Restoring a sporterized P13... My turn to play

[tatou]

The metal fabricator / restorer was extremely busy and it took a bit of time before he could start on my project.
Annnnnnd this is when Covid-19 hit the whole world and everything was shut down....

[Doco overboard]

Here's a few before closeups of the ears.

I have a M17 I re-welded ears back onto. Luckily like yours, enough of the base was left to mill off for receiving the "ears" and then they were wire fed welded back in place.

The donor ears came from the rear portion of a destroyed receiver half and luck was in my favor because the holes for the rear sight leaf were still intact on both parts. So I only needed the very top portion of both sides.

The hardest part was the long taper on the port side at the rear on the m17. The inside was kind of hard to do cleanly too.

Your rifle appears to have a little bit different construction at that portion evidenced by the pictures.

I notice some blind pins that can be seen in the picture, could you tell what they are for if you don't mind?
Also it would be interesting to see how the clip loading slot is manufactured into your rifle.
I never had the opportunity to see a 276 rifles up close.

I think the progress you made so far is impressive and a worthy effort.

[tatou]

I have a M17 I re-welded ears back onto. Luckily like yours, enough of the base was left to mill off for receiving the "ears" and then they were wire fed welded back in place.

The donor ears came from the rear portion of a destroyed receiver half and luck was in my favor because the holes for the rear sight leaf were still intact on both parts. So I only needed the very top portion of both sides.

The hardest part was the long taper on the port side at the rear on the m17. The inside was kind of hard to do cleanly too.

Your rifle appears to have a little bit different construction at that portion evidenced by the pictures.

I notice some blind pins that can be seen in the picture, could you tell what they are for if you don't mind?
Also it would be interesting to see how the clip loading slot is manufactured into your rifle.
I never had the opportunity to see a 276 rifles up close.

I think the progress you made so far is impressive and a worthy effort.

Thank you
My fab guy didn't use the donor rifle.
To be honest i'm not entirely sure how he proceeded, i only got an update once the build up was done.
I think he build up the metal by laser welding and then shaped everything.
He was able to borrow an original P13 and make a brass jig of the ears so he would end up with the correct shape.

As for the blind pins you are talking about, do you mean they these ?

If so, i honestly have no clue...
They serve no purpose i can see, do not hold anything from the inside.
All i can think of is they are a remnant of the fabrication process.
Maybe they were needed to machine part of the interior and once done they simply filled them over.
Also, maybe the machining process was changed and they weren't needed for the Pattern 1914 and the M1917

I don't have the rifle with me as it is still at my fab. guy place so i'll use one of Promo's pic (hope he doesn't don't mind).

The chargers are similar to the M1917... as you can see, so is the slot.
I don't have any chargers but i was able to acquire a rare .276 Enfield cartridge.

Speaking of Promo
In post #8 he added a link to his P13 pictures and those of Badger.
There's great detailed pictures and comparison shots of the P13 and the P14... worth the look.

[Patrick Chadwick]

Tatou, I am lost in admiration for your perseverance and skill!

Keep on with what is turning into a "sticky-worthy" thread!

Patrick

[Promo]

Looking at how professionally these "holes" are at the receiver I would question if I personally would want to remove those. It could very well also had been experimental. Prior to restoring the rifle back to original P.13 configuration I'd check for any experiments done.

[tatou]

Tatou, I am lost in admiration for your perseverance and skill!

Keep on with what is turning into a "sticky-worthy" thread!

Patrick

Thank you

[tatou]

Looking at how professionally these "holes" are at the receiver I would question if I personally would want to remove those. It could very well also had been experimental. Prior to restoring the rifle back to original P.13 configuration I'd check for any experiments done.

While the holes or washers look good in pictures, in reality they were a bit crude.
Some machining was also done to remove the sloped blocks, on the inside, that serve as the rear sight pin. And that too was crude, clearly not made with any machinery.

Not impossible but I have some doubts it was a sanctioned government or military job.

In any case... it is too late now to go back since the ears have been rebuilt.

[tatou]

So after a bit of time, due to the lock down, i got my first update from the metal fabricator.
He was able to borrow a genuine Pattern 1913 and used it to fabricate a brass template of the ears shape.
The welder then used that template to build them up again.
This is just the metal ears build up and a general shape... edges and sides still had to be refined.
I was quite impress, even at that early stage.

[tatou]

Here's a few of the same pictures, before and after, side by side for comparison.

[Promo]

At the beginning I thought this would be a project over the winter. With your updates every day I wouldn't be surprised to see a fully restored rifle by Sunday. Wow!