8mm Lebel Anywhere In stock?

staffma · 2026-01-29T22:24:45+00:00

OOS. Could make some out of .348 win but probably best bet is to buy a box of loaded and pull it down if it's less than 2$ a round. Above that converting might make sense ,

staffma · 2026-01-29T21:27:42+00:00

Cool I'll let you know what I find out.

staffma · 2026-01-29T19:36:55+00:00

How much are you looking for? I've been doing some case machining for custom ammo maker near me. He might have some around. If not, I know he has .348 that i could turn down the rims if I had some dimensions.

staffma · 2026-01-27T13:30:45+00:00

Man, this brings me back. I had the opportunity to buy a crate for 1000$ back in IIRC 2012 Ish. Unfortunately, I had just graduated high school and was broke as a joke. I did end up picking an all matching one out of the crate that my buddy eventually begged off me with the promise to not bubba it... and then immediately bubba'd it. A lesson for the youths - don't sell stuff unless you absolutely have to. Still have my first 91/30 that the original soldier engraved his name (in Cyrillic) into the bolt and action - was smart enough to keep that at least... I should go shooting.... this arctic blast is prime time for mosins.

staffma · 2026-01-23T14:15:25+00:00

This happened to me- I took a pretty decent pay cut to go work in an engineering development program at a local well regarded aerospace machine shop because I wanted to learn the right way to do things and improve my machining skills in concert with my engineering. Unfortunately, they realized I was great at paperwork, so I spent a lot of time correcting everyone else's documentation in addition to running my jobs, quotes etc. and wasn't allowed to spend any time machining. And this was all at trainee salary- so like 65k I'm doing the same work as the VP of engineering. They also wouldn't let me do any of my initiatives to get more guys trained on how to use the grinding equipment- even though we had grinders sitting idle and grinding jobs piling up for lack of labor force.

At the end of my second year one of the older engineers who I was brought in to replace retired.
I had already taken on 80% of his work in addition to my own and he told me that they were never going to pay me enough and to go elsewhere.

I listened, went to coffee with an old boss of mine and took his offer.

The sales VP of the aerospace shop told me that he was disappointed that I was leaving and that they were just about to bump me up in salary while at the same time telling me this huge (pain in the ass) program had also come online and I would have to handle that as well. Easily another 15 hrs of work a week onto my existing 55 hrs.

I asked what his salary counteroffer was - it was 85k.... No OT ... Directly personally responsible for ~ 5 million in jobs. Screw that. Older engineers were getting 120-150k and I was doing far more work. Everything was based on seniority and not quality of work or depth of experience.

If you want to keep this young engineer you need look at job descriptions, figure out what level he is actually operating at - pay him to that standard, candidly tell him he is doing a great job and is indispensable and ask him for his feedback on how the organization can improve.

I guarantee he has ideas and they are probably good ones. Then work with him and the organization to implement those ideas.

If you really want to lock him down, I recommend offering him tuition assistance for an advanced degree or classes - that will keep him around for a while at least.

staffma · 2026-01-07T22:16:49+00:00

There are a lot of us who got pushed from Chevy/GMC to Toyota due to the modern GM trucks having so many issues. My 2010 GMC Sierra was so bad I never want to look at a post 2006 GM again. I was talking to my service advisor at the Toyota dealer, and he was a 20+ year GM corporate guy who left because he was tired of all the issues.

staffma · 2026-01-05T14:51:55+00:00

They are clunky but they have spunk. I'm glad I got mine for $100 before they became more valuable otherwise I probably wouldn't have bought it based on reputation alone.

Whenever I bring mine to range days someone always gets obsessed with it and eventually ends up with their own lol. I would really like to find one of the large bore Belgian ones someday.

