HuntingNet.com Forums - View Single Post - New England Sidekick Jag Modified

12-28-2005 | 05:25 PM

#1

MrWilson

Joined: Dec 2005

Posts: 7

Likes: 0

From: Cottonwood, AZ

New England Sidekick Jag Modified

New England Firearms Sidekick Jag Modifications For Ballistic Tip Sabots

I searched the web trying to find an H&R/NEF jag for pointed ballistic tip sabots. The H&R/NEF factory jag has a flat face. I found several jags for sabots, but few that have male 8-32 threads for my ramrod. Ramrod standard is 10-32. My ramrod and cleaning rods use 8-32. I found none that had the second level of large diameter course threads that the H&R/NEF jags have to lock the collapsing ramrod.
I modified my existing jag to use ballistic tip sabots like Dead-Center’s, round balls, and hollow points like Expander MZ’s. It wasn’t as hard as it may seem.
First drill a hole into a block of wood to hold the jag. Insert the jag into the wood block and hold with pliers. The pliers will leave marks on the outside of the jag, but they make it easy to grip it with your fingers when it is back on the ramrod.
Center punch the jag and use a 1/8” drill bit to start the hole in the center of the jag. Then put electrical or duct tape 3/8” up a 13/64” drill bit so you know how deep you need to drill. Carefully drill the hole. Too deep will destroy the jag. I didn’t use a drill press.
Use a router bit to bevel to a 45 degree slope leaving a1/16” ring on the original jag face. Then use a Dremel 952 grinding stone to make a steeper slope on the bottom ½ of the slope. The last step is to use a sharp knife to trim the surface until smooth.
I assume that the same problem also exists with the New England Firearms Huntsman and Heritage models.
The whole process took about 15 minutes. I did my jag first to figure out the process. Then I did my sons.
The stainless Sidekicks are awesome. We both got ours for Christmas 2005. We took them out at first light that morning. We loaded them with 150 grains triple 7 pellets, 240 grain Dead Centers and CCI 209 primers.
To see what kind of energy they are putting out we shot 2 liter soda bottles filled with water. They made a 42’ diameter spray as they destroyed the bottles. The circle was easy to measure on the dry Arizona dirt.
Kneeling, we can easily hit Baseball sized rock out of the dirt embankment of a wash 150 yards away using the factory open sights. We didn’t get the scoped model. We did NOT have the T/C and Knight wild flier problem.
Clean-up is a breeze. The breech plug just screws out. We used a garden hose with a spray nozzle to spray down the barrel without getting the action wet. Primer fouling of the breech hole was easily pushed out with a small paper clip.

Reply

0