Resurrecting an Oldie

[marksman]

very nice Homer

[Homer]

G'Day Fella's,

I managed to attach the forend tip and grip cap but first, I had to shorten the forend it self.
Please note the masking tape. This helps stop the wood from chipping, around the outside edge.

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I used a saw, to trim down the forend tip, to be slightly bigger than required
I then used the drill jig I made, to drill the dowl holes, in both the forend and the new tip.

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With this completed, I then filed both the mating faces, between the end of the forend and the new tip, to be both square and flat.

Once that was completed, I then glued (epoxy) the two dowls into the forend only.

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The next day, I mixed up some more epoxy, and placed this in the forend tip holes, and on the flat face, where the two peices of wood come together/join, and pressed them together, under pressure.
The next day I milled out the barrel channel to just short of the tip and then shaped the forend tip, to it's desired external shape.
I then applied a coat of Tru Oil to it.

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D'oh!
Homer

[Homer]

Here's a couple more images, of the forend tip, in it's final shape, again after a coat of Tru Oil.

Left side.

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Right side.

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and the bottom........... please note the variation in colour, from both sides and the bottom.

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I'm still working on the grip cap, and I'll post some images, once there's something worth seeing

Next thing up, I prepare, and then fit the recoil pad.........

D'oh!
Homer

[Stix]

You'll be nice'n proud of her when all done

Can you show a pic of the entire stock as well

[Wm.Traynor]

It's neat

[Homer]

G'Day Fella's

Thanks for the kind comments, Stix and Wm.Traynor.

Yes Stix, once this part of the stock work is completed, I'll post a few images of the entire stock.
I'm looking forward to that part of it, myself.

D'oh!
Homer

[Homer]

G'Day Fella's,

Here are a few images of the stocks new grip cap.
As you can see, it is in the Prince of ? style (round/radiused), and these images, are after a few coats of Tru Oil.

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I'm still not entirely happy with the thickness or height of the grip cap.
But before I do anything about this (thin it/lower it.........?), I'll see if it grows on me.

D'oh!
Homer

[JimTom]

Still amazed with the work you have done mate. Extremely envious.
It does look like it needs thinning out or something to me but I am judging that purely on aesthetics. I am far from an expert. Hopefully it does grow on you. I know I have owned items that I thought looked a little different however with time it becomes the normal.
Keep the pics of your progress coming. Look forward to seeing the finished product.

[Tiger650]

Noble work Homer.
I imagine that post WW2 someone paid a pretty penny for the rifle and probably appreciated it accordingly, even if a farmer it would have been cared for and probably have made him a quid on foxes.
You are certainly good at what you do.

[Homer]

G'Day Fella's,

Thanks for your kind comments and suggestions, JimTom and Tiger650.
In the flesh, there are some things/mistakes I made which you can see, that I now better understand, and hope will not do the same again in the future.........

OK, I have now prepared both the recoil pad and the Butt end of the stock.
I chose a Pachmayr model 200B, Decelerator pad, that were on special, so I bought 3 of them.
You can see how I am in the process of making the inside face of the pad flat (by carefully rubbing it on abrassive paper, placed on a dead flat surface).
If you look just above where my finger is, you can see a shiney area/Low spot, that is still untouched, so I need to do some more sanding, to get this right/flat.

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You also need to do the same to the rear face of the stock/Butt, as well.
What you should do, is use proper wood scrappers, to remove a small amount of wood, from all the center part of the stock, out to just short of the outside edge. I don't have any wood scrappers, so I used my linsher, to basically do the same. No room for slips or mistakes here!

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If you look above, you can see where I have also started to sand flat (by hand), the butt stocks end.
On the Heal of the stock (left side), and the Toe of the stock (right side), you can see where the wood has been removed, and these area's are flat.
The parts in between, around the outside edgen (top and bottom), are lower, and so it still needs some more wood removed/sanded off/down.

If you look where my thumb is in the below image, you can the last Low spot on the edge of the butt.
So I sanded it down a little more, and that job was finished.

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I also rubbed in a couple of coats of Tru Oil, into the bare wood surface of the stocks Butt end, to help seal this area as well.

