Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Sometimes being humble IS being proud

     I made another modification to my rifle and I talked myself out of blogging about the modification part and process. My initial thought was that I did not want to come across as "look at what I have" and fall into pride, because I have learned from the Lord's Word: "Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall." [Proverbs 16:18].

     I do, however, mean to make the most of the working talent God has given me in fabrication and metal working. So after realizing that my humility was also bordering on foolishness, I decided to document my recent project: a customized rail modification for the Saiga .308 so that it will take a night vision monocular.
   
     I would like to...point out that the upper NV mounting plate comes with the monocular from Holmes Tactical, a local business here in Larue, Texas. They sell the night vision monocular and the rail mounting kit for common ARs, but my Saiga rail is low on the side and more narrow than standard rails. Additionally, it specifically takes a certain scope mount and not much of anything else. This is what it looked like to start:
   
     Here were my options: Take the screws from the upper scope mounting and make something that would screw into those holes...

...or take out the three holes closer to the rail base and work from here to make my part:
  
     I felt it would be easier to work with the base closer to the rail mount piece. I went and got 3 feet CR steel angle iron from the local hardware store and gathered all the parts I would need.
   
     First, I took the lower rail mount off the upper scope mount plate so I could measure the mounting screw holes.
    
     Then I cut 4 1/4 inches of the angle iron, then trimmed about 1 3/8 inches off one leg of it. I measured and drilled three holes for the screws that attach it to the lower rail mount.
   
     At the time I thought the strip I cut from the angle leg would be scrap, but when I initially test mounted the NV unit, it was too far forward to look through. So I welded it to give me about 2 1/2 inches of back reach. In addition, the width of the material helped greatly because the night vision unit was about 3/8 of an inch right of center to the rifle.
     Next I put the two pieces together and it looked great for what I intended!
     Finally I put the NV mounting bracket on and used some spacer rings to get the NV center to the rifle.
     Done! I plan to develop a more aesthetically pleasing model (if possible) to sell but it functions perfectly. If you know anyone or hear of anyone looking for some modifications to their firearms (legal ones), please send me an email or send me a private message on Facebook and let's work something out!

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