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My Razor Magnum build (pics)

18K views 147 replies 18 participants last post by  tanakasan 
#1 ·
Well, when I heard that Select Fire was making a revised version of the 10/22 Magnum I was instantly intrigued. So I called my brother, who has more firearms knowledge than I do, and asked if he thought it would be a doable project, he was very encouraging, so I started ordering some parts.

What I wanted was a heavy barreled semi-auto 17hmr. I'm hoping that the Select Fire receiver will be a good platform to pull off the 17hmr. I have a 10/22T that I replaced the trigger group w/a Kidd, so I already have an extra trigger group. I wanted a stainless fluted barrel w/a laminate stock. Finding a barrel proved more difficult than I expected, so ended up w/a blued non fluted .920 barrel from E.R. Shaw. I ordered a laminate stock from Stocky's, they called a few days later and told me they were out of stock, but could back order it, I said no and ordered a Hogue magnum .920 stock. I ordered a power custom magnum hammer spring, the rest of the parts came from Select Fire (buffer, pins, v-block). I also ordered the fixture and drill bit kit from Select Fire, and a 11/16" reamer from Grizzly.

Cost breakdown......All prices are to the door
receiver kit (w/bolt), buffer, pins, v-block, fixture, drill bits.............$390
Hogue .920 magnum stock............................................................$85
E.R. Shaw .920, 18" 17 HMR barrel, blued.....................................$132
Trigger Group, already had as spare...............................................$000
Power Custom hammer spring........................................................$13
Grizzly 11/16" reamer....................................................................$16
................................................................................Total.............$636

I hope to get the receiver finished on thursday, more pics to come.



















 
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#124 ·
Yep, I saw that point as the weak link...

I contemplated machining a "max" dimensioned bolt cross piece. The one you have is a cutoff SelectFire magnum handle. It was tons faster to modify an existing part than machine a brand new one.

It seems like one could machine a larger/thicker cross piece maximizing every dimension. A few thousandths could add a lot of strength.

Also, I *believe* those are hardened. Perhaps a tougher, not harder material is in order?

Robert
 
#126 ·
........

stukpedal,

i`ve been following this thread with interest....a friend of mine has a Razor and is trying to put together the tools he`ll need to mill it

i`m also in the mkt for a small mill....from your pictures,the size of your mill appears to be much larger than say, the grizzly mini-mill but a more manageable size than the old bridgeports available in the secondary mkts

would you mind telling me more about your mill and how it`s set-up ?

thanks,
John
 
#128 ·
stukpedal,

i`ve been following this thread with interest....a friend of mine has a Razor and is trying to put together the tools he`ll need to mill it

i`m also in the mkt for a small mill....from your pictures,the size of your mill appears to be much larger than say, the grizzly mini-mill but a more manageable size than the old bridgeports available in the secondary mkts

would you mind telling me more about your mill and how it`s set-up ?

thanks,
John
The mill belongs to a friend of mine, he has a small shop in his garage. It's setup very well, he has a mill, lathe, surface grinder, and mig/tig welders. I have many friends and family who have been machinists for years, and are very skilled. I'm not a machinist, I tinker and have a little knowledge, but I have all the help I need when I need it.

That being said, take my advice with a grain of salt. It's my understanding, that if a guy was going to buy a mill, a Bridgeport is the way to go. There are other companies out there that make as good of a product, just make sure what you buy will be serviceable for years to come. Depending on your need, you can probably buy a 30-50 year old Bridgeport for similar money to a new Grizzly. That may not sound like a deal, but in a garage application, you would probably never wear out a Bridgeport, and parts will always be available.

Also, you will easily have more money in tooling and tools than you will in the Bridgeport/mill. My advice would be to look into the entire cost of owning a mill. You will need to have it moved, wired, a rotary out-of-phase, a good vice, collet's, v-blocks, and a whole list of mic's, guages, vernier caliper's, and tooling.

If he is only doing occasional projects, it would probably be cheaper to find someone local with a small garage shop. If I were in the market for buying a mill, I wouldn't even consider the Grizzly. But, do your own research, and if possible talk to some machinists and get their opinion, that might even give you some leads on good used equipment for sale. Good luck
 
#127 ·
Great to hear you were able to get the gun to run pretty reliably. I somehow missed this thread originally and it was a good read!

Just for reference I believe using an heavy bolt was also how VQ got around the issues Ruger was having with the 22magnum 10/22 and was able to get the HMR to run reliably.

Just for reference my VQ HMR bolt weighs in at 435g. Believe that they are made of tool steel.
 
#129 ·
.....

stukpedal,

you given me some good information .... the advantage of experience (yours), is unquestionably valuable

my need for a mill stems from the inability to make modifications that are just beyond what i can do with hand tools , a drill press , and a dental rotary tool

the pictures of the bridgeports i`ve seen for sale , used, have lead me to try to find something smaller ...i just don`t have the space for a massive tool

maybe that`s it in a nutshell.....no space for it / it doesn`t belong in my tool collection

thanks for the information and for this informative thread

John
 
#131 ·
Well fella's, I had a buddy of mine make a new heavy bolt handle for me. I will try it out soon, but my guess is that the new handle will work exactly as the other heavy handle did, but should be more durable. I put a few rounds through it yesterday, and some of the cases were still bulged, but not too bad. This new handle is nice, the protrusion on the top is full width, so it shouldn't bend like the factory S.F. piece, many of the corners are radiused, which should improve strength, and it's a little heavier, but not much.

