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I've got this old gun

scasa

Silver $$ Contributor
This is the first of my wintertime projects It's a Westernfield #45 made by mossberg as a #42 these were made from 1935-1937 and were mossbergs first bolt action repeater. This gun had been around the block a time or two, mostly drug around from the looks of the wood. and somebody made a part for it that caused a lot of confusion trying to figure out what was missing . A member at RFC showed me what it was supposed to look like and then I was able to figure out what they had done and what I needed to do to fix it IMG_0796.JPG
The part sticking out of the bolt isn't supposed to be there the sleeve inside is but not the coller on the end, that keeps the safety from working. You can see how bad the wood is in this pic with all the dings and it's really dark. I pulled it apart and started on the stock with 80 grit then a steam iron and a wet rag over the whole thing I actually got most of the dings pulled up to where they could be sanded out and only had 6 spots of wood filler in it. I found a new brand that worked really well . I still blended them in with a brown sharpie but there undectable now. The barrel channel and action cutout were really rough so I free floated the barrel and bedded the action with JB weld .So after lot of sanding and my favorite rosewood stain it got about 20 coats of wipe on poly, 2 sanding sessions and finaled out with 4/0 steel wool and turtle wax.
I made a new knob for the end of the bolt, the knob is also the safety, when cocked you pull back on the knob and turn to the right . There is an S stamped in the end of the bolt and the original knob prodably had an S on it or an index mark but mine is plainIMG_0814.JPG
All of the set screws in the bolt as well as the take down were 10x32 which I thought was odd however I'm glad they were cause I needed to make a new takedown screw. the old one was beyond salvage, too many vise grips over the years. I made a new knob and used a 10x32 allen head screw for the threaded part and red loctite holds them together plus you can tighten the screw with an allen wrench instead of vise gripsIMG_0815.JPG
The chrome on the trigger and bolt was pretty bad so I bead blasted it off and polished the them up . The barrel was the hardest one I've ever blued to get it to take even but it finally gave in .
I put it all together and for an 85 year old gun that had a hard life it looks pretty good.IMG_0813.JPGIMG_0814.JPG
Yea I know my shop is a mess thats tomorrows project.
 
Most impressive. It looks better than most guns sold today, new! Especially 22's.

That old walnut is just not available anymore. I have a couple Winchster 67/68 and am amazed every time I refinish one.
 
Reminds me a lot of an old departed friend, he would buy old dilapidated 22 rifles from pawn shops, spend endless hours turning them back into really nice rifles.
I sure miss that old guy, hope he’s having a blast on the ultimate range in heaven.
 
Thyank you all for the nice comments . I hope it was entertaining cause I've got a bunch more to do this winter. Some are pretty ragged and one I'm going to make a new walnut stock for.
 

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