31" Condor

The owner wanted a longer barrel than easily available, so had Lilja make him a SS 30″ barrel in .258″

When I measured it, it appears to be closer to 31″…even after cutting the breech and new crown.

This is a LONG barrel. Here is the 31″ barrel (top) next to a ‘standard’ 24″ barrel (bottom):

This build now begs the question: how to attach the ldc? This photo shows a mock up with all the frames, barrels, and the ldc in the proper positions relative to each other. The frame on top is my 18″ barrelled, .25 condor that I cut and threaded externally for a large 2″ ldc which I never got around to making, no time to play with toys. It’s just in the picture as I was playing with the idea of threading the customer’s condor the same way and building a 2″ ldc for this condor. But, I simply don’t have the time to do it, so decided to make an extension to the existing condor.

Here is the extension being bored to match the internal ID of the condor:

And threaded to go into the condor’s front end:

Here is the collar attachment I had to make for this type of threading project; it goes onto the condor’s frame to hold it securely while being theaded. There is also a solid 1.xxx” tool steel mandrel on the inside of the stripped receiver:

In place in the steady rest, the toolsteel mandrel is what is being clamped in the lathe to turn the whole thing. I took pictures after it was all done, sorry, too retarded to remember to take pics before threading it:

Internal threading finished:

Extension screwed into frame:

And painted:

Checking alignment down the pipe:

The breech waist in the barrel was cut larger than the normal .309″ because the barrel is stainless, which is not quite as strong as carbon steel. It was noticeably easier to cut when I was making the breech waist. To give it slightly more strength, I made the breech slightly larger, and this means it will require a new breech. Here I have finished the breech, just have to install the handle and do the sear cutout on the bottom. Did I tell you how much I HATE cutting internal O ring grooves??

That’s as far as I got today and I am beat. Don’t ask me how fast she can shoot a 7 ring slug. Haven’t assembled it yet. Will edit the post and add more as I finish it up.

walt