My Corona...Finally

Some of you know I've been looking a long time for the right Smith Corona to go with the very late production typewriter I restored several years ago (I have since found a late underwood typewriter to go with my carbine :))
I woke up this morning the winner of an early 1943 (first-block). Barreled action and parts appear to be intact as original, but the stock was sporterized, cut back to the lower band rather crudely, inspector stamps sanded off from the side, but proof mark and other marks in front of the magazine are intact. Stock is early pinned style. I am hoping, oh so hoping, the bolt, which has handle in the white and no marking on top of handle, isn't hiding an R under the root.

In any event, I have an extra NOS USGI field replacement scant stock, stamped with the keystone K and flaming bomb on the nose, to put this rifle in. can't wait to get it up and running!

When I read the title of your post, I definitely misunderstood…:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol ::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Lets hope he has some lemons Ovidio :p:p:p:p

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Originally Posted by Ovidio

When I read the title of your pist, I definitely misunderstood…

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That was indeed the point!

I had to pass on a late SC this summer. Serial number in the 4770000 range. Badly butchered by bubba...I mean badly. The barrel ID had been ground leaving a series of rough uneven length flats. The park had been removed with sandpaper leaving sanding marks. Blued with some sort of mostly gone cold blue. Bolt polished white mercilessly apparently with the same sandpaper. Polished on a wheel leaving shiny sanding marks behind. A scope mount incorporating the rear sight mount and a skewed front mount. It must have required all the scopes lateral adjustment to shoot straight. Ancient Bushnell 6x scope and equally poorly finished sporter stock. No provision to remove the bolt without taking it out of the stock. All this wonderfulness for only $550 US. Totally unsalvageable and a waste of a good barrel, both rifiling and crown.

What can I say, some of us just have all the luck!
Just picked it up, and it looks all original as I hoped. There are no "R"s that I can see at the moment - anywhere. The bolt just has a "2" under the root. Cocking piece and sleeve unmarked, and the sleeve has the distinctive scalloped shape unlike the Remingtons. Extractor has an "S" on the underside. Barrel SC/3-43, serial 3649xxx. Stock is cut back, but is the early pinned straight grip, cartouche is gone, but underside markings are still there - correct 1/2" P. The lower band spring recess was rounded, but carefully filled in with a sliver of wood. No visible R's on the rear sight either. Buttplate wide checker. Pictures forthcoming. The complete original bolt alone is worth more than I paid for the rifle!

Here we go!
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The stacking band and swivel was "shaped" to make a new sling swivel. I was thinking of shaping it back out and re-using it, but Bubba ruined it with a new large screw.

Stock was surprisingly very tight around the action and magazine. There was only a little bedding compound used under the barrel at the forend, nowhere else. Inside the stock is marked G and E.
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Barrel is 4 groove, 3-43, and bore appears in really good shape looking through it. Hopefully the bore camera will show the same.
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Bolt was packed with cosmoline inside.
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Receiver didn't have hardly any markings around it. All my Remingtons have massive numbers of various light stamps under and around the recoil lug. In contrast, the finish on this was a bit rough, and only marks were on the side of the lug.
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Neat. Now bring her back to her real looks;-D

Look good, They used the stacking swivel and band for the lower band. You may need to find an new band as the screw that is there may have ruined the original threads. But all in all not a difficult restoration ahead of you.

I degreased the barreled action, and the color went from dull brown/orange from all the dried grease (likely cosmoline as was found inside the bolt) to rich deep charcoal.
Then, a dozen passes with a bronze brush and some Hoppes just to get an idea of what the condition the bore is in. This liquified more dried grease in the bore. But, as you can see I was pleasantly surprised!

Pics are of the chamber, throat, 1st third, middle third, last 3rd, and crown
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Moreover, there is no wear at the muzzle either - or if there is it's less than 5 ten thous. as that's the resolution of my pin gauges. Looks like this rifle was bought as new or nearly new surplus, sporterized, fired just enough to foul the minty new bore with copper, cleaned, greased and forgotten about. Notice the tip of the striker has zero wear, and still has 100% of it's bluing intact.

