Question of restoring swiss rifles

[gunner]

Hello Patrick,

you have convinced me that scraping out is the much better way to do. Its less than a milimeter on a lenght of ca. 1.5 cm. And that prevents the stock from more damage as by steam the stock. As i read in a older post you do shooting at BDMP? I do it also in different disciplines like DG1 and ZG1 and so on. Thank you that you protect me from doing a eventually fatal mistake at the rifle.

Best regards

Gunner

[Patrick Chadwick]

Just checked, Surforms are still made. You do not need the complete tool, just Item 21-291 - 10" Surform® Round Replacement Blade.

Yes I am in the BDMP, and I shall be exercising my M1917 on July 5 in the 300 meter DG2 competition at Alsfeld. But before then I shall be taking it to Alsfeld for a practice session, and I am also going to try out my G96/11 at 300 meters. I chronographed the GP11 ammo at 807 m/sec, and the ballistic calculations indicate that the sighting with the original front blade should be absolutely spot on at 300m.

Patrick

[gunner]

Thank you Patrick.

I am at Gundihausen for the LM in ZG1 with my No. 4 MK I* on July 11th. On my G11 i have to switch the ironsight to 400m then it fits for the GP11 on 300metres. I`ll wish you good luck for the competition at Alsfeld.

Regards,

Gunner

[louthepou]

O dear, I never had to steam a stock, so I'm not going to pretend any expertise. At this point you have a choice: scrape out the stock until it fits, or steam it to straighten it. I have scraped out high spots before, to get a good clearance around the barrel. The ideal tool for this is the round form of the Stanley Surform, if that is still made. Difficult to describe, so if you don't know what I mean go to a professional tool stockist, not a supermarket. If you have one of the round Surform blades you can put wedges in the slot to adjust the diameter. The Surform blade is much longer than the channel routers used by gunsmiths (which are also very expensive) and I used it to take a touch out of the barrel channel of my 96/11 to optimize the clearance so that even if the barrel was pushed hard over at the muzzle, until the cupronickel ring was clamped between barrel and fore-end wood, there was no contact in the barrel channel.

Maybe that treament would be enough for your rifle too. I am wary of upsetting the moisture level of wood that has had nearly a century to settle to it's present condition. It might not only warp some more, but actually twist, which really FUBARs the stock.

So if you think it could/should be steamed straight, please go to someone who knows how to do it, as you could easily make things much worse! That would mean a real gun restorer, not the local carpenter.

Patrick

Good advices there Patrick, thanks. I have steamed dents out of stocks, but never had the need to consider straightening a forend. If I had to do it, I'd probably try to find someone who bends wood for a living, like a local chair making carpenter or something. Anyways I suppose if a spare can be found, it's much simpler. Then again, I'd probably look into it if the stock was matching and the rifle pretty collectible.

Lou