After almost a year of planning, drilling, cutting, replanning, then more cutting, and finishing, the forward charging 10/22 build is complete!
Below are some photos and descriptions of finishing up the last few items then followed by the full build list, and glamor shots as well as a couple videos to show how the bolt interacts with the forward charging elements. A special thanks to Volquartsen for making this build possible and LookLook for pitching in one of their slick grips!
First, finishing the stock furniture.....
I wanted to the stock furniture to tie the various other parts of the build together, so I cut and layered white Delrin, aluminum, and brass to be the main materials for the butt plate and aluminum and Delrin for the cheek rest.
Once I have the stacks roughly cut and drilled to receive the pins that connect to the stock, I squared up both the cheek rest and the butt plate and started polishing the brass...
And, viola! I had some pretty good looking furniture on a folding stock that matched both the LookLook Grips and the various elements of the forward charging mechanism.
Speaking of the elements of the forward charging mechanism, below are a couple of shots of it fully assembled, but off the rifle so your can see all the inner workings. The large kydex item mounted on the left side is an Ant Hardware 10/22 magazine holder that modified to hold 10-round mags for a quick reload.
I polished everything with a detail file sander and set of 1/2" sanding belts in various grits up to 5,000. This made quick work of the job and gave a nice polish to all the aluminum and brass components.
The small momentary switches on the front control the TLR RM1 Laser/Light combo mounted on top of the Volquartsen receiver. They're wired into the cable that is intended to go to the lights' pressure switch. Pressing either one activates the laser/light.
Below are some up close shots of the rifle all put together. First the fore end looking backwards.
Then the other end, where the transfer bar connects to the bolt.
Next up, a view through the Steiner MPS. It's no sighted in, but you can see both the Steiner red dot (top one) and the TLR laser (bottom one) on the scrap of acetal placed in front of the barrel.
The next two videos give a sense of how the forward charging mechanism interacts with the bolt. The transfer bar only works in one direction: rearward. So, as you can see in the first video, when the forward charging mechanism is to the rear, it is driven forward by the closing bolt. In the second, when the forward charging mechanism is resting forward, it is not in contact with the bolt when it closes, so it doesn't move.
Final Build List:
Red Dot: Steiner MPS
Mount: Scalarworks Leap
Grip: LookLook in white Delrin
Stock Furniture: Custom made from white Delrin, aluminum, and brass
Extra Magazine Holder: Ant Hardware Mag
Laser/Light Combo: Streamlight TLR RM1
Forward Charging Handles: Titanium Beard Beads
Laser/Light on/off Switches: 7mm Momentary Buttons
Plus: Lots of Custom Metal Hardware, Nuts, & Bolts for the Forward Charging mechanism that is shared as a part of the build in process posts here.
Finally, enjoy a few glamor shots. Including a before and after pic.
This one has been fun.
Thanks for tagging along for the journey and a bit thanks for Volquartsen, LookLook, and others who help support this build. I really couldn't do it without you guys & gals.