....and I thought MY gunsmithing skills were bad....

[AJMD429]

http://www.alloutdoor.com/2016/11/29/ch ... ope-mount/

[ollogger]

I would have welded the rings to the base also, way more strength that way!!



Brad

[Sixgun]

I got something like that. I used a Winchester side mount with some scrap steel and nuts and bolts and mounted it on an Enfield in 06. Worked real good but did not look as nice as the one doc posted.---6

[AJMD429]

I wonder how much the receiver softened up around the left bolt-notch....

[JOHNNY WACKO]

desperate times call for desperate measures i guess. 1 side looks brazed not welded.

[wolfdog]

The sling made out of a serpentine auto belt is a nice touch.

[FWiedner]

Now that's country...

[GunnyMack]

Oh boy can anyone say LAW SUIT?
Think I would stay away from that guy at the range!

[Pete44ru]

.

I like how the scope is tilted down, for those 1,000yd shots..............


.

[Griff]

[mikld]

Is that !*#! on a Mini 14?

[Griff]

Is that !*#! on a Mini 14?

See... what it is, is that some poor grunt got kicked outta the Army, but missed his M-16... and since he'd always wanted a scope on it... but, couldn't afford even a AR15... so he figured.. what if I?

See... doesn't it seem much more reasonable now that it's been explained? NO? Me either!

[Blaine]

Is that !*#! on a Mini 14?

See... what it is, is that some poor grunt got kicked outta the Army, but missed his M-16... and since he'd always wanted a scope on it... but, couldn't afford even a AR15... so he figured.. what if I?

See... doesn't it seem much more reasonable now that it's been explained? NO? Me either!

I wish I had pics of what a co-worker did with a fairly nice 303 Enfield to get a 20 dollar BSA WallyWorld scope on it....

[Catshooter]

That'll buff right out . . .


Cat

[gcs]

yeah,.. that's a little rough

[JOHNNY WACKO]

.

I like how the scope is tilted down, for those 1,000yd shots..............


.

I thought it was too.

[walks with gun]

Boy, I hope someone neuters that sick bugger before he breeds more like him.

[walks with gun]

Boy, I hope someone neuters that sick bugger before he breeds more like him.

[Sixgun]

Here's my homemade scope mount that I used for quite a while on a Enfield in 30-06. I used a Williams side mount that was made for a '94 Winchester, another piece that has "Mossberg" stamped on it, a flat piece of steel of unknown origin, and a few screws and nuts. The mount even has adjustments for gross elevation ...then fine tune with the scope. It actually looks worse in person and I did have a few laughs at the gunclub. I told the guys, " I want to shoot this gun and it has no iron sights and you think I'm gonna spend more on the mount than what I paid for the rifle, so go scratch your azz." ----6

[Old Ironsights]

At least you were smart enough to not weld directly to the action...

"GI Ingenuity" is one thing, Bubba with a Welder is another.

[DadsMod12]

All I can say is I guess the duct tape didn't hold.

[Griff]

All I can say is I guess the duct tape didn't hold.

[Bulldozer]

It looks bad, but I am sure a skilled gunsmith could save the gun...

[FWiedner]

It looks bad, but I am sure a skilled gunsmith could save the gun...

The receiver is a heat treated part. By welding directly on the receiver the heat treatment has been altered and the part is no longer safe to use. Judgement call. The receiver IS the gun. Thus, the gun is most likely ruined.

A skilled gunsmith might be able to recreate the proper heat treatment, but IMO most wouldn't want to earn the lawsuit, and would most likely call the gun dead or replace a receiver that has been altered in this fashion. There are some jobs you just don't do.

JMO.

[GunnyMack]

As FWiedner states, the receiver is heat treated, let's not forget Ruger investments casts their receivers, they are HARD and Tough! Once that arc was struck the heat treat is ruined. The rear bridge is probably ok but the front ring is not safe anymore. I wouldn't shoot that Mini!

When I was in school, we did color case hardening. I picked up a really nice Argentine Mauser action, decided to case harden it. Spent a long time polishing that action. Moment of truth when the crucible got dumped into 35 gallon drum of water to quench. WOW what colors, then I tried to install the polished & jeweled bolt- that action twisted BAD! When we tried to straighten it the rear bridge cracked where the bolt stop/ ejector install, very thin there. At that point all that was left to do was anneal it, straighten it weld it and sent it for commercial heat treat.

An engraver I knew years ago would turn down every job that was a Ruger. Said he spent more time sharpening tools then cutting steel.

