Sailormilan2

Rounds Down Range 143 Post Thanks / Like Re: Starting a new build.

Numrich has some Chrome lined 18" and 22" barrels made for LRB Arms at a very good price. So, I installed one. Problem withe Chinese made Polytechs and Norincos(Same gun, different name) is that for some reason, the locking shoulders on the receivers have been moved slightly forward from USGI spec. Makes fitting and head spacing a bolt a little more difficult. Especially with the chrome lined barrels. Due to their chrome lining, the chamber is fully cut. So, after installation, one must find a bolt that fits, or lap the receiver and bolt lugs.

I'm using Allegheny Arsenal Manganese Park. It's much simpler to use than the Brownells. But it costs more.

I've got a couple of Chinese made Polytech M14S rifles that I've used as training aids. I've learned a lot from tinkering with, and modifying, them. But their dark grey color always bothered me. Especially when next to the black color of American parts. So, COVID-19 boredom struck me hard the other day and I decided to "fix" them. I reparked all the Chinese made parts to black. Then put them into cleaned up and refinished USGI stocks. Here they are. The wood on the walnut stock is actually better than what shows up in the photo.

Well, here it is. It's parkerized now. Good color. Unfortunately, the weld didn't take the park well. So, I used Brownells Oxphoblue on it, and that did the trick.

I applied CitriStriper twice. Scrubbed with a soft nylon bristle brush, and rinsed off with the hottest water my water heater could do.

Here it is. 10 coats of hand rubbed pure Tung oil. Then sanded with 400 grit paper. Finally, one coat of hand rubbed Tung oil.

Ok. Almost finished. I need to make the front hinge pin using a 7/64 drill bit, then parkerize it.

I've been tossing around the idea of making a hinged TG for my Yugo Mauser in .243 Win. I got the idea when I realized that the distance from the rear magazine wall to the rear guard screw was the same, whether it was an Intermediate Yugo or a standard 98. The difference in length is all in the front end, basically from about the mid point of the magazine to the front screw. So, I got the idea of finding a donor hinged TG, and doing some cutting and welding. Well, I've had the donor for months now, and finally worked up the courage to do it. Realizing that I don't do this often, and I'm not trained, some of my ideas might not be the most efficient. 1st I hacked off the trigger guard off the donor at the rear mag wall. I ruined a previous Yugo TG, by cutting it in the wrong place, so I was very cautious and conservative today. I cut the military TG right in front of the trigger guard itself. I used and old Yugo stock as a fitting jig, and when placed in there, I had over lap. I ended up cutting the honor TG with the latch, right at the latch. On the military unit, I had to trim back all the way to the mag catch/spring tunnel at the back of the rear wall. I actually had to remove some of the tunnel for everything to fit. Once everything fit, I beveled the edged for a good weld. I would have preferred a TIG welder, but I didn't know anyone who had one. So, my neighbor and his MIG welder got drafted. Unfortunately, there wasn't any real support for the military unit, so it got slightly out of position during welding. Resulting in a slight downward tilt at the weld. But, that won't affect anything, and when in the stock, it's not noticeable. We also filled the front locking screw hole. Which now needs to be cleaned out. There's a reamer for that, and I have one. So far, I've ground down the welds on the sides, so they match the stock contours. Ground down the front screw hole fill, and still have a little to do. I used a 1/4" end mill to open up the hole for the hinge on the floor plate to fit into. Opened with 1/4", then cleaned up a bit with a 5/16". Then filed the end of the cut out square and with an angle inside. Hinge pin hole was drilled a while ago. Currently I'm filling down the latch end of the floor plated once I get it to latch, I will finish profiling the sides of the floorplate at the TG. For some reason, Mausers have a 1/2" square cut just in front of the front mag wall. That leaves very thin metal where the hinge pins will be going. So, my thoughts on that are once everything is done, short of refinishing, I'm going to bead blast all the parkerizing off. The the floorplagte hinge tongue with Brownells release agent, put the floor plate in place with the hinge pin, then pack DevCon Steel bed into the space to give extra support. Rifle will be finished in parkerizing, and I don't believe that the parking solution will affect the DevCon.

Awesome.

Just picked up a figured birch stock for one of my M14 rifles. I don't really need it, but it's got the potential to be really nice if finished right. I'm not a fan of really pale stocks, so I have to decide if I should dye it(birch doesn't stain well with oil based stains), or leave it be. Anyway, here's before cleaning and after cleaning pics. Nothing has been done except to clean it.

FWIW, Shaw is having a Labor Day sale from now through Labor Day. 15% off.

Someone, and I think that it is/was Zastava, made a true left handed 98 style action. At one time they supposedly made some in Stainless steel.

My son's a lefty. This is for him. No stain. Strictly TruOil.

A bit more information about the stock. It's a Richards MicroFit blem. There were two big cracks in it, which Richards MicroFit had filled with something. I filled the inside of the crack with some 20 minute hobby epoxy. Here's the stock. 4 coats of hand rubbed TruOil. Allowed to dry overnight, then buffed with an old washrag, and a good coat of Johnson's paste wax rubbed on and buffed.