So with that all done I then worked out where to, and drilled two holes in the Butt, to srew the recoil pad on.
I ment to do a Before and After photo........... but forgot to take the Before image.............. D'oh!........... again!
So here is the After image, with one of the spare Pachmayr pads beside the now fitted, and rough ground to size.

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I ground the slightly oversized pad, down to be slightly bigger than the butt stock, on my linisher.
As you can see above, I wrapped two thicknesses of masking tape around the stock, to give it some protection, whilst doing this task.

Getting close to finishing the outside now.

D'oh!
Homer

[marksman]

really really nice work there Homer

[Wm.Traynor]

Enjoying this topic, Homer

[Stoney]

Homer are you a gunsmith? Or just a really talented fella?

[Homer]

G'Day Fella's,

Thanks again for you kind comments fella's.

Stoney, I'm a Mechanical Fitter-Machinist-Welder-Patented Designer-etc and people have accused me of being a Gunsmith but I have no formal qualifications, as a Gunsmith.

Now that I have the recoil pad, roughed down to size, I now use a cork sanding block, and some type of 400 ish grade abrasive paper, to sand the pad down to size by hand.
By that I mean, until the pad is level with the sides of the stock.
I do this, as you can see, by wrapping Two thicknesses of masking tape, around the end of the stock, adjacent to the pad (as can be seen above).
I then by hand, sand the pad down until it is close to size, then remove one layer of masking tape, and continue to sand.
I won't tell you how I get it down to the flush level.............. as I need to keep a few of my secrets, to my self.

As promised Stix, here are a couple of images of the stock at this stage, in variing light conditions.

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So with that completed, I then get on with applying the final finishing coats of Tru Oil, to the stock.

Avagreatweekendeh!
Homer

[JimTom]

Mate disregard my last comments about thinning it out. Looks bloody good from that angle.

[marksman]

Mate disregard my last comments about thinning it out. Looks bloody good from that angle.

+1 yes it does

[Homer]

G'Day Fella's,

Finishing the outside of the stock, has gone about as far as it can.
I need to get a replacement barrel, threaded and chambered (but what chambering?) to the action, before I can go any further (like machine out the stocks, barrel channel to suit).
I may then have a go, at doing a simple checkering pattern on the Pistol Grip and Forend..................?

In the mean time, I was looking at doing a "Jenny Craig" job (lose some weight), from the action itself.
The area, each side of the magazine on this action, has a heap of excess metal, there that I believe doesn't need to be there.
If you look at the below images, you can see what I'm talking about.

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I'm sure you can see what I meen

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I'll try to remember, to weigh the action, Before and After, to see how much material was machined/milled away..............
There is another area in this (and many other) action, where material can also be removed, but I generally keep that to myself.

I also fully dismantled the Beesa's adjustable trigger, and cleaned and de-crudded all the parts.
I then honed and polished by hand, all the critical sear surfaces, to improve the trigger pull and break.
Before....

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After.

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D'oh!
Homer

[Stoney]

Hey Homer, Silly question. Wouldn't thinning the action reduce it's stiffness for accuracy? What to re-barrel to? .222 of course

[Homer]

Stoney, any machineing of the action that I do, I hope will not effect it's stiffness and strength.........

I was thinking about the good old .222 Rem but, I may go to .223 Rem instead?
I have a new MADDCO 1 in 14" twist (great for the .222) and a new Hardy, 1 in 8" twist barrel laying about, so the .223 may get a run...........
If I go with the .223, I will need to extend the magazine box, and the actions magazine cut out and stock inletting, by 2mm, so...........

Time will tell............

D'oh!
Homer

[Homer]

G'Day Fella's,

I have now machined what I believe is excess material (Steel), from the areas of tha action.
Here is a Before

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and an After image

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and how I achieved this...........

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As you can see, I was able to carefully remove, about 48 Grams of steel, from various areas of the action.
I have pretty well settled, on rebarreling this action to .223 Rem, with a 1 in 8" twist barrel.
This will require some additional magazine length, so I will need to lengthen the magazine box, and it's action cut out.

Stay tuned

Avagreatweekendeh!
Homer

[Homer]

G'Day Fella's,

As discussed above, I recently machined up the new replacement rear of the magazine box.

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D'oh!
Homer

[Homer]

With that done, I then cut off the rear end/upright section of the factory magazine box, and then weld (Tig, @ 13 amps), the new and old parts together.

