1917 BSA No.1 mkIII* project

[Devious6]

My son and I found this poor baby at a gun show last month. It appears to be mechanically sound but "Bubba" did a number on her. What remained of the stock has been painted but the barrel is in decent shape and the rifle still seems mechanically sound. Some small rust spots but overall not too shabby for $45.00. It just needs a bunch of parts.

I started hunting for parts, found a few but realized this was going to take some time...and dollars if I went about it in pieces.

My son noticed that S.O.G. just put No.1 MkIII drill rifles on sale for $69.95. So, I ordered one today - requested a BSA if possible. That should give me everything I need to get her looking decent - not perfect, but decent.

I tried a search - and it's probably here somewhere - but can someone point me towards info on how best to remove the paint from the drill rifle stock? Any advice on restoring this old girl?

Here are 2 pics.

Information

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[bigduke6]

Is that just paint on the barrel, fwd of the inner band ? or is it a ground slot painted red?

[browningautorifle]

Just use a liquid paint stripper. Soak and stiff brush off. Flush and repeat as necessary.

[Devious6]

Most of the spots you can see on the metal are just paint splash from whoever destroyed this beauty. There's some light corrosion under the barrel where some old corrossive powder probably accumulated but otherwise the metal isn't too bad.

[Donzi]

Dev,
The best/fastest/most effective method I've found to remove almost any finish from wood, including firearms, is spray oven cleaner, specifically: Easy Off. Be sure to use the Heavy Duty version, as the other kind won't work. Some will tell you that this will ruin the wood in some manner, but I've used it successfully on many (over 20) milsurp stocks, including walnut, beech, unknown-laminated, etc. The key is to not leave it on too long(I never go over 15 minutes) and to flush thouroughly with water. Be sure to remove all metal parts beforehand. If you're not convinced, try it on a "sacrificial" piece. It removes oil, paint, preservatives, grease, dirt, etc. I just did a gawd-awful looking Bulgarian wood set from an AK 74 and the wood now looks new. It will raise the grain just a mite, but judicious sanding will cure that easily. HTH.
Donzi

[Devious6]

My drill rifle sacrificial lamb is on the Big Brown Truck for delivery today. Let the games begin!

[Bear43]

I bite my tongue on this stuff, but I can't anymore. To strip paint off of wood, use a paint stripper designed for such. Don't use oven cleaner. Oven cleaner is for an oven, not for wood. It will chemically damage the wood fibers. Even though it may look just fine, over the course of time it will eventually show. Also, when it is mentioned that after cleaning with oven cleaner and water that it "raises the grain", that is also misleading. It is caused by the wood swelling. Oven cleaner and paint strippers have to be washed off with copious amounts of water. That water causes the wood to swell. If the wood is not properly dried it can easily warp, so be careful when using lots of water with the wood. People want a "quick fix" rather than actually using the correct tools and taking their time. If you use the right tools and have patience, then you have less of a chance of damaging what you are working on.

[chuckchili]

Dumb question....whats "S.O.G." ? ( I wanna look at what they're selling)

[Devious6]

Thanks, guys! I plan on going the paint stripper method and taking my time on this one just to be safe.

S.O.G. is Southern Ohio Gun. Their web site is: https://www.southernohiogun.com/ They have a special on their DP No. 1 Mk IIIs right now for $69.95 plus shipping.

[Devious6]

Sorry I haven't had time to get any pics up yet - DP rifle arrived late and I had to go out so I didn't have time to upload them.

First, let me apologize in advance if any of this is "old hat" to you guys. I'm not well-versed in Enfields, yet and this is my first attempt at a restoration.

The good news - DP arrived. Then it was mixed emtions. It turned out to be a near-matching 1915 BSA Mk III. I sure wish that it had not become a DP rifle!

Also, for those who might want to try this route for a restoration there are dome downsides. I was unaware that many of the parts were stamped "DP". Most of the metal and even the wood carry the stamps. Also, the metal seems to have been coated with black paint - a very thin coat. I'll try to remove the paint on the parts I need for the restoration and steam out the DP stamps in the wood as best I can.

On the good side, I used nail polish remover a rag and a small toothbrush followed by a little steel wool to get the paint off - seems to be working well.

Busy day again - more to follow!