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Tungsten long follower for Razor Magnum

3K views 46 replies 13 participants last post by  22_boomer 
#1 ·
Guys, I'm thinking of having some long followers made from Tungsten for my Razor Magnum. The material is expensive, so I'm thinking about making more of them to offset my cost. The stainless long follower that's in mine now is 2" long and weighs 17.6 grams, I calculate that a tungsten follower @ 2.25" would weigh about 40 grams +/-.

I figure depending on how many I make, the cost would be around $50 shipped, if I only make 5, and probably $40 shipped if I make 16. These #'s aren't set in stone, I need to get a final cost of material/labor to know the exact cost, but I think these #'s are close.

So the question is, who is interested in buying them? If I get enough interest I will build 16. But, this will not be an ongoing part, once they are made, I won't be making them again.

Please post if you have any interest.
 
#36 ·
SwampF0X, that material is WAAAY to hard to machine. It is commonly used to make endmills, and other cutters, that machine hardened material. This is not the same as normal (if it can be called normal) tungsten. Grinding is the only practical way to machine it.
 
#37 ·
But how heavy is it? I really don't know if it would need machined. Couldn't the tungsten rod just be placed inside, between the brass follower and the bolt handle, and shorten the spring? The hole isn't much bigger than the rod. It would have no choice but to follow along with the recoil...........Or am I missing something?

swampf0x
 
#40 ·
Swampfox, didn't you buy a follower from Select Fire? If so I would be curious to the weight of it, it's advertised as 82g's, but has anyone weighed it? As fas as the Tungsten carbide piece, it will fit in the tube, but it wont secure the spring, and the spring could get entangled in the slot in the bottom of the tube. But it's only $13 to the door, so it would be a cheap experiment. If you don't have a gram scale, you can buy a cheap one from Ebay, which would allow you to collect more data while testing.
 
#41 ·
No, I didn't get the heavy follower from SF. To pricey for me. I'm gonna leave the brass follower in place on the spring and the Tungsten weight will sit between it and the arm on the bolt handle. That way the spring shouldn't get hung up on anything.............Like you said, "cheap experiment"

swampf0x
 
#44 · (Edited)
I got my " follower " in today. It's heavy (haven't weighed it yet though)
.374 diameter, 2.5" long. Made by UltraTool, Base EDP # 65021
It's either gonna use a very short spring or I'm gonna have to grind the rod down shorter or I can attempt to grind the diameter down similar to the SF heavy follower.

I gotta get my mag barrel worked on before I can do any more testing.



swampf0x
 
#45 · (Edited)
I got my " follower " in today. It's heavy (haven't weighed it yet though)
.374 diameter, 2.5" long. Made by UltraTool, Base EDP # 65021
It's either gonna use a very short spring or I'm gonna have to grind the rod down shorter.

I gotta get my mag barrel worked on before I can do any more testing.

swampf0x
Almost sounds like the tungsten slug you got should weigh around the same as my SF tungsten follower. Mine has a main body of 1.64" long with an over-all length of almost 3" (I think something like 2.94"). The main body is .377" in diameter. After the main body the remainder is a long guide rod part of the tungsten follower that fits inside the spring. I believe that guide rod section is .291" or so in diameter. Instead of grinding the rod shorter, you could duplicate the main body of the SF tungsten follower (1.64" long main body section) and grind down the remainder to create a guide rod for the spring. Measure the inside diameter of the spring and try to make the guide rod section about .001 smaller in diameter. You'd have a guide rod section something like 0.86" long -- would allow for a fair amount of spring length -- if you have the tools to grind the tungsten.

I found some other info about springs. You can stretch them but they go back to pretty much their original length unless heat treated. Find the length of spring that won't stack with your follower -- probably around 4.5" (if you modify it) and stretch it to 120% or 130% of the original length. Degrease it and place it in the oven at 450 degrees for one half hour. Let the spring cool slowly. The spring will compress back some but nothing like the untreated spring.
 
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