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Posted: 6/2/2009 8:05:02 PM EDT
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Now, for those of you who weren't fans of my last build were I turned a brand new 336 into an 'evil black Marlin', you might want to stay away from this as well...
But seriously. Who wants to see a Marlin 444 with a USMC Ka-Bar Bayonet hanging off of it? I did, so I went and did it. Well this is how it started. 
Plain Jane, NIB Marlin Model 444 and a OKC KaBar Bayonet. Well, first before anything starts, I needed to have a plan. The bayonet itself, the ring on the handle is 7/8" in diameter. Much larger then the barrel diameter on the Marlin, but not by much. Having a big ol Bore really helps when you need to fill a gap. I thought about soldering a sleeve on the barrel, but thought it would look stupid. Just a bulge in the barrel, with no real purpose. I decided against it and hit the drawing board. Then I had to tackle the idea of the Bayonet Lug itself. Luckily that was the easiest part. Here in CT, you can't have a bayonet lug on a post ban AR15 if you have a pistol grip and the ability to have a detachable box magazine, so once in a while we will get a customer in who purchased a brand new upper for his AR15 and needs it to become CT compliant. Well, recently we had such an occurrence, but this time instead of just grinding it off, I would use a very thin blade hack saw and cut it off neatly and save it. Well, this is what I got. 
A perfect little AR15 Bayonet lug cut from the front sight. It was just the right size. I milled some square edges and it came out perfect. It is seen there with the Magazine Cap. Well, it was about this time, since I had ARs on my mind, that I remembered I had a Smith Enterprize Vortex Flash Suppressor just hangin around. Since I couldn't put that on an AR either, I threw it into a parts box and left it sit for about a year until just last week. I took a dial caliper to it and it was just the right size. Just under 7/8" in diameter. Perfect for threading onto the barrel. Here it is. 
But once again, another problem. It was for a .223. The caliber I want it for is for one that is twice the size quite literally. So after some measuring and some research, I figured out what I needed to do. 
Those are the 1/2-28 threads that I needed to get rid of, so I simply did. 
I got rid of those threads and opened it up to accept a 5/8-24 Tap. The size I needed for this to fit onto my barrel without the threads cutting into my bore of the 444. So I got myself a Tap and some cutting oil and did it. 
Then I chucked it up again and ran a drill bit through and opened up the entire Vortex itself. 
I opened it to about .460" for clearance. So now with the Vortex Flash Suppressor completely modified, I had to fit it to the Marlin, but first, I needed to get a bayonet lug onto the Marlin before I could make any more drastic measurements. I'll admit openly I am not a very good welder and I don't even have access to one at my shop, so I ended up soldering the Bayonet Lug onto the 444's Magazine Cap. I removed all the blue from the cap and most of the paint from the lug and made myself a bootleg holding jig to solder. It ended up working out pretty well. I used a wide Flat Jaw vice grip to hold the two pieces together, while holding the vice grips in another vice. 
Finished product after stick soldering with oxy-acetylene. 
Well, I cleaned it up a bit and filed some of the excess solder off of the new Marlin Bayonet Lug and put it on the gun to make some measurements. 
I was extremely pleased on how streamline it turned out to be. I know the idea of a Bayonet on a Marlin is absurd, but I didn't want to ruin the lines of the gun. Well, after I got my measurements, I took the barrel off the gun and threw the barrel in the lathe to cut the 5/8-24 thread at the end of the barrel. I ended up cutting just an inch and a half of the barrel off, just so the bayonet would sit on the Vortex in the perfect place. 
Well, after all the fitting and reassembly, I finally got it all together. Without the Bayonet. 
With the Bayonet. 
Yes, I am aware there aren't any sights on it, I have a set of Brockman's Winged Peep sights that are going to go on it Thursday. I also plan on Parkerizing this with a bead blast finish. Make it look like a Military Marlin.  I usually get my balls busted for doing stuff like this, but at least I can say now my Marlin can take a Standard Issue Bayonet. Good for fending off those darn Zombies.
