Restoring My Poor Lithgow..

Well i finally got around to pulling my lithgow apart to get rid of all the varnish and other gunk the previous owner applied, as well as removing the scope :banghead:
It's my first .303, and i fell in love with it the first time i saw it (mainly because it was a Lithgow, and a .303!) and i looked past some obvious 'issues' such as the scope, and the lower hand gaurd not looking quite right.

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The only decent picture i have of the rifle as it was when i bought it. Shot pretty well considering!!


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So then i took all the wood off and proceeded to strip off all that horrible varnish/stain that had been painted all over it (runs, brush fibres and all)

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And here is the thing i was worried about.. its been played with :(
If anyone in Aus has a spare lower hand gaurd to suit a 1922 Lithgow ShtLE that you want to get rid off i would be more than happy to take it off your hands :)

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Paint and varnish stripper doing its thing! Made all that terrible varnish come off without even trying!

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After all the crud was cleaned off and everything was dry.

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After i gave it a few coats of boiled linseed oil, it came up looking ten times better than when i first got it. The wood doesnt quite match and is a little damaged but i can live with that until i find a nicer gun to add to the cabinet.

Havent yet had time to fit the wood to the rifle yet but i just thought i would post a few pics up in case it interested anyone, aswell as saying G'day to everyone on the forums!

Cheers Guys

Hi there smash1911,

Good job, and I bet the rifle will get the thumbs up now every time you tale it out to the range (or wherever you shoot with others around).

Hey, how about pictures of the rifle now, reassembled? :D

Just sitting down after a hectic week/weekend of moving, etc so hopefully will have it back together shortly!! Starting to get that 'havent been for a shoot for a while' itch!

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Just finished putting it back together and im absolutely stoked, came up just how i hoped it would too!

Now there's a happy rifle!

Good job sir,

Lou

The rear of the fore stock intrigues me. Never seen a plate screwed on like that, wonder if it was added by an over enthusiastic target shooter of old.... would it give a more positive fit? the FOX network thinks it will.

That's a good question. I don't know if that's an Armorer's official procedure, gbut I can see this as being efficient in salvaging a too-short forend and ensuring positive contact between the rear of the forend and the front face of the butt socket - which is required. Seems well done for sure, I may just use that as a guide for salvaging a No4Mk2 forend that's too short just like that.

Lou

The woodwork on Lithgow rifles is soft, the brass plate on the back of the fore-end is an old NRA trick to tighten up fit on the action.
The 'factory way' is to build up the recoil lugs inside the stock with wood inserts[seen on many FTR`s],or brass shins as seen on most Lithgow rifles.
Stuart.

Great job! I am sure you will enjoy it much more now that you have put all that work into it.

I was lucky and received my Litgow in good shape and the price was Zero $$$.
An old military man was trying to sell it at a gun show in southern California and when he was insulted over and over by the low offers. He said he would rather give it away and thats what he did. He GAVE it to my son(military) in the parking lot of the gun show. My son sent it to me. I doesn't get any cheaper than that.