Here are some pics.

Factory handle


The handle Tanakasan gave me


My new handle






Total mass
 
#133 ·
Looks good Brian!

The radiused corners will definitely help as will the wide spring tab! Those were the weak points of the OEM piece. At 332.5g its a heavyweight setup. Should shoot well!

What diameter is the knob? Do you have a blueprint that you would release? Where can I buy one?!:D

Robert
 
#134 ·
Thanks Robert and Boomer. I don't have a blueprint, I will see if my buddy is interested in making more of them. They won't be cheap because they are handmade, one at a time. Also, the handle hasn't really been tested. I put 15 rounds through it, but I don't know how long will it last, maybe forever, maybe not. Time will tell, I will just have to get some rounds through it and inspect it.
 
#135 ·
I was able to take the 17 out to the range today and do a little more testing, and I'm pleased to say that it is working very well. I shot 17 and 20 grain, Hornady and CCI, and everything shot well. The cases are slightly bulged, but not enough to cause concern. I was shooting prone at 100 yards and could hit everything I aimed at (cans, paper targets, plastic water bottles hanging from string).

The magazine was sticking a little bit, not sure what that's about. It usually drops free when I push the speed lever on the Kidd trigger. I'm sure that will be easy to sort out.

So, at this point, I think it is finally a safe, reliable, accurate and fun gun. I would like to get another spring like I got from Robert, just to try another 1/2", for a total length of 7". The company that makes them has a minimum order, I think I would have to buy 80 of them to meet their $25 minimum.

The rifle now has about 1400 rounds through it. It has taken many hours of brainstorming, over $1000 in parts and labor, not including ammo, fuel and frustration to get it to this point.

At this point looking back, I wish I would have bought a Volquartsen. I did learn a lot, but the VQ will always be worth more used (not that I plan to sell), and would have been operational from day one.

Either way, I am very happy to have a semi-auto 17HMR. I will never see it's twin at the range, it's very unique, and very fun.
 
#148 · (Edited)
So, at this point, I think it is finally a safe, reliable, accurate and fun gun. I would like to get another spring like I got from Robert, just to try another 1/2", for a total length of 7". The company that makes them has a minimum order, I think I would have to buy 80 of them to meet their $25 minimum.
Hey Brian!

Long time! I still have some pieces of the spring. Pls resend your addy and I can get some sent your way.

The 360.5g of your latest setup looks great! Nice parts and lots of progress since I last visited. Sounds like your HMR is rockin' right along now! Congrats!

Here's a link to my build from a while back. Contains a lot of info between Brian and I for reference.

Robert
 
#139 ·
I just figured I would bump this up since a few people are working on Razor's, this will make it easier to find. I really haven't played with the 17 much lately, My Kidd trigger was acting up a little, I think it's full of powder residue, I need to take it apart and clean it.
 
#142 ·
Some of the work will still need to be done on a 22 mag, like radiusing the bottom of the bolt, and opening the the bolt face. I haven't converted mine to 22 mag, so I dont know how well it would work in 22 mag, but I think it would work just fine. The 17 HMR is much more difficult to make work.
 
#143 ·
This is just a thought -- the big problem with the Select Fire Magnum receiver being used for 17HMR is the original steel bolt. I was just in contact with quater-research.com and they have the Tungsten replacement bolts in stock for the Ruger 22 magnum and that bolt should fit right into the Select Fire magnum receiver. With the extra upper spring and that extra tungsten spring follower I would bet it would make for a heck of a 17HMR rifle. I think you guys already have 17HMR barrels so all that would be needed to make it work is the tungsten bolt -- only problem is they run $325 plus shipping.

I was thinking of doing one myself but I already have two 17HMR semi-autos so I'm not sure a third would be logical.
 
#144 ·
My guess is that you are right. The factory Ruger bolt is around 400 grams, vs. the Razor's 200 ish, plus the top spring and a tungsten follower. That would go a long way towards making a 17 hmr run good. But, that is expensive.

I still think that the Volquartsen is the way to go. They are expensive, but they seem to work well, or at least I don't hear of people having problems with them.
 
#145 ·
Not sure it's of any value now but back when you first thought about it all you needed was just the Select Fire magnum receiver. You had to buy the barrel and stock either way but then throw in the cost of the tungsten bolt and the upper spring and the tungsten spring follower. I don't know if the time and trouble you went to is worth the extra cost of that bolt or not. If I didn't already have 2 semi-auto 17HMR rifles I might have sprung for the tungsten bolt myself. I know the Volquartsen 17HMR is a nice rifle but at $1200 it's out of my price range.
 
#146 ·
If they were available then, I would have bought one, that would have saved a lot of time and trouble, and ultimately would have been cheaper. The reason I say the VQ is a better option is because of the time, gas, parts and ammo I put into mine to get it to work, I probably have more than $1200 in mine. So in my situation, The VQ would have been the better option, but I did learn a lot.
 
#147 ·
you're absolutely right on all counts. I don't know if the bolts were available when you started your project and they were not when I started mine. Since one of my projects was years ago I could actually buy a Ruger 22 magnum bolt for my build -- and it was cheap. What I originally posted was kind of speculation since nobody had really tried one of the new made bolts for 17HMR.
 
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