Not satisfied with the machine vise that came with the mill, I went looking for a replacement. Prices on ebay were not any better than 'new' on manufacturer's sites, and found ONE (discontinued) at Fastenal, (in store in North Carolina), for half price. (Long story. Won't bore you with it.) Got it a couple of days ago, and spent a couple of hours installing it on my mill's table. It's a heavy beast - 75 lb. Here are pictures I promised j0e_bl0ggs I would post.







This thing had been 'laying around' the NC Fastenal store for a while as "damaged". I couldn't find any damage when I inspected it at the Wasilla Fastenal before purchasing. After cleaning all of the  'traveling grease' off of it, here's all I could find 'wrong'.

Left table right in front of fixed jaw:


Right table right in front of fixed jaw:


I used the lighting to highlight the scratches, so they appear a little worse in the pictures than in 'real life'.

So, I have a new machine vise mounted on my mill. It should make fabricating the one-piece scope base (subject of this thread) easier.

Paul

Don't drop it on yer hoof...

The RIGHT screws (6-40, not 8-40) finally arrived and I ground them to proper length. The scope is 'officially' mounted on the practice bases.



The picture is a bit cluttered so I cropped it to show just the mounts. It looks seriously 'clunky' to me, but again it's the practice set. The next set MAY be significantly lower, with "high" rings. I have to get the high rings in hand first. Also, the next set won't be "blocks", regardless of how high they are. I am forced to get the scope 'up' above the receiver so I can feed and extract cartridges. However, I think the high rings may look better than high bases.

What the practice bases will allow me to do is check the scope alignment. The front base is about 0.005" lower than the rear base. According to experts, that should amount to about half an inch of elevation (declination) at 100 yd. I can use these bases to test that assertion. Assuming that is correct, (and I think it is), the half inch of elevation won't be an issue when it comes to sighting in the rifle. If it is a bigger problem, I want to know that before I make the "real" ones.

Paul

As I mentioned above, I didn't like the clunky look of the practice bases. The 'issue' is that I can't lower the scope too much, or I won't be able to load a cartridge easily. Nevertheless, I couldn't stand looking at those clunky bases, so I 'cut them in half'. Here is a picture of them after I reduced their height by half.



They look "OK" to me now. Much better than before. They will suffice for testing to make sure base elevation is right before I start machining the "real", one-piece base.

Paul

They look much better cut down. Such a nice looking rifle.

Marcus

Thanks, Marcus.

I'm itching to get out and shoot it, and a couple of other rifles. I've got the rolling block in 12.7x44R that Rick gave me, the H&R .416x348 Win. of course, and I'll probably take the new CZ 450 in .22 RF Mag., as I haven't shot that yet.

I don't think I have any ammo loaded for this .25 Krag AI.

Paul