M1888-95 Mannlicher

[Aragorn243]

2nd coat of BLO. Tiger striping only shows up on the bottom in the photos. It's faint but there. No time to do anything today. Stupid standard time, it was dark before I could get started.

Progress photos: The middle band which is on the right is not the one off the rifle. It's not going back on, this is the spare.

[Aragorn243]

I made some progress with the smaller parts today. Polished the rust off everything now with the exception of the barreled receiver. That I'm still working on. I at least have the bulk rust off it.

Cleaned up the magazine/trigger guard and then washed it with GOJO because I was cleaning the rust off my hands with it and it worked pretty well. I then did a one coat cold blue on it and I think it turned out pretty nice. Better than I expected.

The "new" firing pin came yesterday, and I cleaned the bolt up and reassembled it. Fit perfect.

Some before and afters, same lighting.

[Salt Flat]

It's coming along nicely and you haven't over done it. Trigger guard really looks good.

[Eaglelord17]

Very nice!

Mannlichers have a special place in my heart, good to see one get a second chance at life.

[Aragorn243]

Took some time today to "finish" things up. Looking at the photos I might put another coat of BLO on it. It looks dry in the photos but probably just the light which isn't the greatest because the sun is so low on the horizon being winter and all. I'll try to post before and after next to each other. It has one coat of cold blue on it. I might put a second on it, not sure. Going to let it sit for a few days and steel wool it again. My goal is not to make it look new, that's impossible, but get it looking like a reasonably well kept 100+ year old rifle and I think I've attained that.

I'm pleased with how it came out. I admittedly was extremely concerned when I took it out of the box.

The stock was cleaned with three applications of citristrip. I lightly sanded some of it where the wood had some cross grain sanding marks and where there was some "fluff" to the wood where it had fuzzies. The middle band is the only part you can see which is not original to the rifle. The safety was added, the firing pin which can't be seen was replaced. Front band, replacement middle band and rear band were wire wheeled and cold blued. Barrel was polished using a belt sander in a vise and hand sandpaper. I did not take all the pitting out, just the worst of it and I did not worry as much about the area under the wood. Receiver was just cleaned, not polished at all. Receiver and barrel were washed with GoJo, hot water and then cold blued, washed, wiped and steel wooled. I did nothing to the butt plate or the rear sling swivel other than cleaning them a bit. I could not get one of the screws out of the butt plate so it was never removed. The bolt I polished a little with fine sandpaper and left in the white.

[browningautorifle]

Much nicer...now, where's the bayonet?

[Aragorn243]

I have one that fits it but belongs to the 1888-90. I should locate a new one for it I suppose.

[Aragorn243]

Doing some small odds and ends now. Rear sight slide was bent plus not holding so I took it apart, found it was filled with crud, the spring was frozen in a short position. I was able to get it out and immediately lost it. So I need to locate a replacement for it. It didn't work anyway so not a huge deal. Was hoping to see if I could stretch it enough that it would work. I believe with a working spring, it will hold on the slide.