If I were foolish enough to buy a chunk of 1018 and attempt to whittle a quarter rib out of it, what would be a good size bar stock to use?

1/2 x 1/2, 5/8 x 3/8, 1/2 x 3/8?

I have a fairly slim profile sporter barrel 22" long, 5/8" at the muzzle...

I hate to say it, but for what you can buy a quarter rib....

If I were going to buy material to make a quarter rib for a slim rib I would use 1/2"x3/4". Course you need to keep in mind what you are going to put on the rib. If you are going to cut the rib for a sight and the sight needs .600, then 1/2 will not work.

Shoot me an email, I probably have a chunk of 1018 you can have for a few bucks plus shipping.

The common widths of 1/4 ribs is .500", .625", and .700".

I start with wider material than needed, and surface both sides to relieve the stress from the cold drawn surfaces. That also makes the material much higher than you will need but it gives you room to adjust the top of the rib.

If you leave the cold drawn surfaces on the rib, it will warp depending on how it feels like it at the time. Even taking all four cold drawn surfaces off, just the machine work from the bottom to top of the rib will cause it to walk upwards aprox 1/32" in the center, depending on the length and thickness.

Once the female pattern is made, I machine the female, ( underside of the rib ) to match the barrel, and final hand fit it. Once the mounting holes are drilled and tapped. You can finish roughing out the top of the rib and plan how you will finish the top.

The top of the rib can be lathe turned, cut on the mill etc, to suit.

The really fun ribs have a intergal front scope base that comes over the top of the front receiver bridge.

The finest 1/4 rib I ever saw was on a Fred Wells barreled action. Kurtz length double square bridge, the 1/4 rib started at the front of the square bridge, was about 7/8" wide and swept down to .500 wide over the barrel breech, then was about 7 inches long. LOTS of fine cuts and polish work on that one.

James Wisner
Metalsmith

One more thing I have seen from making several ribs; they will warp on you when you are making the angled cut, so plan on making a rough cut, straighten it, and then final mill it. I use 1018 cold rolled stock. Last one I used .5 by .5. And milled dovetails for Warne rings.

Would not annealing the bar stock prior to starting to work it alleviate or eliminate the warpage problem? Annealing is pretty simple to do compared to heat treating. Get it hot enough for long enough and let it cool slowly in a bucket of sand, litter, or vermiculite. It's an extra step but seems worthwhile if it makes shaping the part easier.

Here's one of Mr. Wisner's quarter ribs that incorporates the front ring base. This a 7x57 built on a Swede. Really slick IMHO.

Very nice, I would like one like that! Thanks for the advice, and thanks for the offer Fal Grunt. I have measured a sight base I have, and think for the proportions I'm after a 3/8 x 5/8 piece would be about right. This place: On-line metals has decent prices, and is not too far away, but if you think you can get me a piece for less that around $2.50 I'd take you up on it. I'm thinking postage would eat that up pretty quick...

If you can pick it up, you will certainly save money! Local machine shops are good, sometimes, they will sell you a small piece for an affordable price. At least the one I used to work at did

I do love that quarter rib.

Jim...you should make a production run of quarter ribs. Leave final fitting to the customer. They would sell like hot cakes. Ron

What are the Dakota ones like? If I were getting a barrel at the same time I would consider it, but I'm afraid there might be an awful lot of hand fitting if it wasn't I tried to use in on a barrel other than the one it was profiled for, even if it were pretty close to begin with. Also, no dimensions listed...