I had some parts lying around, and an A&B barrel that a guy said he wanted, but could never come up with the money for. So, being bored one day, I put everything together on a DWM '98 action, along with one of the "engraved" Parker Hale/ Santa Barbara trigger guards. Then parkerized the whole thing. What ever alloys PH/SB uses doesn't work well with parkerizing. Color came out a mid grey, rather than black. Looks ok though. The object was to have a spare hunting rifle. Well, my lefty son's Remington 700 trigger is acting up. Put it in the shop, and there's about 300 rifles ahead of his to be worked on. So, I remembered that I had a left handed Mauser stock. So, I finished inletting it, bedded it. Here it is with 2 coats of TruOil. Since this is a hunting rifle, I didn't polish the wood as I normally do. Only went to #320 grit. Sanding dust was left on, and the TruOil rubbed on to mix with the dust. There's no sheen yet. I may put a 3rd coat on this evening and burnish with steel wool tomorrow. I still need to do the inletting for the bolt handle, and install swivel studs.

3 rounds off the bench at 100 yds.

Yes, still .308. No caliber change request.

A friend asked me to rebuild a Turk Mauser that I had put together for his son years ago. The original build had a rethreaded Remington 700 .308 Win barrel, and was finished in KG Coatings brushed stainless steel bake on paint. For the rebuild he wanted a longer barrel and to have it parkerized. The only place that had small ring barrels relatively inexpensive was ER Shaw. So, I ordered one, as well as a new Timney/Buehler safety to replace one that had disappeared on a hunting trip. It took about 9 weeks for the barrel to get here. All the paint was head blasted off, and once the barrel was installed and finish reamed, everything was parkerized. I also took off the one piece base, and put on a two piece Leupold set. Barrel channel had to be opened up due to the difference barrel profile. Safety is modified to allow the bolt to be worked while the safety is engaged. Allows emptying the magazine by working the bolt with the safety on. So here it is. Waiting for the heat wave to end so I can test fire and sight it in.

I've just finished putting together another M14 style rifle. I wanted a nice looking piece of wood on it, and was considering a USGI "Big Red" style walnut stock. Then, I stumbled across this stock on EvilBay, and I had one of those, "I gots to have it" moment. I could see the dark horizontal lines in it, and that was enough for me. When it finally arrived yesterday, it was much better than the photos showed. So, here it is with one coat of thinned Teak Oil. Brushed on liberally, rubbed, then wiped down.

I realize that I am not a trained medical person, but, I'm not sure if I can agree with people who keep insisting that this is nothing but a bad flu or cold. The "high" mortality rate is not the issue. The issue is the severity of the medical problems that those people who have been diagnosed with it have. Note, I said, "diagnosed". I will freely admit and agree that most people who get it will have zero to mild symptoms. When it's reported that up to 45% of the younger people diagnosed with it get severe symptoms and require hospitalization. Then it starts becoming problematic. When it's being reported that 15-25% of those who recover suffer from permanently degraded lung capacity, it's a problem. If that's really true, then one never fully recovers. One only "survives" it. So, it's not necessarily the "high" mortality rate that's the problem. It's the associated medical problems and their long term effects that's the problem.

My oldest came by and grabbed his "Tanker" M14, to add that to his AR15 and Rem 870. He also stocked up on ammo. Got the expected call from my daughter. Her mother, my ex, was freaking out about the possibility of Martial Law and riots. Daughter wanted a handgun. So, I told her that if she got a Firearm Safety Certificate (FSC), I would give her the guns I had previously told her she could have if something happened to me. When she shows she'll get my old duty M19 S&W and my little EDC S&W3913. The youngest hasn't been by yet.

Well, so far, in the past week to stay busy I've: Loaded about 1K rounds of .308 Win ammo, boxed it up. Stripped, modified, stained, and refinished 2 rifle stocks. Dug out a little Hudson's Bay hatchet that's been bouncing around my shop for years. Cleaned the rust off, ground the pits out, polished, bead blasted, then parkerised it. Finally put a new handle on it. Found out that it's a Norlund. Apparently a very nice little hatchet. Did the same thing to an old Plumb double bit axe that was my dad's. What are you guys doing?

I'm using Allegheny Arsenal black park. I really like it. Smooth finish, and takes about 1/3 as much park solution in the water. The park on the .243 ended up a little lighter in color. I don't know if that was because the temp wasn't fully up to normal park temp, or the steel alloy.

AzRedNeck, initial test firing if the .257 wasn't great. But, in my defense, I was using Nosler E-tip solid copper bullets, which are too long for the 10" twist. I've since gotten some of the Hornady GMX which are shorter. On your .257, if the action was a Turk, was it the early 1903? They're weird. Standard length in the outside, but intermediate length bolt. A standard mag should fit. But there will be an overhang of the feed ramp, unless it's removed, and you will probably have to remove wood from the front of the magazine box so it will go into the stock. On this one, I'm using a Parker Hale aluminum trigger housing/mag. It takes a 1/2# off the weight. The stock is a Fajen, with lightening cuts in the barrel channel and holes drilled in the buttstock. Unfortunately, A&B barrels tend to have a heavier barrel profile. Though I turned this one down a bit.