If you look at pictures #1 & 4 you will see that the original builder had made the side plate Washers out of the casing heads from 300 Win Magnum.
That wasn't too bad of an idea.they could have been refined a little better , but still it was a good idea on his part.
You know,
I really need to Stop Ragging on this Bubba's work.
At least he was able to get a Level 4 Builders kit into a Functioning Rifle.
From the looks of the finishes on the rifle , I bet he would have done an Excellent job on say a level 1 screwdriver kit.
But I still have to point out his Mistakes, and what they effected plus how to Fix them.
But when this rifle is complete , I am sure that I will be blamed by most people that I did the Bubba Work if they can see any of my Fixes.
But I will be satisfied because there are two people that know the real story behind this Rebuild and I know they will appreciate it.
And so will their wallets.
26
And Armoredman must be a King.
I made a Crown for him.
I enjoy fixing up a lot of messed up stuff, but I doubt if I can do as well as you.Originally Posted by LAGS
Why can't you do as well as my work?
It is just a matter of trying.
And you have a lot of support from members on this , and many other sites.
That Crown was done with a 7/8" ball bearing , welded to a 1/4" piece of drill rod.
Then spun in an electric drill with 220 grit polishing compound.
I made the tool myself like 30 years ago with my welding torch.
LAGS, you do some truly excellent work! I really like the way you stepped up and brought this train wreck back from the trash heap. It's nice to see what some patience and ingenuity can do!
This is not My train wreck.
But Armoredman did get it because he knew I could fix it if it had issues.
But my train wreck salvage yard is still pretty full.
But those too will get rebuilt over time pretty soon.
After all.
I am a Firearms Recycler more than a Gunsmith
Last edited by LAGS; 05-11-2022 at 09:59 PM.
Now I know what to get you for your birthday - a wrecked model train.
That is truly a crowning achievement.
Today I will be bedding the Tang and rear of the barrel.
This takes time.
The bedding compound I use , doesn't set for hours and doesn't fully cure for almost 24 hours.
Faster setting epoxies are not as hard and durable as this bedding compound.
So I have to find something else to work on so I don't do the three P's.
You don't want to Pitter , Putter or Play with the gun.
You can screw it up or cause air bubbles if the parts move.
So,
I will go work on my other rifles or see if I can do the repairs on things I need to weld up on the trigger.
But until the epoxy cures, I can not do anything with the trigger that involves fitting it back into the stock
Now, when you are glass bedding .
You can speed up the curing process on epoxy by warming it up with a hair dryer or heat gun.
But I say Do Not do that.
You are causing the epoxy to cure faster on the exposed parts and not all the way thru evenly.
And if you heat it up enough to get the unexposed areas to cure , you are cooking the crap out of the exposed areas.
Be patient with epoxies , take your time.
It is a lot of work , but you don't want it to come out bad or have to redo it.
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28
29
30
31
32
Picture 29 shows where I epoxied the tang to the barrel for bedding.
This makes sure everything is in alignment when either bedding the Tang or barrel or both at once.
When you are done bedding.
You just warm up the tang with a heat gun or propane torch.
Then it comes back off.
I also epoxy the tang to the barrel when I inlet the stock.
It makes for better more consistent inletting.
Nifty. BTW, guys I am not there - LAGS is sending me the pics from half a state away and I'm uploading them from home.
The next area I will bed is the length of the barrel especially the area where the Tennon sits in the stock as seen in picture #30.
To prevent the bedding compound from going down into the channel for the ramrod.
I put the release agent on a piece of steel rod.
And place it in the ramrod channel.
I had the 3/8 steel rod in the ramrod channel when I bedded the tang.
Just in case there was a crack that would let epoxy flow down into the ramrod channel.
As you can see in picture 30.
The stock already had cracks down into the ramrod channel.
Bedding the whole barrel channel will fix those cracks from the inside.
I also glued pieces of wood into the Wedge Holes.
That was because I have to re cut the holes for the barrel wedge because he cut them in too low because of too deep bedding on the barrel.
If I don't have to redo the wedge holes , I just fill them with floral clay so the epoxy doesn't run out there.
Last edited by LAGS; 05-12-2022 at 08:46 PM.
Picture #28 is the rear sight that came with the rifle.
The previous owner / Builder had cut the dovetail in the barrel wrong and was too loose to hold the rear sight in place.
He actually epoxied the rear sight into the dovetail.
So , since the dovetail is larger than most Standard rear Sights , and we don't want to buy an Oversized Sight.
I soldered a steel plate to the front of the sight to make it longer.
Now I can make the dovetail work , and make the rear sight adjustable for windage.
It is kind of a Bubba Fix , but it works and cost me less to do.
Plus the time trying to find a sight that is correct and is oversized on the base.
just a thought for another time
I did a boogered up CVA once - I think had had a flintlock of different pedigree fitted and then the lock inlet filled with beeswax when it was put back to percussion - whatever - the lock inlet was really bad - rather than fit a wood inlay I just made a bigger lockplate to cover the whole thing and re inletted it - the lockpate was easy - just stripped the lock down and clamped the old and new back to back to get the holes spaced exactly - done one in reverse too - got a inletted stock in that black brazilian timber cheap off a trade blanket - made a blank lockplate to fit the inlet then fitted CVA innards off a small maslin percussion lock.
I do metalwork better than wood so I guess I lean that way but these were easy jobs and end up looking ok.
@ Indian Joe.
For a template to make duplicate parts ,
I use Masking Tape as you can see in picture #14.
I put the tape on the lock and cut it out to fit.
Then transfered it to the wood block to be able to sand the block to exact measurements of the lock.
In this case.
I Marked the tape to match the Lock.
And then cut the tape to match the previous inletted stock.
Once the block was inserted and glued in the stock , then I made a Tape Template again that was exactly matching the lock for reinletting the block of wood.
I also use that Tape Template method for duplicating metal too like side plates and Wedge Plates and even patch boxes.
Today's plan is to bed the forestock and area around the Tennon shown in picture #30.
Plus work on the trigger some more.
I need to weld up the plate on the front trigger where he filed it down to clear the stock , and now misses engaging the sear.
That area can be seen in picture #15 on page 2 of this thread.
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| BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
| BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
| BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
| C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
| HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
| PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
| LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
| GC | Gas Check |
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