One LRB and one Bula rifle finished in NP3 in Blackfeather chassis with Lothar-Walther medium barrels and Shooting Sight triggers









Never done any like this before. NP3 cost $750 to do both rifles. Each rifle, without optics costs about $5,000

Tony.

Man that looks sharp!

Gorgeous.

Very, very nice! I got to shoot an M14 recently, and now I really want an M1A. You're not helping!

These rifles gave me two vibes. One was a shipboard defensive rifle and the other was an Oakland Raiders vibe.

At first-glance, it looks like an all-stainless Mini-14

What a nice looking couple of guns. That finish really makes them standout and they still look classy.

Wow that looks awesome. I bet those are shooters too.

The A-Team on steroids.

Tony,

Do that to my McMillan M3A/Walther build and there's gonna be a fight...;-)

Wes

I bet that would look awesome in a walnut stock

I say they will look hot in walnut stock!!! Very nice as it is, indeed.

quote:

Originally posted by limblessbiff:
I bet that would look awesome in a walnut stock

quote:

Originally posted by Weshowe:
Tony,

Do that to my McMillan M3A/Walther build and there's gonna be a fight...;-)

Wes

Where's your sense of adventure?!

Tony,

It's got nothing to do with my "sense of adventure". I just think there's a little to much bling there...

Wes

Nice!
Cleaning it after a good range trip should be simple and quick.

Who did the coating?

quote:

Originally posted by CPD SIG:
Nice!
Cleaning it after a good range trip should be simple and quick.

Who did the coating?

Vang Comp out of Arizona.

Thanks Benny. That's the company that picked up when Robar closed its doors, correct?

Let us know how it holds up, and how the cleanup on that bad-mamma-jama is. Especially that piston. A few buddies have the NP3 on their AR's and cleaning it is super easy!

Looks great,
Knowing zilch about M14 rifles, I started reading articles and watching videos on the www.

It seems like there is always at least one mention of critical contention about this gun.

I am glad you posted this thread.

Well, unfortunately there are issues. I tested both rifles before plating and they ran great.

After plating, both rifles failed to cycle. I didn't have one time where the rifle fired and chambered another round successfully. I had instances where the bolt never unlocked and I had to cycle the action by hand. I had other instances where the action cycled and fed a new round, but lacked the momentum to close the bolt. A bump with my hand was required to fully close the bolt on a new round.

After investigation, I found a biproduct of the process coated inside the gas pistons. It was almost like clay. I ran my gas cylinder drill bit into the inside of the piston tail and the grooves in the drill bit were full. I did not notice this when I assembled the rifles.

The coating inside the gas cylinders also closed up the inside diameter below minimum spec.

The minimum spec is 0.5000". I happen to have a precision gauge pin that is 0.5000" in diameter. The gauge pin would not slide into the piston. The coating on the piston and the coating inside the cylinder did not leave enough tolerance to move freely, despite the teflon infused nickel plating.

I used a chamber hone to bring the inside diameter within spec and I'll try again with an uncoated piston if problems persist. Uncoated pistons had a smaller outside diameter than the coated piston.

I should note that Sadlak makes their pistons small knowing that the TiN plating will bring the pistons to spec. It seems that applying NP3 to a standard gas piston increases the diameter too much, even though the plating thickness is about 10um.

Tony.

Benny, any updates?

I can't believe it wouldn't fire/cycle. I would have bet money that it would be within acceptable tolerances. I'm surprised!

I polished the inside of the gas cylinders so that they would accept a precision 0.50000" gauge rod. I expect them to cycle next time out on the range. I'm also taking spare gas pistons in case they still fail with the NP3'd pistons.

I'll update you on the status after I test them.

Tony.