diameter piston as soon as some metal that I ordered comes in,,, will eather have to make an offset piston rod assembly to fit under the DPMS freefloat handguard I have or find a larger hanguard. Ideas??? As an aside, I closed the ejection door after I loaded a round and it was kicked open after firing, but the bolt didn't cycle enough to load another round. Maybe I'm close,,,

I ordered a boltcarrier key for a piston gun from Midway. Stuck a rod thru the original holes in upper and handguard barrel nut. I measured the height of the rod where it meet the carrier key and the inside height of the handguard. I wanted it all to fit under neath and it just barely does. No bushings needed, yet, and I believe the next thing to make will be a new buffer weight that has an extenstion on the front of it to mate with the rear of the bolt carrier to prevent carrier tilt. Saw one on the web and it looked like a neat idea. The rod and piston lenghts were determined from the gap between the gasblock and carrier key and the piston spring compressed lenght. Same for the gaspiston vent hole,,,shooting it on saturday weather permitting,,,

Been working on this setup for a week or so off and on between work and family,,, getting close to finished,,, probaley not till next set off will I be able to test it out,,, going to profile the gasblock and put some finish on it today,,, Finished the gasblock and assembled the rifle,,, just barely fit under the handguard,,, the gasblock is 7075 aluminum, the gaspiston assembly is 416 SS, and the spring is an Adams Arms spring. The adjustable gasrod is detented and made of aluminum and SS, eight steps from open to closed. The spring is what I used to figure the stroke and the overall size is what I measured to fit under the handguard. I am not sure if the piston is the right size and if it will cycle properly, but that is the challenge of homeshop made,,,

I have a TFab verticle grip/bipod that I want to put on my handguard. I have a rifle lenght handguard on my 16" barreled rifle and I was wondering whether it would make a difference where I mounted it. Should it be all the way to the front or close to the back for the bipod to function well? Or does it matter? Just put the verticle grip where I want it and the bipod will still function okay???

Been working on my rifle getting it to look like I want it,, still a work in progress. The brake I made came out okay, but already have different ideas for the next one. Need to shoot it some to see want difference the freefloat tube made,,,I modified the stock gasblock into an adjustable one. Hopefully the modded gasblock and freefloat tube will bring it down to less than MOA and then I can start working up handloads,,, changed up the handguard with cooling vents plus needed a way to get to the adjustable gasblock,,,

Had a Saiga .308 for awhile and bought a DPMS Oracle .308 today. Wonder if the same handloads will work for both??? Gonna' work on making a brake for the DPMS,,,

Hello all from just outside of Houston, Texas. Been lurking for awhile and finally bought a DPMS Oracle today. Will shoot it this weekend and start working on some handloads for it. Ordering some steel this weekend to make a new brake for it on the lathe and mill. Hope the girls get along,,,