by Doug Coulter » Tue Sep 04, 2012 6:15 pm
Yep, even at the 50 rpm it was set at for cutting quartz tubing with the post grinder - that chuck key can really punch you hard if it flies out. The gun is a .50 bmg, fast-twist experimental piece. I make stuff like that as a sideline, though I didn't make this one. My current love (for building) is 6.5mm Swede or .260 rem, as I shoot long range; Class F, which must mean "old Farts", and egg shoots (.5 and one kilometer ranges).
Those give you the most bullet BC for the least recoil, and running 50 or 80 shots off a concrete bench leaning into the gun during competition is a lot different than just hunting with one shot free-hand.
The .50 is NOT fun to shoot. I've seen it take 300 lb men off their feet trying to shoot it off a card table, with the poor owner (not me then) trying to decide whether to catch the guy, or his gun. Works pretty well tied down to the tractor cart and fired with a lanyard for kicks, though. The guy who built it welded that "muzzle brake" on there and it really doesn't work like the one on a Barrett.
My best 3 rifles are .15 moa or better. Those are in 6 ppc (completely custom by me), .223 (bolt, cooper), and .204 Howa. Luckily, the Howa isn't well known yet, so I can take it to the club and everyone else won't just go home like they do when I bring either of the other two. Benchrest shooting is more like fishing than real competition. If you always win, you're unpopular. Oh, and my more or less "sniper rifle" which is .308 and puts 'em all in the same hole at 300 or so. Could be worse, but even after filling it with lead the recoil is too much by the end of a match, for me.
The aloe is the last living remnant of my parents (other than me) and yes, very good for burns - there are a few welders nearby as well. About time to re-pot that guy, it's getting kinda spread out of the pot.
I'm about to do a photo shoot of another solar system near me. The guy on the main page (take off the /forums on this URL) in the middle owns it, he kind of improved on mine, but doesn't have a great vid cam. I'll get his posted up here soon as I can, maybe next week. It's quite a system. He DOES do a form of grid tie, but not the same - same issue as me, they don't pay, and he's breaking their contract (fortunately it's not criminal, just civil) by NOT having a separate meter for his feed in to the grid so they can rip him off for "load shaving". He just keeps his meter stopped during the day, and uses the rest for other stuff. But his whole house is on the solar, for living. His bread baking business can also take any spare solar power with some planning and luck, but for that if he needs fallback, he uses grid, not a generator.
So, if anyone wants my version of this same lathe (the small one) and can get close to here - it's available to the right guy for a song. It's just too heavy to crate and ship across the country and me still get any money for it at all. And I made this nice stand etc and collected a bunch of extras for it as well. It's a nice piece to be sure. I am just so space limited I can't find a home in one of the shops for it and have to keep it in storage.
Posting as just me, not as the forum owner. Everything I say is "in my opinion" and YMMV -- which should go for everyone without saying.