M38 Swedish Mauser Restoration

[Angrypirate]

Several months ago this rifle was brought for my girlfriend to shoot. Long story short, I screwed up and chose a rifle for her that was in pretty poor shape for the money.
Lessons learned:
1. Take a torch along to gun shows.
2. Be suspicious.

A dodgy picture of how it came from the show:



The bolt and magazine were covered in old brown grease that was doing more harm than good. The stock had been poorly sanded then refinished with cheap polyurethane or similar, and the barrel was a bit worn and full of grease. I knew all this when I bought it, and was quite looking forward to spending a few days fixing it up.

As you can imagine I was pretty ****ed off when I found out that the barrel wasn't full of grease, but was badly fouled. The sear had been filed down and didn't always catch the cocking piece. The magazine spring was worn out to the point where the last 2-3 rounds would just pop out and roll over the side of the rifle. What is more, underneath the crappy finish was a pretty beaten up stock.

There began a mission to turn this rifle into what it should be. A well-worn, but serviceable rifle to be proud of.

Step one was to make it functional. It was completely disassembled, cleaned, re-oiled/greased. Then a new sear and magazine W spring were ordered and fitted (with the bonus that the trigger pull improved). Easy.

Next-fix up that stock. Stripping the brown finish off was easy enough, and I followed it with a quick coat of BLO. However the poor sanding job done by the previous owner left a few high-points, and I wasn't happy with the darkened spots caused by oil and poor care. So yesterday I gave it a very, very light sanding to even out the high-spots. Then gum turpentine with steel wool, which produced minimal results on the oil stains. Then acetone. Zilch. Then oxalic acid. That worked! Generally I try to avoid being this drastic with my rifles. I prefer to leave the original marks there with all the character they bring. However this stock wasn't original to the rifle anyway (Bolt and receiver all match, but the stock, handguard and buttplate all have different numbers) and had been attacked by some other verminous lout before, so I figured I might as well go for it.

After that I gave it a few coats of linseed oil, and reassembled, just in time for the Melbourne Cup. End result:






Obviously Its not a completely original rifle and it never will be. There are still a few lighter spots on the stock, but I can cope and the black spots don't bother me - they are just honest wear. However at least now it looks and functions like a rifle is supposed to. The barrel is still pretty nasty, but my girlfriend put a few shots through it on Saturday, and it seemed to be hitting what she was aiming at. I'll have to do a serious range test at some point. If I can't hit much with it, I'll probably turn it into a dedicated shooter: buy a new barrel, get TBone to fit it and attach an original Swedish peep sight to the receiver. However if it turns out to be one of those miracle rifles that shoots despite a nasty bore, I think I'll leave it be.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.