OK, I know this is probably a trade secret for most of you but I'm going to ask anyway. How do you fit the bottom of a quarter rib to a barrel? Do you grind and fit by hand with high spot bluing or inletting black? Do you have it duplicated on a milling machine? How do you do it?
Thanks,
Blair Clowdis

I start by roughing out the rib using a home-made duplicator made for my mill. Then it's Prussian blue, files, stones, scrapers and time, lots of time.

I believe it was Jerry Fisher who wrote an article for Gunmaker showing how he did it.

He set up the mill head at the appropriate angles to cut 3 different abutting concave grooves in the bottom of the square blank material. IOW when he set the milled-out blank on the barrel, the edges were touching in most places and there was a gap running down the middle of the rib blank's bottom.

Then he clamped the barrel in the vise, placed the rib blank on top, and gave it a heckuva whack with a BIG hammer. Afterward, clean up the turned-out edges, spot in as already described, soft-solder in place and mill the top side flat to the line of sight.

I have a copy of this article somewhere, it gives the appropriate angles and distances. If anyone is interested I'll dig it out and send a copy (of the DATA ONLY, Counselor, I'm well aware of copyright laws!)
Regards, Joe

I have a copy of Mark Stratton's book entitled "Tricks of the Trade, Custom Rifle Metalsmithing" and in that book is a very detailed set of instructions for fitting a basic quarter rib to a barrel.

I believe that Mark now has that book for sale again. Lots of great information.

If you are not interested in purchasing that book, do a search here on AR for the Cheryl Searcy Memorial Rifle thread. In that Thread Duane Wiebe posted some very good photographs of how he does it!!!

Joe,
I'd love to see a copy of that article if you can dig it up some place. I hadn't thought about the big hammer idea, at least not in that respect

Wilco, might take a day or 2.
Regards, Joe

Photos would be greatly appreciated by all.

I'd like a copy of the article Joe.

JD-

Pete grisel wrote about that method of fitting a quarter rib in Gunmaker a couple of years ago. I think that is the article you were talking about, as it mirrored what Grisel does. I will see if I can hunt it up to give you the issue number

The article by Grisel starts on page 22 of the Spring '07 issue of Gunmaker

ETA- i found it to be a very helpful article and changed the way i did soem things. i am not even in the same universe, much less ball park, as Grisel when it comes to anything he is doing to wood or metal. I now have some pretty severe physical limitations, but i am talking about even when i was healthy before I got sick.

being able to efficiently use your time and accomplish many specific tasks a day is how you can actually make a living making custom guns.

Thanks Marc, I just found it, Pete Grisel indeed it was.

Pete was in the TSJC class immediately ahead of mine, he was acknowledged by all the students to be THE premier student of his class ('66) and also better than anyone in our class coming up behind them.

And a heckuva good shooter too, I saw him outshoot some pretty accurate marksmen at 300 and later 400 yds. He was using a Rem 722 in 243 Win with a 3x Weaver and he beat, among others, a pre-64 M70 Swift with set trigger and 10x Weaver. Later he showed me the bore of his 243 and it was so shot out that it looked like a mud road but he could ring that 400-yd gong with no trouble.

If all who want info will PM me with their snail addy, I'll send it out ASAP.
Regards, Joe

I would highly recommend Mark Stratton's book. He talks about how he does quarter ribs, and how to build the tooling. Very good book that is well worth the money if your into doing custom stuff.

There was a time when Pete Grisel held a metalworking class. I don't know if he is still doing it amd I'm sorry I didn't ever get a chance to attend. I have a friend who was invited and attended a few years ago, his name is Glen Chapman. You know, the gunsmith who produces the swing safies for Mausers. He told me about looking over Pete's shoulder watching him make a quarter rib. Glen said it was like watching a great painter create a master piece. I ask him that now that he has seen the procedure himself, could he preform the work. He laughed and said NO WAY.

In the book I wrote there is a fixture that turns your milling machine into a machine that will produce a part that will mate with another part, like a quarter rib to a barrel. It's good for other mating parts as well..