... don't last very long on P-14 actions. Thirty seconds seems to be the longest you can get before they self-destruct.

Is there someplace to buy them "cheaply" ("ha!") in bulk???

Russ

Try J&L Industrial. Buy the interstate brand endmills that are TIN coated. The 1/2" are $38.20 in volumes of six. If you buy more than that, and get on their fax list for sales, you'll save even more. I've bought the 3/8" ones for $18.00 before. That's also double ended, by the way, with an OAL of 3.0".

What kind of speeds and feeds are you running? That's pretty terrible tool life for any material. Are the endmills breaking or burning up? If their just snapping off, you might want to try turning your spindle speed up and reducing your depth of cut.

I don't know about the speeds and such, but I presume, from having watched him work over the years, that he's running "normal speeds" -- whatever those are. He's doing .338 RUMS on two P-14 actions; mine, apparently, isn't "too" bad... his, on the other hand, is "diamond grade," so to speak. Just luck of the draw, I guess.

I bought them at Enco. I just got off the phone with a REALLY nice lady, Diane, and had her repeat my last endmill order. So, help is on the way, but these things just aren't candy, you know.

And to think, we saved a lot of work by removing things that needed removing by using diamond cutting wheels. The endmills are just for the final work. Good grief.

I'll keep the place you mentioned in mind, thanks.

Russ

Oh, and to use his words, they're getting chewed up. I'll have to go over and look at them. They're not breaking, though, just rapidly losing their ability to cut.

Russ

I also buy my carbide end mills from J&L industrial. You may want to check out their "tech corner". You may not be using the correct grade of carbide either. Call them, they have techs who may answer you questions.

Jim

Look on ebay for better prices on carbide endmills. I would recomend an insert endmill for what your doing. Instead of replacing a $20+ mill bit you replace or rotate a $3 insert.
Ray

RET--

That action should be checked for hardness. If its hard enough to tear up carbide (if the driver is sober) it's too hard to be an action. Most of the really hard P-17s are Eddeystones that can crack when pulling the barrel.

I'm still using the same resharpened surplus, $10 a pound 5/8 four flute ball mill I bought in 1980.......but I'm not adverse to selective, partial annealing, either.

You'll need heatsinks and flowing water to do it, but it's cheaper than carbide! There's no reason not to do it, either.

Wow, good ideas everyone.

These were "drill" actions/rifles at one time. Yup, the driver is sober. I've never seen him drink, now that I think of it.

I'll check on the "insert" idea, seems reasonable. The endmills aren't overly expensive, as things go, at Enco... but they're not mere pennies, either. Anyway, I guess mine is just about done, but he's still got his left to go.

Thanks, everyone.

Russ

Receiver hardness does seem to be highly variable. I am drawfiling away at a P-14, trying to get the 'DP' off the front ring; once I got through what I presumed to be a heat treat skin, it filed easily.

Todd

correct speed, correct feed & plenty of coolant.

"I am drawfiling away at a P-14, trying to get the 'DP' off the front ring; once I got through what I presumed to be a heat treat skin, it filed easily."

Use a table top belt sander.

As far as milling, I had the same experience. No big problems. I used a horizontal mill and a mandril with centers that threaded into the receiver ring. Used a dividing head to turn it. Makes real short work of it.

On any front locking bolt action you can aneal the rear section with no problems. Protect the ring from heating. Might want to dodge the extraction cam.

You all keep talking about P-14 drill rifles. Are these from the batch 15 years ago, or a new bunch. Are more available somewhere?

[ 01-09-2003, 00:37: Message edited by: scot ]

Very good idea Scot, re: the belt sander. But I was afraid of going too fast -- slow and easy being better than 's^*&, I'm into the threads!" I did touch it lightly with a benchtop grinder. It's looking good now.

Anyone know how far you can cut back the rear receiver bridge to open up the action / feed port? Or is this not done?

Todd

Whatever the speed is I say go slower. The coating for machining really hard stuff is ALTiN (Aluminum Titanium Nitride). This coating is for areospace materials, stainless steel, titanium, and hardened tool steels. I have used Enco and J&L but I prefer MSC over them. They can be found at mscdirect.com
The endmill I found that would the best IMO is an Accupro 6 flute solid carbide in ALTin 1/2 Dia with a 1" LOC for $47.63 pn#88205950
This is one badass little endmill so give it a shot.

Sometime I give the receiver the "shoe shine" treatment. A knife maker friend gives me all his used sanding belts, 72" long. There is still some life in them. Put a receiver mandrel if you have one or get a a shop to turn you a 12"x.700 bar. Run the bar through the receiver & hold the bar in a vise & give the receiver ring the two handed shoe shine treatment. I usually add some cutting oil to help keep the belt from clogging up.