Scouting the SMLE Rem 600 Clone

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Scouting the SMLE Rem 600 Clone

Post by Ranch Dog »

Ranch Dog wrote:Been out of town this week sitting with my sister through knee replacement surgery. I did talk to the welding shop and they TIG'd it without issue at no charge. Will be glad to get back home and back to shooting.
Back home and with time to look at the repair, I didn't like it because they did not keep the part perfectly aligned. I knocked it off with a punch, took a lot of knocking. Knocked the other side off with one whack, it was silver soldered. This is where I'm at now.

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To proceed from here I will need to clean up the weld and solder in the area of the forward mount and then figure out how to remove the rear mounts. They seem a lot different, like they might have to be cut off and worked down. From there a recoil lug would need to be attached to the forward part of the receiver and then four holes drilled & tapped. Right now, it seems like a lot of work, not sure I have any further interest.
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Re: Scouting the SMLE Rem 600 Clone

Post by Ranch Dog »

Went all Ranch Dog on it! The rear rings had a block that was welded between the gap in the rear of the receiver. I thought a solid flat base back there might come in handy for a ghost ring sight. Cut the "ears" off with a Dremel cutting wheel and then went to shaping everything with a file. Used a very small grinding stone to radius some of the corners. Now it is time for the fine files and stones.

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Still got to figure out the bar stock stock for the recoil lug and attaching it. I want to use something that I already have. Don't want to spend anymore money on the rifle. The near $200 bucks for a Weaver Scout will be bad enough. Hopefully, I will find one for half that on eBay or some other source.
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Re: Scouting the SMLE Rem 600 Clone

Post by klr »

That stinks. That's one of the reasons I like to do my own stuff whenever I can.

But, glad to see you're sticking with it. Once you put the Dremel to it, there's no turning back. :lol:
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Re: Scouting the SMLE Rem 600 Clone

Post by Ranch Dog »

Decided to split this out into a new topic as I'm heading off into uncharted territory for me. Working on a new post with pictures to bring those interested up to speed with what has been done to date.
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Re: Scouting the SMLE Rem 600 Clone

Post by Ranch Dog »

I started the morning by finishing up the metal removal from the welds and soldering. Everything is either rounded off nicely or squared up as appropriate and ready for the polishing to start. I even knocked out the broken front sight and installed a standard Skinner dovetail blade. Will work on finding a "ghost ring" and base for the receiver if everything else works out.

I really would have liked to see this rifle the day it was "done" as whoever did the work really did a good job. The rib cutout for the front sight is a great example. I forget to take a picture of the rear sight but will. It is a 8-40 thread post into the rib with a "U" notched top. So, it is adjustable for elevation and was visible between the scope base "ears".

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I got bold and went ahead a drilled and tapped the rear most base hole. Everything worked out perfect!

I did decide to move the base up against the aft end of the rib. The rib is securely welded to the barrel and it will serve as lug. The main need here was the location of the two rear base holes. This is simply where they must be located. More on completing a barrel lug later.

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Using just the rear screw to secure the base, everything looks great (aligned)!

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A view with the scope nested in the rings. I will actually need to use medium rings vs. the low rings that I have.

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With a laser bore sighter in the barrel, the offset between bore and center of the rings is just about as perfect as can be measured. It was tougher trying to get the camera lense to align.

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Finally, the screws. The only 6-48 I have are the standard .280" length which leaves only .120" into the rifle. I just bought some .5" Torx head screws that will be here in a couple of days. These will give me what I'm looking for, a .340" inch bite!

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Re: Scouting the SMLE Rem 600 Clone

Post by Ranch Dog »

Not a lot to add as far as pictures go this morning. I work on this early in the morning before I have to get started outside. I took the stock set off and got busy with the real meat and potatoes of the metal work. All the modified surfaces are radiused as they should be and the metal polished, ready to be blued. I will wait on that final step until after the remained of the base holes are drilled & tapped. So, just waiting on screws to arrive (maybe Wednesday).

In the meantime, I think I'm going to refinish the wood. Not sure what degree I will tackle it but something to spruce it up.
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Re: Scouting the SMLE Rem 600 Clone

Post by Ranch Dog »

Well, the ribbed scout is up and shooting. My buddy Joe came over yesterday afternoon and together we tackled the drilling and tapping. No problems but we actually took our time and enjoyed the work. So a ribbed scout SMLE is born!

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My friend, Joe, is tracking a deer in the crosshairs as it walks along the brushline near my home. He reports that he would have nailed it at 70 yards out.

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We took it up to my range right before dark.

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I shot a ragged hole group at 50 yards but it was really low. 22" low. Max'd the elevation out on the scope and put three bullets touching each other but still a bit low. I couldn't figure it out. Rib is perfectly parallel with bore. There is a slight difference in the vertical thickness of the base; .35" at the front vs. .28" at the back but that is throwing the shot up. Since dark, this has really made me crazy, took the base back off and put a laser bore sighter in the rifle. Out in the dark I put the laser on a deer feeder 70 yards away and that little bb of a red light was nestled perfectly in the Vee of the rib. The guy that built this really knew what he was doing.

I'd had a long day so I sat down and ordered Burris Signature Zee rings with 20° offsets. Then 20 minutes later started updating my loading records. Wait, that load of Varget was supposed to be 37.7-grains not 30.7-grains. Yeah with a 215-grain bullet in a 303 Brit case, that will do it. Feel like an idiot. Oh well, I'll shoot it again tomorrow and use the rings on something else.
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Re: Scouting the SMLE Rem 600 Clone

Post by klr »

Very nice. I'm glad you stuck with it - you ended up with a very nice rifle. That wood is really something special too.

Sounds like it's going to be a tack-driver, too. Looking forward to the full report.

So, how many of those 78 cent bullets did you use with the wrong charge? :o
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Re: Scouting the SMLE Rem 600 Clone

Post by Ranch Dog »

klr wrote:So, how many of those 78 cent bullets did you use with the wrong charge? :o
Haah! $3.90 worth! Funny thing is that is exactly what I thought too!

If the shooting works out of the next 20 to 50 rounds, there probably will be a cast bullet in its future. Too much time already vested in the rifle not too.

Now that I drilled and tapped the barrel I feel real good about getting things setup for my M94 and the Redfield Jr. IER. Also, wish I had done the same on the Savage 340. It is still holding up despite riding around on the Mule all day.
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Re: Scouting the SMLE Rem 600 Clone

Post by klr »

Ranch Dog wrote: Haah! $3.90 worth!


Now that I drilled and tapped the barrel I feel real good about getting things setup for my M94 and the Redfield Jr. IER.
Funny how that works. I can spends hundreds on a rifle but what really bothers me is when a mistake on my part costs me a few bucks. :lol:

Sometimes dread is worse than doing the job. Now that you have that skill set it shouldn't be too difficult. I'm looking forward to watching that project too.
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