Classic 68: Sawing or milling down feed tube?

[sup909]

I have one of the original classic 68's, which has been working pretty great for me for the most part. However the feed tube is extremely long, and I am thinking of cutting or milling it down.

Anyone have any experience doing this and have any tips? Being that it is stainless steel any advice on how to approach this would be great.

[maniacmechanic]

I used a tubing cutter on mine , just had to deburr the inside afterwords

[sup909]

Any particular one?

Any particular one. I see prices ranging on pipe cutters going from $9.00 to $80. Would a standard copper pipe cutter do the job?

[~W.!.C.K.E.D~]

I used a dremel with the standard cutting disk. It only took one disk (but basically all of it)

[minimag86]

I used a hacksaw and some sand paper to debur mine.

[djellum]

hack saw

I would just use a plain old hacksaw. take a wide zip tie and attach it at the level you want to cut and use it as a guide. the width of the tight zip tie will force it to line up correctly and will keep you cutting strait. The reason i would use the hacksaw is just because you will have more control but still cut quick enough. If you really want it to be nice, leave a little material between the end of the tie and your cut and file/sand it down to the edge of the tie.

[MANN]

I have one of the original classic 68's, which has been working pretty great for me for the most part. However the feed tube is extremely long, and I am thinking of cutting or milling it down.

Anyone have any experience doing this and have any tips? Being that it is stainless steel any advice on how to approach this would be great.

I do all of my "loaner" mags like this. The only way to get it straight is use a pipe cutter, and then sand down the inside with a dremel with a sanding stone. This works PERFECT.

I use a ridgid or craftsman pipe cutter. Both were in the 20 dollar range, and I had from previous projects (regular pluming projects)

[sup909]

Thanks for the advice

Well I went ahead and did the cutting today. Man, what an event that was. The stainless of the tube ended up breaking the tube cutter.

I ended up spending about 3 hours this afternoon sanding the entire thing down too, but I got it done, and it looks and feels great. A much better balanced and low profile marker with the hopper more centered.

Here are some pics.

<a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/sup909/CIMG1089.jpg"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/sup909/CIMG1089.jpg" width="600" height="450"></img></a>

<a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/sup909/CIMG1091.jpg"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/sup909/CIMG1091.jpg" width="600" height="450"></img></a>

<a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/sup909/CIMG1092.jpg"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/sup909/CIMG1092.jpg" width="600" height="450"></img></a>

[tebo]

looks factory! great joob

[JOESPUD27]

Looks good, is that about 1in off the body?

Jay

[sup909]

Looks good, is that about 1in off the body?

Jay

Yeah I would say ballpark about 1" off the body. I cut 1 1/4" off the end, and measured so I had about 1/4" breathing room from the bottom of the elbow to the body to make sure I didn't cut to too short.

It is amazing how much more centered and balanced, not to say low profile the hopper is now just by shaving off a little more then an inch.

For good measure I just went ahead and polished the entire body after I sanded it and it looks amazingly good now. I am surprised myself at how good it looks.

[maniacmechanic]

nothin like moddin your own gear , looks good ; but I prefer flat black