Making a Quick-Detachable Barrel-Band Swivel Base

Sometimes a custom gun part is well worth the time and effort needed to produce it. So it was with a unique barrel-band sling-swivel base I made recently for a special switch-barrel rifle. The scoped rifle, complete with stock, weighed 9-1/2 pounds, and was quite a good candiscope ring with a #10-32 sling-swivel stud was used in making the quickdetachable, barrel-band swivel base detailed here. date for carrying with a sling.

The challenge came from the fact that the gun sported three different barrels of slightly different diameters and had a very short forend. Perhaps I could have gone out and purchased a barrel-band swivel set, but the only ones I found in catalogs appeared to lack the versatility and application I had in mind. I decided, therefore, to make my own, using a Redfield Jr. split-type high-scope ring and a sling-swivel stud with a #10-32 thread. The end result is neat and sturdy, and is easily adaptable to each barrel.

I started by purchasing a Redfield Jr., oneinch-diameter, high-front-dovetail ring and a #10-32 sling-swivel stud. Other types of scope rings are also easily adaptable, but I chose the Redfield high ring with its steel shank under the ring for its solid swivel-screw thread attachment. The basic part could be made by simply drilling and tapping the ring base for the #10-32 threaded swivel stud and an inner ring shim to fit the gun barrel.

Though functional in this way, the part would lack the aesthetic quality that evolved with a little more shop time. Here’s how I did it. I chose to

reduce the end-to-end thickness of the scope ring to make it more compact. This was accomplished by clamping the ring halves to a section of one-inch rod to hold them securely in a mill vise. I also reduced the oneinch inside diameter of the rings by milling the inner flange mating surfaces of each ring half by approximately 0.060 inch. This permitted the ring screws to be drawn down, leaving only a slight gap between both rings, and it didn’t interfere with the screw holes or threads.

The dovetail was removed from Below left and the ring bottom and the surface milled flat. The ring was then clamped to a short section of pipe and installed in a four-jaw lathe chuck. From here, I turned the remaining ring shank in three steps to fit the base diameter of the #10-32 threaded sling stud. While in the four-jaw chuck, the ring base was drilled and tapped for the #10-32 threaded sling stud. The sling-stud threads were later cut to the depth of the ring base, which is around 0.250 inch.

The parts were then buffed and blued. Since the finished part is clamped to the barrel, I used some bondednylon shim stock to prevent metal-tometal contact on the barrel. By using varying thicknesses of shim stock, the sling-swivel attachment can be adapted to most barrel sizes. The finished part works very well and adds a touch of class to the gun. The cost was minimal’under $15. The rest was shop time, which matters little when a special custom part is needed. I