Low wall action repair lower tang - help request

[JDHasty]

I am giving serious consideration to to convert my standard trigger to a single set trigger using MVA parts. Fitting the trigger spring is supposedly the only tricky part of the conversion. Word I have is that the hammers are the same with the exception that the hammer I have can be annealed and a slot for the fly cut and pin hole drilled in the original. Does anyone have any idea where I can locate the specs for this cut and pin hole? Other than that from what I hear is it is a pretty straight forward conversion with the lower tang being able to be taken out of the rifle and held in a vise while doing the fitting and adjustment.

[JDHasty]

I got my Leupold QRW 541 bases today and my thought that these would more likely than not be the closest fit for my barrel was correct. I needed to take .015 off the rear one, all I had to do was match it to the taper on the barrel. I used a file to go down .015 on both ends of the rear for witness marks and then used a rat tail file to get it close. 220 grit wet n dry sand paper on the barrel made short work of getting them mated up to the barrel contour. We will probably drill and tap the barrel tomorrow. When I do the final assembly I’ll still put release agent on the barrel and bed the base to the barrel with Pro Bed.

[JDHasty]

Got the rings and bases mounted today and cut & profiled the lower tang and fixed the countersink hole for the wood screw. I’m pretty happy with how the lower tang turned out.

I’m pretty much stuck on this one until my wood shows up. I’ll get photos up later.

My Stevens 44 22 LR barrel is home from Oregon bored to take the liner. I have that to keep busy on for a bit. I’ll get the liner glued in and take it to my buddy’s house and we can face off the breech and muzzle and crown it. That’s all I can do until March or April, I sent my action to John Taylor. He is going to build a barrel for it in 17 HMR. Third octagon, number 2 profile like the original I have, but with Wedding band transition. I’ll chamber the barrel and file the extractor slot when the action gets home here. It was originally a Model 45 Range Rifle, it will have a shotgun butt and checkered steel Niedner butt plate on it when I get it stocked.

The Low wall stock should be inletted and fitted by mid November and I can then send the metal off to be color case hardened. That will take three weeks.

[Rockindaddy]

I could repair that lower tang. Would TIG a new piece of steel and machine it to the original dimensions. I am an old tool and die maker. I have made all of the Winchester serial number dies. Remarking the original number is easy. Have quite a few of the address roll dies I made to restore the barrel addresses.

[JDHasty]

We MIG welded it, that’s what we have. Got a couple holes, but not bad for a guy that hasn’t welded in years. I gave my welder to my neighbor because I bought it to teach myself and just couldn’t make the time. He’s a great young guy, he welded it up and I hand filed it. It’s made from a part off of another neighbor’s Ducati motorcycle.

I wanted the engraver to redo the serial number, but he won’t do anything with serial numbers.

[Green Frog]

As someone who has installed a set of factory SST parts in a Winder musket 22 that already had the hammer fly, it’s a very sketchy installation. Mine is still very temperamental and takes a lot of fiddling every outing. OTOH, my high wall with an original factory SST installation is reliable as a freight train - works first time every time.
Your parts might work first time… then again you might learn some new obscenities!

Froggie

[JDHasty]

As someone who has installed a set of factory SST parts in a Winder musket 22 that already had the hammer fly, it’s a very sketchy installation. Mine is still very temperamental and takes a lot of fiddling every outing. OTOH, my high wall with an original factory SST installation is reliable as a freight train - works first time every time.
Your parts might work first time… then again you might learn some new obscenities!

Froggie

Sincere thanks for the heads up.

[JDHasty]

Look what showed up today:







I thought it was a new shop apron I had ordered until I opened the box. I’m liking it. I just made a seven hour run to central WA to bring my RV home, apple prices are so low that the fruit is hanging on the trees. I’ll get started on assessing the inletting after I wake up. I might even start on it. I’m beat.

FYI, the Brownells shop aprons we have all come to know and love are no more. Dropped from their catalog. I’m going to give something else a try. I’ve got a couple old Brownells aprons that I guess I will have patched up. I kind of like them.

I stopped at a LGS on my trip this morning. They had a Winchester Model 43 in a fiberglass stock. They didn’t know what brand the stock is, but I did. It’s really nice, the rifle is in 218 Bee and I would have bought it if it was an “A” prefix later production rifle. I have a good idea who stocked the rifle. I don’t think they ever offered a stock specifically inletted for the Model 43. It was likely a raw blank that could be used for any application. It is entirely consistent with this guy’s workmanship. Really nice.

[Chill Wills]

That should finish with some really nice grain contrast.

[marlinman93]

Nice looking wood, and appears to be pretty smoothly finished on the exterior surfaces.

[JDHasty]

It is pretty smooth, but a lot of it will be coming off. I have the action back together and the butt inletted, I’m going to set it up in a mill and use Forstner bit to get the two screw swivel studs started in and cut it to length today. That way I can inlet the fore end, shape the butt and inlett the Niedner butt plate next week.

I’m extremely happy with the wood. My buddy turned me on to Treebone Carving, I’ll be back to do more business with them.