More to come this week. -Phil |
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Quoted:
Nice job!!! How strong is the solder on the mag tube and lug? Will it take a full strength stab/strike? I'll test it against some targets, it should hold though, I heated it up really good and put a lot on there and filled as many voids as I could. If it doesn't hold, I'll just get another mag cap and another bayonet lug and have my local Micro Welder do it. He does a really good job with welding very small stuff. |
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Looks *way* cool - I love it.
I'm wondering, though, how well the magazine cap could take the actual force of useage. The mag tubes themselves are pretty thin IIRC. Would it be possible to but a 'ring' on the flash-hider that would pick up some of the thrusting force, to carry it along the barrel? |
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Quoted:
Looks *way* cool - I love it. I'm wondering, though, how well the magazine cap could take the actual force of useage. The mag tubes themselves are pretty thin IIRC. Would it be possible to but a 'ring' on the flash-hider that would pick up some of the thrusting force, to carry it along the barrel? Yes it would be possible. I can machine a ring and have it welded over the Vortex, and trim it down to fit. I will have to think of some other ways as well to reduce the strain on the magazine tube when thrusting / slashing. This is the first time I've done this, so bear with me. 
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Quoted:
Now, for those of you who weren't fans of my last build were I turned a brand new 336 into an 'evil black Marlin', you might want to stay away from this as well... But seriously. Who wants to see a Marlin 444 with a USMC Ka-Bar Bayonet hanging off of it? I did, so I went and did it. Well this is how it started. http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee84/BuffaloPhil5/firearms/444marlinvortex006.jpg Plain Jane, NIB Marlin Model 444 and a OKC KaBar Bayonet. Well, first before anything starts, I needed to have a plan. The bayonet itself, the ring on the handle is 7/8" in diameter. Much larger then the barrel diameter on the Marlin, but not by much. Having a big ol Bore really helps when you need to fill a gap. I thought about soldering a sleeve on the barrel, but thought it would look stupid. Just a bulge in the barrel, with no real purpose. I decided against it and hit the drawing board. Then I had to tackle the idea of the Bayonet Lug itself. Luckily that was the easiest part. Here in CT, you can't have a bayonet lug on a post ban AR15 if you have a pistol grip and the ability to have a detachable box magazine, so once in a while we will get a customer in who purchased a brand new upper for his AR15 and needs it to become CT compliant. Well, recently we had such an occurrence, but this time instead of just grinding it off, I would use a very thin blade hack saw and cut it off neatly and save it. Well, this is what I got. http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee84/BuffaloPhil5/firearms/444marlinlug003.jpg A perfect little AR15 Bayonet lug cut from the front sight. It was just the right size. I milled some square edges and it came out perfect. It is seen there with the Magazine Cap. Well, it was about this time, since I had ARs on my mind, that I remembered I had a Smith Enterprize Vortex Flash Suppressor just hangin around. Since I couldn't put that on an AR either, I threw it into a parts box and left it sit for about a year until just last week. I took a dial caliper to it and it was just the right size. Just under 7/8" in diameter. Perfect for threading onto the barrel. Here it is. http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee84/BuffaloPhil5/firearms/444marlinvortex011.jpg But once again, another problem. It was for a .223. The caliber I want it for is for one that is twice the size quite literally. So after some measuring and some research, I figured out what I needed to do. http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee84/BuffaloPhil5/firearms/444marlinvortex013.jpg Those are the 1/2-28 threads that I needed to get rid of, so I simply did. http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee84/BuffaloPhil5/firearms/444marlinvortex018.jpg I got rid of those threads and opened it up to accept a 5/8-24 Tap. The size I needed for this to fit onto my barrel without the threads cutting into my bore of the 444. So I got myself a Tap and some cutting oil and did it. http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee84/BuffaloPhil5/firearms/444marlinvortex024.jpg Then I chucked it up again and ran a drill bit through and opened up the entire Vortex itself. http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee84/BuffaloPhil5/firearms/444marlinvortex016.jpg I opened it to about .460" for clearance. So now with the Vortex Flash Suppressor completely modified, I had to fit it to the Marlin, but first, I needed to get a bayonet lug onto the Marlin before I could make any more drastic measurements. I'll admit openly I am not a very good welder and I don't even have access to one at my shop, so I ended