Custom barrels

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I want to thank K Moses for politely pointing out that my custom stock was very angular (he called it polygonal). Sometimes we need a little help to do our best and the comment made me think about ways to improve my design. After running through tons of very coarse sand paper I was able to modify my design to be more comfortable in the hand and it looks much better. Thanks K Moses. I like how the satin black blends with the finish on the receiver and the scope. Need some input on whether to change the grips to black or keep the contrasting natural wood color.

AR 600 Carbine redo 2.jpg


AR 600 Carbine redo 1.jpg
 
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Plinkin4 fun said:
Here are photos of something every good soldier needs-a Crosman AR-600. The grips and forearm were fashioned from Canadian rock maple. The receiver and forearm are equipped with picatinny rails that hold a quick-release combat flashlight, a shoulder harness, a Pinty 2.5-10 x 40 scope with integrated green dot/red dot laser and illuminated reticle, and a quick-release hand grip with retractable bipod. The forearm has a spring-loaded release pin that allows it to slide off the barrel and frame to refresh the CO2 cartridge. The barrel is tipped with a Buck Rail suppressor made on a 3-D printer that comes off easily to remove the forearm. The foldable alloy stock is spring loaded and folds to the side for close range shooting. Last but not least, I added a knob to the cocking slide so it can be charged like a proper AR. Received a message today that my 24" carbine barrel is in the mail. I can't wait to get it so I can find out how it shoots. Thanks for your interest in my project.

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Is that a rifle or pistol?
 
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EBSARG said:
nice stock
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Plinkin4 fun said:
They're just a couple of artifacts I picked up when I lived in Montana several years ago. The holster reportedly was owned by Jack Slade, one of the founders of the Pony Express and later a notorious gunfighter who murdered a man for holding up an overland stage. He was hanged by vigilantes in Virginia City, Montana after getting drunk and shooting up the town. The knife was made by a Crow Indian named Willy Lone Wolf. I bought it from him when he tried to pawn it at a local pawn shop in Billings. The blade is a piece of old car spring, the handles are elk bone, and the sheath is elk hide. What really caught my attention was the Indian symbols drawn on the sheath with ball point pens with different colored ink. If you like these, you'll love the classic cowboy art depicting a cowboy portrait drawn on a bleached-out ox jaw. Picked it up in a small shop in Wyoming. Thanks for your interest.

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Very interesting information.
 
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Thanks, Dave. I'm not a sophisticated airgunner, so I never would have made that connection. I thought about going with a Walther barrel for this build since they have a reputation for accuracy. I went with the lower cost option since I didn't know how the build would turn out. What's the saying about hindsight being 20/20? As far as Chris's question, this is a vintage gun that was state-of-the-art in the 1960s, but modest in performance compared to modern precision guns. Nevertheless, I can get respectable 1 1/2" groupings with the long barrel and Pinty scope which I dial back to 5x for 30 yard distances. I don't have a chronometer, but I'm guessing the gun shoots at around 500 fps, plenty of knockdown power in a .22 for pests and small game. It's a true blowback semi-auto, so some of each discharge is shunted to re-cock and advance the next pellet. Though it's a gas hog for sure, it's worth it to me to have an immediate backup shot, especially with skittish pests like squirrels, rats, and blackbirds. The action works flawlessly with JSB Diablos who's dimensions appear to be very close to original Crosman wadcutters. Can get by with occasional jams using RWS Hobby and Crosman Premier pellets. I hope that answers your questions, Chris. From my perspective, this gun is more about fun than performance. Any thoughts about the aesthetics of going black on the grips?
 
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Thanks for the info. I'm a long time lover of the 600, have had a couple in the past and currently own a modified copy. Though not permanantly modified, it can be returned to stock in minutes. It has a custom scope rail that I made, a 13" Mac 1 barrel, has been built and up rated by Henry Ford and wears a neat pair of grip panels. Let me see if I can dig up a pic of it...here we go:

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Oh yeah, I run it off 1400 psi compressed air. I only ever shoot it in my garage @ 10 meters, but it will make 550 fps using the crosman flat top pellets. And at that range, of course, it shoots lights out...one ragged hole in the paper. Love to do something like what you've done though, I really like the carbine idea. As to your question, I like wood.

Chris
 
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I like it, Chris. Tell me more. What is the extended air tube from? Is it regulated? I didn't realize these guns could handle 1400 psi. How many shots do you get per fill? Do you fill with a high compression compressor? Good work on those laminated grips, they really set the gun off. I've got some ideas for using a factory AR-15 Quadrail on my other 600.
 
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Sure, the airtube came from Mac 1 and I think I got the adaptor cap from either them or Mountain air. I "think" it works out to about 50 CC and it just screws on where the stock puncture cap comes off. No regulator. I usually fill the mag twice before refilling the pressure, so 20 shots is all I'll vouch for. Bear in mind too that my valve was opened up by Henry, so a stock valve would get more shots. I do fill it with a Yong Heng compressor. The 1400 psi number I got from this forum, can't remember who, but someone posted that as the "drop dead" figure. Probably the absolute pressure CO2 will reach in a hot environment...not sure there. It shoots hard, probably one of my more powerful pistols. I'd like to do a carbine conversion though, yours has me thinking...
Chris
 
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The last time I talked to Tim at Mac 1 he said his machinist was no longer making the air tube extensions. Think I'll go back to see if I can coax one out of him for gun #2. It would allow me to fill without removing the handguard which is a big plus. Does your rig have a meter built into the tube or do you go by the reading on the compressor? I read that going to a hot valve puts more stress on the brass blowback mechanism and causes premature wear. Could be just airgun envy. Did you get your Yong Heng from Pyramid or Baker? The ones I've checked out seem to be pretty pricey. I adjusted the placement of my barrel yesterday and it made the action much smoother. I find that releasing the tension spring on the magazine makes it easier to uncock. BTW, where do you get your Crosman flat top pellets? I thought they were out of production.
 
