Originally Posted by
marlinman93
If you use a BP era Rolling Block military action you can't thin or modify the actions. BP era actions don't have the extra meat a later #5 smokeless action has, so I leave the action as is and stronger.
I do remove the trigger plate, and if I'm building a straight grip version I rework the trigger guard a lot by filing and shaping the squarish military trigger guard into a more streamline Sporting Rifle shape. I also rework the hammer spur, and breech block spurs to shape them into Sporting style, and then re-checker them using my thread cutting file. Once the spurs, and trigger guard are reshaped the look of the military action is gone, and they look just like my original round top Sporting Rifles.
The military actions also have big beefy thicker and wider tangs. So I thin the top tangs in both width and thickness to make them match Sporting Rifle dimensions. This can be done easily if you own a Sporter to match, but also can wait until you get your stocks, and then simply thin and shape the top tang to fit the new stock.
If I'm building a pistol grip like the one I linked above, I simply buy the complete Sporting pistol grip trigger plate from Numrich Gun Parts for $45. It's a leftover from Remington's late 1990's run, and fit into an older action with just minor filing on each side of a few thousandths to work.
I buy semi inletted stocks, or send my blanks to stock makers to be semi inletted. Used to always use Dave Crossno in Oklahoma, but he is gone, so if I do another I'll use Mike Basset who worked for Dave, and has his own shop now. I always got great work from both guys.
Once I have the metal work done, and fit the stocks, I polish out the metal and send all the receiver parts to Al Springer in Moore, Mt. Al does fantastic color case, and prepped parts get back to me within a few weeks. He also does equally nice rust bluing, if you don't do bluing yourself. I sometimes have him do the bluing, and sometimes do it myself. I use Pat Taylor at C. Sharps to fit barrels usually, and he works with Al by passing the barreled action on to Al once he's done, which saves shipping costs.
Then it's just a case of getting all the finished parts back to me, and reassembling them all. I like building the Rollers, and I try to make them so nobody looks at them and can determine if they're restored Sporting Rifles, or not? I see some builds done on military actions that instantly give clues of their original military history. Some builds don't do anything but change a barrel. Some add new stocks. But if you do everything correctly, the end result will ensure the gun's value is much higher, and it really only takes more time and labor by you, and doesn't add much cost.