up soldering the Bayonet Lug onto the 444's Magazine Cap. I removed all the blue from the cap and most of the paint from the lug and made myself a bootleg holding jig to solder. It ended up working out pretty well. I used a wide Flat Jaw vice grip to hold the two pieces together, while holding the vice grips in another vice. http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee84/BuffaloPhil5/firearms/444marlinlug007.jpg Finished product after stick soldering with oxy-acetylene. http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee84/BuffaloPhil5/firearms/444marlinlug009.jpg Well, I cleaned it up a bit and filed some of the excess solder off of the new Marlin Bayonet Lug and put it on the gun to make some measurements. http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee84/BuffaloPhil5/firearms/444marlinlug012.jpg I was extremely pleased on how streamline it turned out to be. I know the idea of a Bayonet on a Marlin is absurd, but I didn't want to ruin the lines of the gun. Well, after I got my measurements, I took the barrel off the gun and threw the barrel in the lathe to cut the 5/8-24 thread at the end of the barrel. I ended up cutting just an inch and a half of the barrel off, just so the bayonet would sit on the Vortex in the perfect place. http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee84/BuffaloPhil5/firearms/444marlinlug018.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee84/BuffaloPhil5/firearms/444marlinlug021.jpg Well, after all the fitting and reassembly, I finally got it all together. Without the Bayonet. http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee84/BuffaloPhil5/firearms/444marlinlug022.jpg With the Bayonet. http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee84/BuffaloPhil5/firearms/444marlinlug024.jpg Yes, I am aware there aren't any sights on it, I have a set of Brockman's Winged Peep sights that are going to go on it Thursday. I also plan on Parkerizing this with a bead blast finish. Make it look like a Military Marlin. I usually get my balls busted for doing stuff like this, but at least I can say now my Marlin can take a Standard Issue Bayonet. Good for fending off those darn Zombies.
More to come this week. -Phil 
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Neat...!
Here is another source for M7 bayo lugs that work well for "custom jobs"... http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=26332&title=AR-15/M16%20BAYONET%20LUG |
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That is just fantastic and too cool for words!
Now I have to find the Black Marlin article as I am building one. I am going to treat the old beat up stock with spray on bedliner and have the meatl Duracoated in H&K black AND add a tactical rail and sights. Man I love these guns! |
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Quoted:
Sweet, If you shoot a deer and don't kill it run up and stab the shit out of it. Or...just shoot it again 
Slightly OT, but I was thinking about the general consensus of bayonets being largely useless. Then I realized, maybe they aren't. I can see where someone who hunts wild hogs, especially with a lever or bolt action, could have use for one. Hogs are fast especially when pissed and if you don't have a semi auto, it'd be nice to have an actual pig sticker on the end of the gun for a fall back. |
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Quoted:
Sweet, If you shoot a deer and don't kill it run up and stab the shit out of it. Or...just shoot it again
Slightly OT, but I was thinking about the general consensus of bayonets being largely useless. Then I realized, maybe they aren't. I can see where someone who hunts wild hogs, especially with a lever or bolt action, could have use for one. Hogs are fast especially when pissed and if you don't have a semi auto, it'd be nice to have an actual pig sticker on the end of the gun for a fall back. +1 good point. |
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Quoted:
Sweet, If you shoot a deer and don't kill it run up and stab the shit out of it. Or...just shoot it again
Slightly OT, but I was thinking about the general consensus of bayonets being largely useless. Then I realized, maybe they aren't. I can see where someone who hunts wild hogs, especially with a lever or bolt action, could have use for one. Hogs are fast especially when pissed and if you don't have a semi auto, it'd be nice to have an actual pig sticker on the end of the gun for a fall back. They also carry 4 switch blades!!! Doc |
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Quoted:
Sweet, If you shoot a deer and don't kill it run up and stab the shit out of it. Or...just shoot it again
Slightly OT, but I was thinking about the general consensus of bayonets being largely useless. Then I realized, maybe they aren't. I can see where someone who hunts wild hogs, especially with a lever or bolt action, could have use for one. Hogs are fast especially when pissed and if you don't have a semi auto, it'd be nice to have an actual pig sticker on the end of the gun for a fall back. You're right. It is useless to a degree, and I don't even hunt every year. But that didn't stop me.