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Hmmm, I did not know that about Tim stopping production of those tubes, guess a call is in order to him. Yes, it would fit in very well with your AR platform. No guage, I would block it off if it did. Those things take up too much volume in a small airtube. I use the guage on my compressor.

The Yong Heng is a cheap, Chinese compressor available all over the place. I bought mine on Ebay. They typically go for around $250 for the basic model. Be forewarned though, for longevity, there are a number of things you'll need to do to it to keep it cool. There are many threads on them over in the compressors area of this furum.

Barrel placement is best done with a .004" shim or feeler guage between the breech of the barrel and shuttle. I bought a lot of the old Crosman pellets years ago on Ebay to use specifically in this airgun. But there are many pellets that will work, they just need to be of a wadcutter or near wadcutter design. I would imagine your statement about a hot valve causing premature wear is true, makes sense. I don't shoot it all that much though, so not really a problem for me. If/when it breaks, I'll pack it up and send it off the Henry for repair. There are a lot of airguns I will/have dig into, in fact I've built several of my own PCP's, but I WILL NOT dig into a C-600, I let Henry do that.
 
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Plinkin4 fun said:
Thanks for all of the advice, guys. I did purchase a barrel from Crosman and sent it to a shop in California, but have only gotten radio silence since, even though he agreed to make me a barrel. Will try to call tomorrow and see if I can nudge them. Meantime, I've contacted the other shops recommended here. Hopefully, they are more attuned to customer service. As far as having a local machine shop make the barrel, I don't know of anyone in the area with the technical capability. I know that sounds sad-maybe there is a shop I don't know about. At one time it was common to offer extended barrels for these guns, but as vintage pieces become more scarce, demand drops off I suppose. Thanks again for the ideas. This forum is a great resource for novices like me.
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Where can I find a stock like that? How is it attached? cool project for sure...
 
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Hi Chris. Got a text from Tim at Mac1 yesterday. He said he has the extensions in 5 inches and 8 inches. He also explained they come with a collar or coupler to connect them to the stock tube. Then he explained something about fine threads vs. coarse threads that I couldn't get a handle on. Think I'll go with the longer one for more volume since I'm using longer barrels. Which one do you have? Does yours have a coupler? bf1956, the stock is custom made from Canadian Rock maple flooring planks. Lots of Tite Bond glue and sanding. It slides off the end of the barrel and is held in place with a spring loaded retaining pin on the bottom of the stock. The pin clicks into place between the air tube cap and piercing pin crown. You simply pull the pin down by the head and the handguard slides right off. When you slide it back on you retract the pin for the last inch or so and it clicks right into place. It was tricky getting the dimensions just right so it fits snug and is still easy to slide off, but after a lot of tinkering and swearing I dialed it in. If I'm shooting it a lot I leave the suppressor off to make recharging simpler. It's held on with two small allen head retainers. I'm currently planning a second build that will use an after market AR-15 aluminum quadrail over a custom made collar. The barrel will be free floating on that one as well.

handguard pin.jpg
 
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A Foster is like a small version of what you may have for fittings on your regular compressor, it is a quick connect fitting and most common across the board.
Nah, as I mentioned before, I only ever shoot it in my garage, maximum range of 10 meters. I've never checked the falloff in velocity over the full discharge, only the peak velocity. Might be interesting to find out though. I can say this, from shot one to shot twenty, it's still putting them thru the same ragged hole...albeit a large hole, but still, one hole. And truthfully, that is really not much of a test of it, It'd probably do quite nicely at say 25 yards, for a magazine full. It is clearly not an offhand gun and I tend to rest it on a trigger stick. Come to think of it, it'd probably be a decent squirrly gun, with the trigger stick.
Chris
 
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Ordered two eleven inch air tube extensions from Mac1 today, but he is out of the bulk fill caps. Why couldn't I just install a foster valve in my existing cap? It's already drilled and the fosters have a threaded end so it should be pretty straightforward if I knew which size valve to order. Tim is pretty adamant that you should only use CO2 in bulk fill conversions. He says you can't compress enough air to give consistency in non-regulated guns. I think the regulated guns are rocking 250 BAR or 3600 PSI. A 12 gram CO2 cartridge, on the other hand, puts out about 1000 psi, but it does it over and over as the liquid gasifies so you get the benefit of high volume from a small source. You mentioned your tube is about 50cc and you fill to 1400 psi. Guess I could pick up a scuba tank and have it filled at a paint gun fill station instead of using a compressor. Your route would be a lot cheaper and less hassle. Now that I've thought it through, it might have made more sense to design a carbon fiber tank into the forearm instead of going the extension tube route. Been here before on similar projects like motorcycle engine swaps and trying to convert HVAC to split minis after a hurricane took out my ductwork. It's always easier in the concept phase!
 
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