I think I’m about as far along on cleaning up the frame and lever as I want to go right now. I got some done early this morning and it’s looking a lot better than it did. There are a few rust pits that I still need to work on and a few I’m thinking about leaving, so to not mess up any of the sharp edges.
I’m not having much success in getting a nice photo of the right side. Glare from the lights in my shop make it hard to see the transitions. The right side photographed better when I had it in the big machinist vise in the garage.
The barrel looks to be 1:14 and tapers to .55 @ 22 inches. My first choice was half octagon with wedding ring transition, but this would be my second choice if I were going to purchase a barrel. There is no real reason to slug it now, it’s a CF barrel. I prefer 40 grain V-max and this should be a dandy.
The rust pits on the barrel exterior cleaned up nicely with 320 then 400 wet/dry sand paper. The bore is pristine. I’ll pull the barrel off and clean up the breach end after I get the stock inletting and fitting done. It makes too good of a handle to pull it off now.
My work bench is cluttered with three model 43s, two Remington 580s that have been converted to CF, a BRNO model 5 and a Model 69A plus magazines and ammo for the above sitting on it that I need to get to the range with. I’m slowly getting some new shelving units built and once I get them in service life is going to be good. I’ve got such a clutter of stuff from my garage in my shop it’s hard to get anything done in there. I’ve only got a single car garage and in order to have room over there to build the shelving I have to either have it in the shop or the house temporarily.
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