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OK, I installed the Brockman Winged Peep sights today.
Bam. Now, I started to machine the Bayonet 'Recoil Lug' that will be permanently attached to the Vortex Flash suppressor to eliminate all strain on the magazine tube from a forward thrust. I got the bayonet and the Vortex and started making some measurements and found a nice big piece of steel to start machining from. 
Chucked it up in the lathe and then cut the outside diameter. The bayonet ring outside diameter is 1.250", so I made this ring OD 1.100". I don't want it to be too big, but I also didn't want it to be too small. 
Started to cut the inside diameter. When the Recoil Lug was to the dimensions I wanted it, I cut it off the stock and trued the rough edge and then opened up the inner diameter to the exact OD of the Vortex. 
This is how it will sit on the gun. 
This should tighten everything up and it will be black of course when I am finished, but for now it is just a visual reference to see where I need to weld this baby onto the Vortex. This should reduce the strain off the magazine tube and have it be ready for when those zombie brown bears start attacking en mass. 
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Quoted:
I like it.
Out of curiousity, what size tap drill did you use for the 5/8-24 in the flash hider. The flats on the threads look pretty large. That was actually a mistake on my part. I used a 5/8-24 tap, but I got a little aggressive by accident when opening up that OD and took a bit more then I should have, hence the flat looking threads. When I was cutting the threads on the barrel, I made sure to check the threads every now and then to make sure I didn't overcut those so I would have a nice tight fit between the threads. |
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Quoted:
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Sweet, If you shoot a deer and don't kill it run up and stab the shit out of it. Or...just shoot it again
Slightly OT, but I was thinking about the general consensus of bayonets being largely useless. Then I realized, maybe they aren't. I can see where someone who hunts wild hogs, especially with a lever or bolt action, could have use for one. Hogs are fast especially when pissed and if you don't have a semi auto, it'd be nice to have an actual pig sticker on the end of the gun for a fall back. +1 good point. Like many things bayonets were invented by civilians. Boar hunters were the first to use them. If you have an unreliable single shot match lock, you might want something for back up. |
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OK, I figured I would post these up.
Finished soldering and machining the part, and I guess I forgot to tell you all, but this isn't your normal soft solder. It is a high temp solder, which is not only strong, but will withstand the corrosion of the Bluing tanks, unlike soft solder. Anyway, Soldered the ring on and then machined it down to spec. I didn't want a full ring around it, so I machined two flats on the tom and bottom. Here is the recoil lug now, still in rough shape. 
It is more streamline and it is easier to get the bayonet on. Before with the full ring, I hard to 'rock' the bayonet into position to avoid the handle hitting that recoil ring. Well, it isn't much of a ring anymore, now they are simply recoil lugs for the bayonet, which take MOST of the strain off the magazine tube when trusting / slashing. |
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Sweet, If you shoot a deer and don't kill it run up and stab the shit out of it. Or...just shoot it again
Slightly OT, but I was thinking about the general consensus of bayonets being largely useless. Then I realized, maybe they aren't. I can see where someone who hunts wild hogs, especially with a lever or bolt action, could have use for one. Hogs are fast especially when pissed and if you don't have a semi auto, it'd be nice to have an actual pig sticker on the end of the gun for a fall back. +1 good point. Like many things bayonets were invented by civilians. Boar hunters were the first to use them. If you have an unreliable single shot match lock, you might want something for back up. Makes perfect sense to me for a boar hunter using a lever or bolt gun. Or even a semi auto....you could always have a FTF or FTE. A bayonet is 'handy' in that you don't have to transition to bring it into action. You just use it. |
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v108/Avtomat/legendarythread.jpg Before I clicked, I thought it would be silly. However, you did a fantastic job on the work. When it gets back, are you doing to do some shots at night to test the Vortex? Sure, why not.
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