Well my Bubba'd Garandshowed the other day. Of course after the initial gasp and gag, a tear down immediately followed. Interesting finds indeed. Summer '41 production. Bolt, uncut op rod, hammer, trigger group, gas cylinder and lock bar sight original and complete. Not one part is incorrect except the barrel. It's a '51 SA. I'm starting to wonder if this was an arsenal rebuild. If it was, an armourer paid meticulous attention to replacing stuff with original correct parts... highly unlikely in a time when no one gave a damn. The barrel throws me off, coulda been done anywhere, who knows though.
Now the fun stuff. Bubbs did me the favour of eliminating all the pesky fore end wood, and then smoothing the stock nicely at the nose, exposing the fine operating rod for all to see.
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n...awl/fullon.jpg
Then, bubba carved a fine pistol grip in the stock, actually doing a fine job of it if it wasn't a travesty of course.
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n...ubbastock2.jpg
I have to say my absolute favorite part is the rear sight. Only a true virtuoso of the Bubba craft can appreciate this:
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n...awl/sight1.jpg
Yep, that's some kind of v notch sight crammed in there. My heart skipped a beat at this point, it looks like Bubbs welded that sucker in.
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n...awl/sight2.jpg
Upon closer prodding, luckily Bubba didn't have a welder in his WMD arsenal, it's solder, and not very good soldering at that. A quick hit with a torch and it popped off, no marks on the base. Whew, dodged that Bubba!
Of course, once you remove that peskily perfect peep sight and install something more craptacular, you musn't leave that fine front sight alone, heavens no! Lop off those front ears and put a blob of brazing brass on the blade! Top 'er off with a fine thick coat of high gloss black paint all over the gas cylinder and you've got "the Finest Battle Implement Ever Devised" only better. Way better! Effing sweet!
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n...frontsight.jpg
All in all, I'm not dissapointed. I need a new stock (update: I had an unissued, unfinished Beretta Frenchwalnut stock destined for a Breda I have, but methinks it may go on this one now...), front sight, and a rear sight cover. I'm a big fan of the NM rear aperatures, so I may try to snag one of them. The barrel looks passable, but it needs a good cleaning. The op rod runs freely, no binding issues at all, even though the action was as dry as a popcorn ****. -you can't say **** here? ****! ****! HA! Oh yeah, it mic'd in well within spec too. Just the kind of project I was looking for. Mild surface rust over quite a few bits, no pitting though. A good cleaning is in order.
So, the eternal question... Repark or not to Repark?Information
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