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Once this was completed, I then needed to make room for this extra length, in the actions magazine cut out, and the same, in the stocks inletting for this.

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I also need to shorten the length of the spring loaded standing Ejector, by a corresponding amount, so that it would continue to do it's job.

I'm now getting close to finishing this part of the project.
Next up, is fitting the new barrel.

Avagreatweekendeh!
Homer

[Homer]

G'Day Fella's,

As mentioned above, it's time to fit a new barrel.
This being that it is an old BSA .222 rifle, is not as strait forward as most others.
As can be seen in the below images of the original factory barrel, these particular rifles require both an extractor cut out and uniquely, a feed ramp in the rear of the barrel.

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If you look carefully, you can see where the feed ramp is fitted into a machined recess, and then soft soldered into place.
I could have removed this existing feed ramp, and fitted it to the new barrel, but I wanted a stainless steel feed ramp, to match the new barrel.

For this, I had to measure up the exiting feed ramp and the machine up a replacement. This took almost 3 hours Start to Finish, that why I did this myself.
Here are some images of how this small part, came into existance.
After getting all the measurements and dimensions, I then machined all the external and internal dimensions in the lathe.

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I then mounted the same piece of S/Steel in a dividing head in the Mill, and got rid of all the metal I didn't need.

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Once this was completed, I then checked everything was as required.

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I then placed the same piece of S/steel back in the lathe, and finished parting this portion off.
And finally, here it is............ 3 hours later.

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Tomorrow, I hope to drop off the complete action, a new .224", 1 in 8" twist, #3 profile, 24" barrel, off to The Best Barrel Fitter in the district, along with the new feed ramp.

Stay tuned
Homer

[JimTom]

Coming along nicely mate.

[Stoney]

I wish I was your neighbour Homer.

[Homer]

G'Day Fella's,

If you were Stoney, I'd never get any bloody work done mate. LOL!

I dropped the Beesa action, Old and New barrel, action wrench (with jaws, to match the BSA), etc and instructions, off to Russell the other day.
A coupla weeks, and I should have it back.

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I'll keep you posted.

Avagreatweekendeh!
Homer

[bigrich]

how's this project going homer ? is it back soon ? i'm curious about how much room to make around a barrel when it's floated. looking at a project myself, i've been refering to your efforts as a reference. cheers

[marksman]

its going to turn out a real treat, I cant stand waiting

[Homer]

G'Day Fella's,

I hope to hear from the Russell the Gunsmith, this week, letting me know the barrel is finished.
I'll then Tig weld the feed ramp in place and then drop it back off with him, to screw it in, and tighten it in place, in the Bessa action.
Once I get the completed barreled action back, I'll abrasive blast it and Cerakote it (either before or after I've finished the barrel channel?).

Here's a couple of images of the forend, masked out in the basic start to the checkering pattern.
Please note, the reprofiled/reshaped, forend tip.

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D'oh!
Homer

[Homer]

G'Day Fella's,

I got the re-barreld action, back from Mr Russell Le Maitre (of "Group Solutions" Ph; 0401 791 986 and [email protected] ), a few weeks back.
As is normal for Russell, he did a magnificent job of fitting the the replacement/new .223 Rem barrel, to this action.
This job, came with an issue, that is not common these days.
That being, that these old BSA actions, have a factory barrel reinforce/Knox Form of 1.310" (33.3mm) Diameter, at the action.
But these days, most after market barrels, are made from 1.125" Diameter bar stock, so they are a bit under size for these old action.
Not an issue for Russell, as he machined up a larger diameter "Bush", to marry the New to the Old.
Here are a couple of images, of the new barrel in place.

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With the metal work back, I set to fit the barrel to the forend of the rifles stock.
I wanted the barrel to be free floating, forward of the 1 1/4" or 32mm of the barrel reinforce epoxy bedding, normal for these types of action.
I got into it with my wood scraper and then sand paper, wrapped around a piece of 5/8" / 16mm wooden dowel, and after a few Scrap and Try efforts, that was done.

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So now, this is what it looks like.

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When I get a chance, I'll prep and Cerakote all of the metal work.
Once that is done and cured, I'll then epoxy bed the action again, along with the first part of the barrel.

Not far to go now (apart from the Checkering ...................) .

D'oh!
Homer