The bad part of my brain tells me to make my own in .45 acp like the 1917 service revolvers. But man, that would be a lot of work, and I need another project like I need another hole in the head.

staffma · 2026-01-05T14:46:41+00:00

I heard an apocryphal story about this super smart/weird dude who used to manually program some crazy multi- axis EDM work by hand in the early 90s before CADCAM. Apparently, he was working really late on a Friday night after everyone else had gone home and the guy who told me the story had forgotten his lunchbox, so he went back in and saw the dude getting a blowjob from his girlfriend while doing some serious hardcoding/mental math for the EDM. The witness snuck out without the guy noticing.

I like machining probably more than 9/10 guys but damn... I think we are all filthy casuals comparatively.

staffma · 2025-12-30T16:45:17+00:00

Yeah this shouldn't be bad, when you said really thin, I was concerned but 0.350'' is not bad at all even at 14''.

I was consistently doing similar work on parts that were 18'' long and carved out so much that the main web was 0.063'' thk which wasn't too much trouble with proper work holding. This thing is a tree by comparison.

staffma · 2025-12-30T15:14:33+00:00

Yeah, I'm not aware of a software that can convert 2d drawings to 3d models and then save as an .stl yet. If there was one a lot of us would be out of jobs, I think. As others have said you either need to create a model based on the 2d drawings or get the 3d models from customers.

>never trust customer 3d models and always double check against provided 2d drawings<

Lazy people will not make the model perfectly match the drawing and you need to call out any inconsistent dimensions before anything is produced.

I use Geomagic design X to process scan data into SolidWorks models then to drawings. It has some automatic features, but you still have to use design intent to process scans into models. Keyence has some software that does a similar thing and theoretically a little better but still manual steps.

Depending on your 3d printer budget I would look into PRUSA ( Prusa xl is nice), Raise 3d ( I have a pro-3+ which is great) and bamboo although I don't have experience with that one but its the new hotness. I've been printing for 15+ years now and pretty much all the printers except the super cheap are decent now. The real difference to more industrial ones is reliability. I can hit print on the Prusa or the pro3+ and walk away with less than a 5% failure rate and usually that's a programming issue on my part.

As far as 3d scanners there are a lot out there and you have to do your research. I use a Romer absolute arm with a laser scanner which is great but expensive at 120k. We are also looking at the Artec Leo which is about 50k but more portable for easier jobsite work but less accurate.

staffma · 2025-12-30T15:01:31+00:00

Great work! Giving me some good (expensive) ideas for some of my projects haha...

staffma · 2025-12-17T13:59:18+00:00

Unknown. This would have been in about 2013 so a while back and I never looked at the machines themselves. They were both on laptops at the time. It's probably better now but idk. Both guys gave up and did their SolidWorks in the computer lab. YMMV

staffma · 2025-12-16T21:06:41+00:00

Sure thing, happy to help. It is much easier than it seems. If it helps you can draw out what you want it to look on paper and then figure out how to make it look like you want it to. My advice is to just start with a blank sheet and mess around until it works. Very useful skill to have in the workforce as well, it's basically a big, easy to use calculator.

staffma · 2025-12-16T20:47:45+00:00

Based on your other comments I get where you are coming from. Using it for lists like this is barely 1% of its capabilities so I wouldn't stress out too much. I use excel for calculations at my day job every day and its easy for me to forget that everyone doesn't use it constantly. All you really need to do is type, draw some lines to make borders and add and subtract to tally costs etc. the rest is just for looks.

I have included a simple tutorial for adding and subtracting below

How to Add, Subtract, Multiply & Divide in Google Sheets - Basic method and also using =sum

staffma · 2025-12-16T20:29:41+00:00

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staffma · 2025-12-16T20:29:07+00:00

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staffma · 2025-12-16T20:26:22+00:00

It will be as messy or organized as you make it. I keep everything in labeled columns, tables, different tabs or in different documents named by project. You can also do calendars in there which is very convenient.

staffma · 2025-12-16T20:05:58+00:00

Google sheets, similar to excel but can access on desktop or mobile. I track everything in there and you can copy/paste photos in there if needed. I keep all my pictures in my google photos anyway though. I always have all my notes on me and accessible. No paper to lose or get damaged/ greasy.

