Have you finished a cold steel?

[Bil]

Thank you for the pictures-I hadn't seen one of these yet.I have to hand it to anyone that has completed one of these-it looks like a lot of work!I thought I was doing well with a re-weld.These need a lot more,and I salute those of you doing one and especially those finishing one! ---bil

[mattcdavis]

Great pics! Ouch! if they were going to butcher the cocking slot indent's like that they just should have left them
flat! Then you could weld on your own and clearance for the cocking handle. Other than that It looks really managable
I was just hoping for something that resembled the original and it looks like it does that. Will have to be really carefull to make sure the long axis is straight, or split the diferance of align inside for function and the outside for look's. I hate a
weapon that looks lopsided or (bent). (I have seen a turkish mauser with easily a 1/4" cant on the reciever compared to the bbl (BBL threads not straight) It shoots really good though! just annoying to inspect/ look at! CAN NOT WAIT TO GET STARTED!!!!!AAAAAARRRRRRGGHGHG!!!!!!

[Jason222]

Just a small update on the cold steel. I donve in and milled the top slot and used the rear of the receiver as a starting point for the cover latch area and worked forward from there. My little mini mill isnt cnc nor do I have a DRO setup so I just scribed the best I could with the irregular lines of this beast and let it rip. Ate two Tn coted HSS end mills and stalled the mill a few times due to hard spots and the difficulty in clamping it in a vice. When the cover is on it seems to position the camming piece about right so next will be the right and left cutouts so i can position the camming piece and then everything else. It aint pretty but then again were they to start with? Enjoy

[bolex]

The top cover "covers" the slot up and it doesn't show when closed. Be careful of the end of the slot toward the stock, the top cover latches to the end and you would rather be too short at this time then too long. A good "sand" blasting of the receiver when finished will obsure a lot of the CS surface defects. A matte finish goes a long way to hide wavy surfaces.

[mattcdavis]

Looks good! I will be using a harbor freight mill/drill.(slightly larger than the mini but not as big as there benchtop mill.)
Bolex has definately done some builds in his time! Leaving extra material and finishing the fitting up as things are a little closer is really the only way to go. Even if you just leave say .100 or so. I plan on starting from the back and working forward too. We know thanx to this site that from the rear to the camming piece stop is 15.5 inches and it worked for my test section. Great progress so far!!!!!!

[www.Prussia.us]

Jason222, while you may claim it "ain't pretty" I think it looks great so far. MUCH better than that Monet painting that sold for $80 million in London yesterday that resembled spilled paint on canvas.

Between Jason222 and MattCDavis-(when he his finally arrives), you guys may really take away the fear of these next generation Cold Steel receivers that has dogged them. Heck they should give you guys some comps just for public relations.

[Jason222]

Anyone have a measurement from the rear of the receiver without the buffer assembly to the rear flat of the camming piece without the cover on? Ive got the left hand slot milled but Im almost thinking that the meat of the receiver in between the front and rear humps is too long. Im hoping Im wrong but it looks as if the camming piece if it lines up with the 15.5 inch camming stop and the cover is fully engaged into its retention slot is going to be hanging over the radius from the lower flat middle area to the upper front part if that makes sense.

[mattcdavis]

I think I understand what you are trying say. If you measure forward from the rear 15.5", then minus the width of the camming piece, you end up with the camming piece not fully on the raised step on the front part of the reciever. ie. center portion appears to "long".Hummm? or is it that the rear section was a little long? A ever so slight overhang will facilitate the feed tray lowering onto the reciever without hitting the forward upturn of the receiver. But at the same time you will want a positive seat for the camming piece. Man I want my section yesterday!!!!!! My best advice is to grab all the reciever plans on this site and double check the overall topside measurements, or all the measurements for that matter! at this point I would stop and have a long look at where you want the camming piece to set and what can be done to make the top cover and feed tray work afterward. Worst case senario you may have to cut your reciever in the middle and reweld it to shorten it, but I wouldn't do that till I was sure I had to!

