Machining and Manufacturing

Firearm Success Story

A large Firearms OEM needed a precision machined vent rib to go on one of its popular shotgun products. Sales were strong and the current supplier was having difficulty keeping up with demand.

Problem

This firearms component was thirty-six inches long, and straightness was an important quality component of the assembly process. The part had to be heat treated before machining, causing the rectangular bar material to bend and warp. The current supplier was struggling to produce straight parts during machining using a standard vise clamping system. The part would be deformed while machining and then return to its free form state when unclamping after machining.

This caused the supplier to add a part straightening operation, and a part buffing operation because the parts would get dinged up during straightening. Cosmetics and finish were very important to the OEM customer.

Solution

Montague was able to help the supplier by creating a manufacturing process that would allow the part to be machined in its free form state, eliminating the need to straighten or buff the parts. In addition, Montague was able to reduce the machining cycle time on the part from twenty-two minutes down to six minutes by utilizing their high-speed CNC milling centers and manufacturing experience!

Conclusion

The happy conclusion was our customer caught up on late deliveries and provided quality parts to their important OEM Firearms customer. The Montague team was able to significantly reduce the internal cost of manufacturing these parts and made it a win-win for our customer.