Can you machine a S&W Revolver on a Manual Mill?

[akshaykumark]

Hi,

I wanted to know if milling a S&W .45 revolver on a manual vertical mill would be functional and safe.

I love working on manual mills in my spare time.

I don't have much experience machining guns and this is my first time.

I've machined general industrial parts like frames and handles on a manual and complex 5-axis parts like impeller and diffuser on CNC. This is my experience.

 

[moonlight machine]

Hi,

I wanted to know if milling a S&W .45 revolver on a manual vertical mill would be functional and safe.

I love working on manual mills in my spare time.

I don't have much experience machining guns and this is my first time.

I've machined general industrial parts like frames and handles on a manual and complex 5-axis parts like impeller and diffuser on CNC. This is my experience.

If you have to ask us you probably should not do it. What are you calling a manual mill? Some POS mill drill or a nice tight Bridgeport with a high quality DRO?

 

[kopcicle]

So I'd say yes, with several caveats.

Know your gun steels.
Know your tool steels. You will be making some of your own tools.
Order of operations
Blueprints, drawings, anecdotes, videos, any look inside the factory you can get.
Best to by a barrel or barrel blank.
Wolff Gunsprings.

There is much, so very much more but that is more than enough for now.

 

[kopcicle]

If you have to ask us you probably should not do it.

What you mean "us" kemosabe ?

To be sure extreme caution is to be advised when it comes to energetics surrounded by potentially lethal fragmentation. However I fail to comprehend immediate derision, discouragement and less than stellar demeanor.

I'll leave it go with one of my favorite quotes.

"If a man wants to carry two cats home by their tails, by all means let him. He’ll learn things that he might not have otherwise even guessed, and the experience will be one he’ll not soon forget!"

 

[akshaykumark]

If you have to ask us you probably should not do it. What are you calling a manual mill? Some POS mill drill or a nice tight Bridgeport with a high quality DRO?

A very good Bridgeport equivalent brand (Pentagon) but no DRO. I got a cheap mill-drill too but not planning to make on that.

 

[EmGo]

I wanted to know if milling a S&W .45 revolver on a manual vertical mill would be functional and safe.

Absolutely not. Before there was nc, there were no guns.

 

[moonlight machine]

What you mean "us" kemosabe ?

"Us" is the members of this forum.

 

[akshaykumark]

Absolutely not. Before there was nc, there were no guns.

I'm sorry gentlemen that I did not mention before, I'm from India and here the self defense industry is only budding and I just wanted to be safe.

Thanks.

 

[john.k]

At this juncture we might add,that guns are very strictly controlled in India ,and making your own is likely to be a serious crime........now if the OP had said he lived in the North West Frontier SATA,Id say ,go for it ,and possibly get some help from one of the factories.

 

[akshaykumark]

 

[GGaskill]

I wanted to know if milling a S&W .45 revolver on a manual vertical mill would be functional and safe.

Making the parts would be possible but very time consuming without the various workholding fixtures a factory would use and you likely would need some special cutters or make small changes to the original design to use standard cutters. And then you need to deal with heat treating and other issues.

 

[akshaykumark]

Oh I see..

I wanted to make it because 1) I like manual machining very much and 2) I love the S&W's revolver design.

So no worry about time but yes regarding the fixtures I don't have many. So I'll see what I can do..

 

[maynah]

It always amazed me the tight fits on the side plates of early S&W and Colt revolvers made with line shaft milling machines.

 

[Scottl]

AFAIK the older S&W revolvers were made using multiple machines and fixtures with some parts perhaps done using bench profilers and master patterns.

Not impossible to do on a manual mill but I'm guessing months of part time work for a very experienced machinist and maybe too difficult for a less experienced person. My advice would be to start with a simple single shot pistol first using either a rifled barrel blank or even buying suitable barrel, trigger and related parts etc. as spare parts.

If you want to play with a revolver perhaps start with a gun show frame as a starting point and rebuild it with other parts. Years ago a friend purchased a used heavy duty S&W .357 and converted to a short barreled .45 ACP using various parts including a 1911 barrel which a machinist friend turned into a barrel liner and bored out the barrel to receive it. The rest he did on his kitchen table using mostly hand tools.

Update: I just read that you are in India and I would very carefully check the laws before proceeding. Not worth prison time.

 

[michiganbuck]

I bought a mill and grinder from a fellow who lost his job along with lost retirement for making a handgun at General Motors, so better check all the rules and laws.
Some gun features need special cutting tools, so making a cutter may be due...

 

[NewGunPlumber]

What you mean "us" kemosabe ?

To be sure extreme caution is to be advised when it comes to energetics surrounded by potentially lethal fragmentation. However I fail to comprehend immediate derision, discouragement and less than stellar demeanor.

I'll leave it go with one of my favorite quotes.

"If a man wants to carry two cats home by their tails, by all means let him. He’ll learn things that he might not have otherwise even guessed, and the experience will be one he’ll not soon forget!"

We got ourselves a thermite replacement!!

 

[john.k]

Its not impossible......the Webley Mk 6 revolver has something like 100 small parts ,and tribal gunsmiths have managed to make copies that work OK........There is a utube recently of a SATA smith cutting out Makarov frames with a Koike single nozzle magnetic tracer profile cutter......and there are hundreds of frames there......mass production,not a cottage industry.