1944 Inland rebuild 99% complete with picts

Today I finnished my rebuild. My carbine is almost done except the bolt. Upper wood doesnt match but correct. Any ideas on how to correct this? The front sight was easy to get on and off. Barrel wasnt scratched much. I see why they went to a type III band. It holds the barrel better than a type II. I was able to trade SG parts for Inland to complete the trigger assembly. I have a bolt lined up which will finnish my rebuild. All and all I upgraded the wood and mag catch and downgraded the barrel band. Heres some pictures. It was fun to do and I thankyou for all your help.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../23sgbxc-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../30v1vz8-1.jpg

Blue moon of Kentucky keep on shining.........
Sorry....had that tune in my head.
You know my Father grew up with the Monroe Brothers. He was more or less their roadie. He worked closely with Bill Monroe and The Blue Grass Boys before and after he went into WWII.
We had back stage passes to the old Ryman Auditorium.

3ky,
You've got that baby looking pretty nice. Darken that HG and your all set.
What did you enjoy most? The thrill of the parts hunt?
Or getting it all back together? LOL......

Very nice, Thanks for sharing it with us.

Cheers
Charlie-painter777

3ky, looking good!

Hey I remenber that song. I been to the old Ryman. I love Nashville and its two hours away. Mu uncle probably knows the bands. I hear stories where my grandfather was also a groupie and a very good fiddle player!

Ill look for a stain to darken the handguard. Its original but looks stripped. I got in trade with my Inland trigger parts. Its Inland.

It all was fun. I got to meet new people and learn things. The people I dealt with were honest Carbine restorers. They wanted my parts to restore their projects. The NPM highwood is now on a NPM carbine and the SG trigger group is on a SG carbine. I also learned how to take one apart and put it back together. This site plus my carbine book were very helpful. Now I have a carbine in WW2 and another in Korea. I dont plan to rebuild my Underwood. I'll leave it like the last person in Agusta Armorey rebuilt it. All and all a very nice hobbie.
Thanks again for the help and nice meeting everyone.
Michael

Michael,
Stick around.........keep reading.
It will come in handy when your next carbine hits the door ;-)

Stain,
Only use a oil base penetrating stain. Don't use one with the sealer and/or varnish all in with the stain. Like the Min Wax one step type stains. These claim to Stain..Seal and Varnish in just one coat.......DON'T USE THESE TYPE STAINS.
Try hitting a local Sherwin-Williams or other Pro paint shop. If you take your carbine with you...they can tint a stain to match the HG to the stock.
Point it just right and you may get all the stain you need for FREE !!
Don't be afraid to inter-mix a couple stains to get the color you need.

E-mail me if you need more info.



Charlie-painter777

P.S. Are you anywhere near The LBL? We've fished there a few times. I try to make it to 'The Hollow' once a year before it gets too hot.
Was passing thru there either Jan or Feb of 07 or 08 and just missed a big Tornado.

I'll do that this week. We have a Sherwin- Williams store in town. I'll take the stock and handguard and let them know I want an oil base penetrating stain. The handguard rattles like its alittle short. I wonder if it srunk. Anyone have any ideas how to fix that? This week I'll send off for the Inland bolt and that will complete it except some touch up work on some barrel scratching. I plan on keeping this carbine and my other. Barrel moves up and down in this barrel band but no side to side movement so thats good. I see why shooters like the type III bands.

I live 15 minutes from the lakes. I go there during the summer. If you are ever my way email me before you come we can go shooting if you like.
I hope everyone had a fun weekend. I'm ready to do some target shooting. I have a few new firearms I havent tried out. LOL

Michael

Michael,

This may help with the handguard rattle... After you strip it and before you stain it, I would recommend that you do a multi-day "soaking" of BLO to "plump it up". I like Painter's process of submerging, but I doubt you have that equipment (I know I don't). Anyway, that may help swell up the grain making it larger and less likely to rattle.