[mattcdavis]

By the way shortining the center section wil throw off your rail dimples by the amount you shorten.(may be way too much work)! When I built the test section
I started by measuring two pieces of 2" channel 18" long. To match the section from coldsteel. Then I ground the outside edges and cut the window on the belt feed side till the large camming section would fit snuggly and the front was 15.5 from the rear. the other side just had to have the camming window/bbl pass through area cut out and some heavy filing to get the other camming piece to fit. I am going to go look at your pics and see if I have anything relevent to add. When I looked at it yesterday it looked great!

[mattcdavis]

Oh oh! looks like you may have cut too far back for the top cover latch..... But thats just a guess from lots of picture looking!

[mattcdavis]

When you cut out the right side camming window you may be able to salvage some of the steel to weld in the rear top cover latch area if in fact thats the deal.

[carlque]

Ok heres the pics of a CS 80% that I purchased off nutrusted as he received it. (Ty Sir Quite a few so be patient. The dark stuff on top is just some old liquid blue I used to scribe the cutout on top. I would expect these to get better as they go along. And I did drill one forward rail hole based on the prints I downloaded but until I get some more comcrete ones for the rear I'll either fill it or use it.

Are these pics a FIRST generation C.S. receiver, OR a second generation example (that has a POOR reputation!!) If it is one of the newer ones, it doesn,t LOOK too bad! If it is one of the FIRST generation, I would HATE to see a SECOND!!! PLEASE clear this up for me, THANKS! Rod (carlque aka dellque)

[Jason222]

Thanks for the input guys. I think it may be ok. Im going to mill the side cutouts further after work so i can get the camming piece in position. It covers up the 15.5 inch scribe mark as it sits so I think Ive got a bit further to go. It will have a slight overhang but so do the pictures of all the others Ive found. Ive double checked the top cutout measurements with the stack of prints Ive got and its dead on so Its probably me just being paranoid. BTW the receiver isnt square up front and requires a bit of material removal to get the small piece to sit flat enough to slide into the camming piece. Maybe yours will be

[gdmoore28]

Matt,

Just wanted to drop a note to thank you for sharing your build process with the rest of us. It's been a while since anybody did a build here, so it's a nice refresher course. Keep the excellent pics coming. You're doing excellent work. Can't wait to see your progress.

GeeDeeEmm

[gdmoore28]

OOPS! Should have been addressing that last post to Jason. Sorry.

Regardless, I'm looking forward to both of your builds and hope you both fill this thread up with lots of illustrations. We love them all.

GeeDeeEmm

[mattcdavis]

Yes unfortunatly I havent recieved my rear section yet. I am really looking forward to some serious build time in the near future but for now..........Sigh not much going on.

[carlque]

TO Jason222: Are those pics that you posted, of a first generation cold steel, or of the second generation (after the disappearance of the original dies)! THANKS! Rod

[Jason222]

TO Jason222: Are those pics that you posted, of a first generation cold steel, or of the second generation (after the disappearance of the original dies)! THANKS! Rod

To be honest carlque I dont know. I bought mine from a board member (thanks nutrusted) but Im guessing its out of the first batch of the 2nd generation. Much of it appears hand made. Im assuming they tried their damnedest to make a marketable item to keep their business going. Dies are very expensive to get made and require periodic replacement. Im going to have to cut out a section in front and replace it because the camming piece simply wont fit around it on one side. The other three dimensions are accurate so I didnt want to squeeze it or anything. Its workable and fun but they can only get better.

[Bil]

Remember that when you built a 3 or 4 cut receiver,there is a lot of material that has to be replaced or built up.So if you over-cut one of the holes or slots,it is no big deal.Your build looks real good.It would be nice if there were some sort of template you could use,but with the irregularities in the CS receiver,that may not work so well.Keep us posted!Thanks. ---bil

[Rahatlakhoom]

I am posting my latest progress on a (2nd Generation) ColdSteel blank.
There were some problems around the cocking handle indent. I had to cut and reweld this area for
SA bolt clearance.

Presently, the current problem is that I have 1/4 " gap between the barrel housing/breech and the recuperator.
The barrel slides back and forth inside the shroud. Question: Is this normal???
Seems like the barrel should fit snug against the recuperator, but I'm not certain.

Here's pics of it currently. It's a slow process for me. My CS experience is full of unwanted surprizes,
but I'm learning quite a bit.