Magnetron Revolver: The Build Part II - Starting the Barrel Shroud

In Part I of the build, I got the red dot mount just about ready to go. It was now time to start on what will be the most difficult part of the build - the barrel shroud.

The plan for the shroud is to make it from a single piece of Acetal. This is my first time working with the extra-hard plastic so we'll see how it goes.

I need a very snug fit between the barrel and the shroud so the first step is making a template of the K6s's barrel profile.

Front sight removed, ready to template the profile.

I used a contour guide similar to this one to get the general shape of the barrel and underlug, transferred that shape unto a piece of scrap wood, and started drilling.

I then used a chisel to remove the remaining wood in the hole until it fit tightly over the Kimber's barrel.

I used some rattle-can Rustoleum to transfer the shape of the hole onto some paper and began drilling the Acetal with the paper as my guide.

I again used the drill guide to make sure that my drill stayed at 90 degrees and alternated between regular drill bits and forstner bits to drill the two main holes.

Drilling the Acetal with the forstner bits was WAY harder than drilling the wood. I knew that the forstner bits wouldn't bite into material as hard as regular bits do, but they were extra hard to drive into the Acetal. I ended up using regular bits to remove the bulk of the material and then the forstner bits to clean up the edges and square off the bottom of the holes.

As with the wood, I then used chisel to remove the material in between the two drill holes. This was pretty time consuming, but very important to get right. I didn't want to rush through it and either make the holes too deep, or too wobbly around the barrel and underlug.

It's starting to fit.

After many hours of drilling and chiseling I had a small block of Acetal that fit very tightly around the revolver's barrel. It was now time to square it up and then start making the first major shaping cuts.

That's where we'll leave it for now: cut down and square across the top.... less so along the bottom. Only a few more large cuts, mainly to shorten the shroud, and then onto the fun part of carving it into its final shape.