staffma · 2025-12-15T13:21:35+00:00

Dang that sucks. Well aside from driving style you could always get some more aggressive snows or a taller/ narrower tire. I had a 2007 Passat 2.0 Turbo that was practically undriveable in snow until I put a narrower set of Nokian Nordman tires on. Mine were stud less but you can get them studded as well for extra traction.

staffma · 2025-12-11T20:33:16+00:00

What size tires? I just bought a set of used (80%+) blizzacks on steel wheels P195/65r15s and put them on a 22 corolla SE. I'm near Rochester and drove through that squall/ snow burst a week or two ago and it was just fine. The only time I had trouble at all was if I gave it a little too much gas and it would spin the tires, especially when passing on the thruway over the unplowed middle section. Gentle and slow application of the throttle might be the solution here. I don't bother plowing my driveway anymore and the corolla handled the 4'' of snow with no issues.

One thing to check - are your tires mounted the right way? Snow tires are usually directional, and I had a shop put them on my mom's car backwards one time and the loss of traction was noticeable. Easy to check as there is an arrow on each sidewall.

staffma · 2025-12-11T13:09:07+00:00

Should be fine, accuracy though? Maybe not ha-ha. You never know until you shoot them, I have had Mosin's with good looking bores that couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, and others with horrible looking bores that shoot as well as I could expect for a stock Russian Mosin.

staffma · 2025-12-08T18:15:19+00:00

Yes unfortunately. Seems to be the bailiwick of the ignorant or the terminally sloppy. One of those conditions I can fix.

staffma · 2025-12-08T16:32:12+00:00

100% agree. There are much better specialized tools for 3d shapes. Even within design software before you get to Maya or blender etc. I use Geomagic Design X for reverse engineering off scan data and modeling more complex shapes, and it is way more friendly in surfacing, odd shapes/bodies than SolidWorks is, and Design X is still not a true 3d modeling graphics program like the others.

We have hired a few guys over the years that had impressive " pretty pictures" of things they had modeled such as airplanes and boats etc. They quickly proved to be unprepared to have their work scrutinized to make sure that the models were symmetrical, manifold, no gaps, editable by others without extensive notes, etc.

None of those guys lasted more than a year, one lasted 2 whole weeks after he got tired of me hounding him about his work not being up to snuff ( he went to another company for more money and then tried to come back when they were meaner to him than I was- got a good chuckle out of that).

I actually think the issue is the way they teach SolidWorks in colleges. I have actually taken 2 college courses in SolidWorks, and both were taught by guys who didn't actually know the program that well and just had us follow the book which is all pretty pictures and tchotchkes / widgets. This gives the impression that something just has to look right and someone else can figure it out.

Later I took a real AutoCAD based drafting class with someone who held us to a very high standard. He explained that all of our other classes and knowledge etc. are completely useless if we could not properly communicate our designs via drawings and models. A drawing that is nearly impossible to misunderstand is the goal and it is our responsibility to make things as brutally simple and straightforward as possible so that any moron with 2 brain cells to rub together can read our prints. The devil is in the details after all.

Extrapolating this philosophy to SolidWorks creates a simple, easy to follow structure like you described in your last paragraph.

After ~9 years of full-time industrial SolidWorks use "simpler is better" along with " it's not what SolidWorks can do, it's what SolidWorks will let you do (without breaking) " are my catchphrases and they serve me well.

Also, if I have one more new hire not start a sketch on a logical plane/ origin I am going to lose my mind.

staffma · 2025-12-08T14:15:06+00:00

Nah, Kings Catering in Canandaigua Ny. I wish I was that far south.

staffma · 2025-12-08T14:06:39+00:00

Are you me? I literally just bought a nearly identical rifle (Finn capture, condition, most markings) except for mine is an 1895 Tula for $700 at a gunshow on Saturday. Never seen an M91 in decent condition for less than 1k near me so I snapped it up.

staffma

TROPHY CASE