Cleaning up and refinishing a old Swede 6.5x55 md 42
I traded for this old Carl Gustaf 6.5x55, that had the stock broken on it 2+ years ago, had been sitting in a corner begging to be fixed up. This past week I dug out a French walnut 96 stock and trimmed it back to fit the rifle. It had its fair share of dings, and places where the finish was none existent. I cleaned the finish and gunk off it, sanded it down to 300 grit and applied some med brown stain. Much to my surprise, it turned the walnut a mahogany red, reminiscent of the older Winchester finishes, or English red. I sanded, stained and finally steel wooled it with 4-0000 steel wool. I then applied 6 coats of tru-oil, letting it dry and and steel wooling between each coat. I think it turned out pretty good, but still wished the grain had filled up a little better. As a surprise, the stock turned out to have black tiger stripe all the way up it and on the handguard, something you could never see with the factory finish. The rifle has a mint bore, with the tightest action I have ever handled in a 96, and I have quite a bit of experience dating back to 1985, when I ran a gun/gunsmithing shop up till 98, and have built over100 sporters on these actions, rebarreled a few, back then they went for $69 each. This one shoots high, as most do, but I have a taller front sight blade that I plan on installing. I also recently purchased a Carl Gustaf Diopeter sight, with all the original paperwork, that I plan on mounting to this rife, and see what it will really do. My first groups shot at 50 and 100 yds, printed a ragged hole at 50 yds, and a nicely rounded 1.6" group at 100ys with my hunting load of 120 Sierra SP, that is moved along at 2985fps with an appropriate charge of IMR 3031. This load shoots a ragged hole out of fully tuned 96 that I sporterized back in 1985, and have hunted with it since. I have done extensive load work over 3 years, and IMR 3031 came out on top, in effiecency, accuracy, and velocity, in a field of 20 powders, and 4 different brands of bullets, ending up with la 85 gr BTHP, a 120gr SP and a 140 grain loads, that will all shoot 1/2 inch or better at 100 yds, all shooting Sierra bullets. Recently checked this load on Quick Load computer program, and it came out at 95% efficient! I can send pics to someone who can post them, just thought I would share.
Pictures provided by koger on the 6.5x55 Swede Mod 42