Time to get the copper out and lightly polish the chamber, check headspace and/or carefully lap the lugs if needed. Then on to the stock fitting.

The last bit of copper was quite stubborn. Bore looks very nice - couple of spots of etching from just laying around forever. You can see this at the muzzle.
Headspace check out nice and tight. The bolt lugs had very little wear, hardly any finish had been rubbed off. So either they are not engaging, or this rifle really hasn't been fired all that much. Using a tiny bit of 800grit lapping compound, and turning the bolt in just twice showed 80%+ engagement on both lugs!
BTW, an old 30-06 case cut in half, with an extra garand trigger spring inside makes the perfect tool for even pressure when lapping lugs.
The bubba that decided to sporterize an otherwise new or minty surplus rifle likely didn't care for the way it shot. I can't imagine it performing well in this setup - that band was clamped tight against the barrel with a brass shim underneath.

Wouldn't ya know the brass shim has a name and street address on it (no city). Time to do some sleuthing.

EDIT: well, that was easy. Age 76 in Big Fork, Montana. Phone number is in the book. Maybe I'll give him a call? Nah...I'll write a letter - on the matching typewriter :)

I pulled my extra stock out of the box. This one is unmarked - last 2 I did were marked with the "K" and bomb on the nose, and were stained too. I wrongfully assumed this one would be the same. This one looks it's age, is unstained, but the key parts of the inletting are nice and sharp whereas the last 2 came a bit rough (dull tools at keystone?)

Here is where we are starting...
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There is some damage on the top left edge of the forend. Not worried. The handgaurd will hide some of it, and will look it's age otherwise.
Couple of small knots in the wood, one with a deep gouge right in the middle of it - between the cross bolts. It will need filled in smooth. I especially like the 2 side-by-side on the front of the comb. These will give it lots of character.
Screw holes coated in some type of compound - large butt plate screw hole shows part of it dried into a plastic like film.

Initial test fit shows action holes are aligned, and everything is straight. Tang clearance already perfect. Even the magazine seems to drop in perfect - not loose but not tight either. All we need to do is balance the 3 horizontal surfaces - tang sits a bit high. I think it's gonna turn out grand!

finished shaping the outside. There was about 1/8 inch excess around parts of the butt plate, and the left side behind the band was quite fat, curving inward and then the handgaurd had an overhang that was significant. I'm pretty happy still. The damage on the top left edge was reduced significantly, and is now much less unsightly, and even passable as normal service use.
Here is a butt-wipe down with turpentine.
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I'll proceed to finishing with my own red-oil (raw linseed oil with alkanet root)

few coats in now. I put it on in the evening, letting it sit overnight before wiping off the excess first thing in the morning. I'll do this all week, then once a week for a month. Matching the hand guard takes some consideration. For that, I use a home-made stain of alkanet root soaked in alcohol. I lightly stain then start the first few coats of oil on the stock and see how the color develops. I then make some dilutions of the stain and wipe on the hand guard until the color comes close to the wet appearance of the stock (after its first few coats), then start oiling the hand guard with untinted RLO. The wood on the hand guards always seem to absorb more color than the stock. After this all dries over a few months, I'll rub in a light coat of BLO (hardware store variety). On the open grain and with its quick drying time, this produces a nice even patina resembling an original 80 year old hand-worn finish, where the red oil and/or alkanet stain reproduces the natural color of 80 years of oxidation.

Hats of again to member rcathey I think it was who shared a pdf and put me down this path with alkanet root.

EDIT: some progress pics. That small split in the knot on the right hand side was filled with epoxy...you can use a bit of your powdered alkanet root to color the epoxy. See you in a couple months with final pics and a range report!
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On to the range! I think I'll make the kids lug the matching typewriter to the firing line to take range notes. Need some pictures of the rifle with the typewriter too.
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