[JOHNNY WACKO]

it could be re heated and cooled down correctly and mite work the pressure is in the chamber in front of the bolt head more then on the receiver i would say. but i would pass on it myself or strip it out for parts.a mig welder cools the surface around the weld as it welds from the Aragon. you can mig weld in a rocker panel and hardly hurt the paint rite beside the weld if you got it set up correctly. but that weld looked more like a braze job to me witch takes more heat to melt the steel and rod together.
from the look of the puddle the receiver never got hot enough to melt the puddle correctly. I have welded and cooled things down with oil not water on quad axles that held up better that i ever thought they would.
if you keep your heat to the thin or softer medal that would have looked better. His bad weld mite have helped save the receiver i don't see were he melted into the receiver just stuck a puddle to it.
I have welded for 30 years and still surprised how some steel takes the heat different then others. I would say a good wack with a hammer would have broke that rite off. no penetration as bill clinton would say.
to do that rite the receiver should have been heated before trying to weld the thin soft bar to it and cooled slow with gear oil or heavy weight 90 lube or even grease.
some receivers are alloy and have no straight at all the chamber in the barrel takes the pressure and the bolt don't lock tight in a semi so it would open before the pressure built up enough to blow up.
look at a ar15 its aluminum not steel and they don't blow up the bolt opens and lets out the pressure. now old guns like the foreign henry copys made from poor grade steel (train tracks) had a rep of blowing up and the early 1897 winchesters too do to poor steel.

[TWHBC]

Isn't mine cause there would be stuck rods making it look like an annoyed porcupine!

[FWiedner]

The lock on a Mini-14 consists of an 'ear' on either side of the rotating bolt just behind the bolt face, and a matching stop machined into either side of the receiver. The left side lock-up is directly behind this gentleman's lovely weld. The .223 is a high-pressure cartridge. If the left side of the receiver is soft, and the right side harder there are a handful of things that MIGHT happen (in ascending order on the disaster scale): 1) Nothing. He will continue to shoot this abomination and live happily ever after. 2) The soft metal at the point of lock-up will peen, the gun will develop head-space and eventually fail to lock. He might someday experience a double, or unexpectedly go full auto. 3) The receiver on that side will stretch, eventually rendering the gun inoperable because the bolt cannot move freely to travel in a straight line. 4) After developing head-space and increasing feed problems, the soft metal will separate under pressure adjacent to the left-side lock and the the shooter may experience a potentially injurious blow-out.

[JOHNNY WACKO]

Or 4 some 1 will get it and strip it for parts before some 1 gets hurt.i dout it got real hot do to that crappy looking puddle but if thats a ruger the steel is hard and who knows what could happen.
that's why people who don't know shouldn't do stuff like that.
that hard steel mite crack before it stretches,but if you knocked it off with a hammer i bet there is just a dull gray spot were he never penetrated the receiver much at all. and a 1 sided weld never would hold up long anyways.he didn't know what he was doing or he
would have drilled and tapped it .

[FWiedner]

Most likely #1.

[JOHNNY WACKO]

lets hope he don't get hurt with it..

[Bulldozer]

The lock on a Mini-14 consists of an 'ear' on either side of the rotating bolt just behind the bolt face, and a matching stop machined into either side of the receiver. The left side lock-up is directly behind this gentleman's lovely weld. The .223 is a high-pressure cartridge. If the left side of the receiver is soft, and the right side harder there are a handful of things that MIGHT happen (in ascending order on the disaster scale): 1) Nothing. He will continue to shoot this abomination and live happily ever after. 2) The soft metal at the point of lock-up will peen, the gun will develop head-space and eventually fail to lock. He might someday experience a double, or unexpectedly go full auto. 3) The receiver on that side will stretch, eventually rendering the gun inoperable because the bolt cannot move freely to travel in a straight line. 4) After developing head-space and increasing feed problems, the soft metal will separate under pressure adjacent to the left-side lock and the the shooter may experience a potentially injurious blow-out.

Right.
We do not know for sure how far heat treatment has been damaged. But better to be prudent and run away!
I appreciate your analysis. You describe 4 possibilities, and I too wonder which one is the right one. If only we could find that gun, we should use several High pressure test cartridges, and we would know!
Buldo.

[Old Ironsights]

It needs to be #2 and go full auto. Somebody that dumb should have the BAT Men take away his US Man Card and send him to live with Red Green.

[JOHNNY WACKO]

I miss Red GREEN AND POSSUM LODGE

[stretch]

Man, but that's some ugly welding!

I like the post, though - lotsa interestin' discussion.

Personally, I'm always leery of welding on a receiver
like that. Ya really gotta have a clue before ya embark
on suchlike......

-Stretch

[marlinman93]

Looks like Bubba is still carrying on with his franchises! One of the longest running franchise efforts in history, and worldwide coverage! His work goes beyond just gunsmithing, and can be found in every aspect of repairs!

[Ysabel Kid]

That is just a crying shame!