Ed

What equipment do you need? Looks like the handguard is stripped already. This was probably done to match it to the lower wood. You all can see in the picture it really doesnt have any finnish on it. Its not sanded thank goodness. My Underwoods is original underwood and is light but you can tell it has finnish. This one doesnt. Its dry also. Its in nice shape with a good marking. Lower wood is nice with no rebuild marks no marks where they were sanded away. It has the wheel marking on it.
Last question. I'm buying a bolt. Do I need to have it headspaced? I have a mic and calipers to check its lug and face against the one that came out of it. Its no biggy either I am keeping the QMC and can change bolts if I wanna shoot it.
Thanks for the suggestions!!
Michael

Michael,
Stain or color your handguard first. Don't clear oil coat it until it's been colored. That way the wood will take the color.
If you seal (oil) it first, it will seal off the grain and won't allow the stain to penetrate evenly or deep enough.
The darker the stain the longer it takes to dry. Let it dry a few days before putting any BLO or what ever on it.

Good Luck,
Charlie

Some Walnut is dark enough in the raw or stripped stage to match another piece with out having to stain it. Best way to tell what a 'Natural' finish would look like is to first wet the walnut with a damp mineral spirits rag. If it doesn't look dark enough to match the other piece then get a penetrating stain mixed up to stain it with.
All depends on the woods natural color.

hth,
Charlie

Thanks Charlie I plan to take it apart this weekend and have some stain made up at the Sherwin-Williams store we have. I'll post pictures as I stain it. Walnut on this looks to be a lighter color than the stock as you can see in the pictures. Tomorrow I'll post pictures of just the handguard beside a 4 rivet Inland handguard that came with my stock. The 4 rivet matches the stock color.
Thanks again for the help!!
Michael

See, its good having Charlie around... he comes in handy when you need help with stock questions.... what do you think guys, should he keep his advisory panel status????

Seriously, Charlie, I wish you would write a sticky post on wood refinishing. I know it would give me and many others a ready reference when we get stuck in the middle of a refinishing project.

It looks stripped to me but I'm no expert so maybe wrong. I'll wet it also to see what the darkened wood looks like

Michael

I have had much luck with Dixie wood stain for antique guns, has a little red
in it. Goes right through blo or tung, just wear gloves..It will give you brown
hands for a week.
Dixie Gun Works muzzleloading, blackpowder and rare antique gun supplies.

That's a Alcohol based stain.
Works like a dye.
The alcohol is what gets the color to seep thru the residual oil.
A technique used for mainly repairs or touch ups, by advanced finishers.......back before everything didn't have to be completed on a 'Production' time scale.

Frank,
Try wiping your hands with baby oil before and after using. Helps clean the dye off.
Careful not to handle the bare wood with your oily hands before adding color.

Thanks,
Charlie

I'm an hour from Dixie and go there every now and then. Been going there since the 70s. I was last there a few months ago when I was doing a NM1859 Sharps Carbine I traded for. Where else can you find original Sharps screws. Turner bought alot of Bannerman parts. They have some of the Sharps parts cheeper than lodgewood. I'll keep them in mind.

3ky; what's the serial number of your Inland? what's the bbl date? What are the parts and manufacturers? I have 4,927,xxx (bbl 1-44)that looks pretty much just like yours, but it went through a rebuild.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/imported/deleted.gif

Inland44,
I've always enjoyed looking at that Inland.
A great example of a properly fit type II band and then some !
Thanks for sharing it.

3KY had posted this about his carbine ,
"My serial is 5.3 mill with a barrel date of 7-44"
His original post is now on page 2,
Inland Rebuild - Military Surplus Collectors Forums

Charlie-painter777

Yeah, those 5 mils are about the best there were in my book. I'm glad mine looks like one!

I agree,
After starting out with my Fathers Winchester.......Inland was more or less on the bottom of my list. After getting the 5,061,xxx I fell in love with it. All makers are very interesting, but especially when near their transition/upgrade periods.

Charlie

Inland 44 as Charlie said mine is 5.3 mill serial number with 7-44 barrel date. It was rebuilt with a NPM highwood stock, WW2 SG trigger group, Late Inland 4 rivet handguard, QMC blued round bolt, Correct Inland cocking handle, AMCO type III replacement barrel band, correct Inland rear sight type II, correct Inland front sight, WW2 C tip sling, 5 round hunting mag. I traded the NPM stock for an Inland stock with metal, Inland type II band, Inland type III magcatch. I traded the SG trigger guard, trigger, sear, hammer, and magcatch for Inland trigger guard, trigger, hammer, sear, and 2 rivet Inland handguard. Now all I need is to buy a bolt, stain the upper wood, and touch up some barrel scratching and I'm done. I like your Inland its a great looking carbine!!