[JDHasty]

We got the tang screw hole drilled in the stock yesterday evening. Turned up a threaded pilot to get the action lined up and clamped solidly on the mill and then replaced the pilot with a twist drill and went about 90% of the way and finished the hole with a hand drill. That is how we do it on Browning Auto 5 shotguns. I don't know how others do it, but this works well for us. About three licks with a chainsaw sharpening file and it is spot on. Going to use a Forstner bit to rough inlet for the two screw sling swivels tonight then will finish them out with an X-Acto blade. As a general rule, that has been a good way to do these.

I cut the sprues off two checkered Neidner butt plate castings and then went after them with a smooth mill file followed by 320 grit wet n dry on a wood block and then a popsicle stick. If there is anything that beats a popsicle stick for this kind of work it is kept secret from me. I promised the kids I would make some bird house kits for them tonight, but will probably have time to finish polishing those butt plates with 600 and thousand grit. I've seen, and tried, and use a lot of different things used for fine sanding wood and polishing metal. For me, although I have and use a bunch of different things, a popsicle stick is what I use more often than any of the others. A lot more often.

I have a couple old Nicholson rasps I am pretty fond of, and a pattern makers file and a cobblers rasp that I like, but have not been 100% satisfied with what I have for rasps. I've tried a half dozen over the course of the last couple years and didn't really like any of them. Some of them were real dogs, some were just not quite right. Rasps are like hunting dogs, if they don't have it in them it's best to just cut your losses and get rid of them. I bit the bullet and ordered a 10" nine grain Auriou Cabinetmaker's Rasp a while ago and am hoping it shows up soon. A buddy has one and it's what I have been looking for.

[JDHasty]

Got a little fitting and shaping in done tonight. It’s coming along OK so far.

[JDHasty]

The butt stock is pretty close to being done except finishing. It took about as long to inlet the checkered steel Niedner butt plate and Tally 2-screw sling swivel stud as it did the stock. Those butt plates are a chore to bed, and you are working on end grain the entire time. The swivel wasn’t a big deal. Setting up the stock in a milling vise took a bit of time. But the swivel inletting can be milled and it is clean. I believe I took about a quarter of the wood off with rasps and sand paper. You get a lot to work with. I would have carved a shadow line cheek piece, but my daughter shoots off her left side. She is left eye dominant. Definitely born that way, I have photos of her looking through rifle scopes before she was a year old and always from the left side.

My buddy with a milling machine is headed to Arizona for the winter on Thursday. I am going to put a 1/2 square steel block in front of the flat spring to attach the foreend to. DeHaas suggested that somewhere. I send our Contender foreends to Steve Stratton and have him mill them to use his hanger bar. The DeHaas fore end hanger is only about 1-1/4 inches long, but should function pretty much the same.

[marlinman93]

I have a number of Remington Hepburn and Rolling Block sporting rifles that all have a block dovetailed into the barrel for a forearm screw. I think that was pretty standard for Remington on their sporting rifles.
None of those blocks are as long as 1.25" though. All appear to be maybe 3/4" long.

[JDHasty]

I have a dovetail I could cut a slot for, but like the idea of doing it this way. It was in his gunsmithing Ideas Book.

[JDHasty]

I will try a lower ring set, this high set is a tad bit high for my liking. I can live with it and don’t want to have to fight the hammer, maybe a medium set will work out better. I doubt that a low set will let me cock it without fighting the hammer, but I’ll try them anyway. There is plenty of clearance up front, so it’s just a matter of having room to cock it and also be able to lower the hammer safely. I’m too tired tonight to play with rings.

The action looks like has been drug behind a truck, once I settle on rings and pull it down I’ll polish it back up before packing it up to send the parts off to have it color case hardened and blued. No deep scratches, but it’s pretty scuffed up from inletting the stock set.

My Montana Vintage Arms screws and pins got lost in the mail. A second set is on the way. Inletting the action was not bad, the Neidner butt plate was far worse, the fore end took a lot of time and effort. Once I had it inletted we made a fore end hanger per Frank DeHaas. An old lathe bit worked great and I rough contoured it with a cut off wheel on my Foredom flex shaft tool then used 320 wet n dry. It’s bedded in Pro Bed.

I’m pretty happy with it at this point. It’s winding down and it won’t be long now until the metal is away at the finishers while I’m finishing the stock. The inletting is pretty tight, it doesn’t photograph well, but I’m pretty critical of my own work and if it had any gaps I’d be the first one to point them out. I think it is as clean as any I’ve ever done.

[Chill Wills]

Looks good from where I sit! You are much faster and better than I am with the wood. I have trouble fitting the cone on a 1885. Good for you!

[JDHasty]

Thank you for your kind words. It really surprised me how little trouble it gave me. It really was a nice piece of lumber to work with and that helped. Quite hard, but cut well with everything from chisels and rasps to files and sand paper. It didn’t want to chip either. I’ve wet it down a few times with mineral spirits to get an idea how it’s going to finish up and am quite pleased with it. I love the knot.

[marlinman93]

Looks great to me too! I really like your choice of buttplate, as those old Winchester steel buttplates are wonderful!