1941 Swedish Mauser needs a LOT of help

[Aragorn243]

Going to be heading out to find some rust products shortly. Spent some time researching on the internet and figure I'm going to go on the cheap first and see if that works. Distilled white vinegar seems to get outstanding reviews. Won't help with that locked up screw so I need to find something for that. In preparation for the vinegar I chipped off the heavier scale down a more reasonable depth with a scraper blade on an occilating saw. Worked fairly well. Of all the bad luck, the only part of the barrel that still has original metal and finish is exactly where the import stamp is. Go figure. It actually extends about two inches up into the heavy rust everywhere else.

Not sure if the vinegar will remove the bluing too but at this point, doesn't matter. If it takes some extra bluing off above the rust, I'm not going to worry about it, there isn't any blueing under the rust, that's for sure.

[Aragorn243]

I picked up an advance formula Liquid Wrench and sprayed it on the screw and receiver openings. Started dissolving the rust almost immediately but has not as of yet released the screw. Nor has it released the floor plate.

The small parts such as the barrel bands, sling swivels and the rusted bolt parts were put in a vinegar bath. First thing it removed was the bluing so that question answered rather quickly. Took less than an hour to do that. Remaining rust is also coming off. I scrub it with a wire brush periodically although from what I researched, I could just let them sit in there and have it dissolved off all on its own. It does appear to be removing all the rust so in areas where you can't get at, it should be good for doing that. The barrel bands could take days.

[Aragorn243]

The Swede news went from bad to worse. After breaking two screwdrivers and stripping the screw head, I decided that I was going to need a new screw anyway so I drilled it out.

The trigger assembly is all froze up and is a Timney, not sure but I don't think these are original to the rifle. The action and barrel under the stock do not look terrible, not nearly as bad as the last 5 inches.

The stock however is all dry rotted and I couldn't tell this until now. The end just essentially fell off. So the project to return this to "original" status just got a lot more difficult.

My options are to cut the stock down, cut it back to the band and add a new end or get a new one. I guess all that depends on whether I can save the action and barrel first.

Not sure why the trigger assembly is froze up, probably rust but I can't see much of it inside, can't see inside it much however. I'll try to get it off the action and apart to clean.

[Aragorn243]

As of now, I have most of the scale off the barrel. The barrel bands are soaking in vinegar, the bolt is pretty well cleaned up except for one tough spot. Here are a few shots of the barrel and action and the dry rotted stock end. It looks like the dry rot may extend a bit beyond the barrel band area. I may end up putting it in that old carbine stock that I have. It was cut down also but it looks nicer than this one anyway.

[Aragorn243]

I'm exhausted and demoralized. I started this project about 8 this morning and 11 hours later I don't know if it can be saved. I wire wheeled the barrel and there is some serious pitting on it where the stock was. I don't think it is too deep but I'm half afraid if and when I soak it in rust remover be in the vinegar bath or something else that the pitting will be too deep.

The vinegar really does work. It removed most of the rust on the small parts and where there was no rust, the metal is smooth and where there was rust, it has an etched look as it dissolved all of it. The really heavy stuff takes a lot of time but a gallon only cost $1.89 and I used maybe two cups of it. It will take it to the white, no bluing survives.

Tomorrow I'll get the Enfield back together and take some after photos. That's the big positive with these two. I think it cleaned up pretty nice and while a few of the small parts look rough, all are functional.

[Aragorn243]

Gave the barrel the vinegar soak today. Five hours in the vinegar a scrubbing and another hour and another scrubbing. Then a hot water bath with dish soap, dried off and then sprayed liberally with Liquid Wrench. I hope the photos are good enough to judge condition. I took them in order so there are four or five per side with a full length to show where on the barrel the other photos are taken. The dark brown areas still contain rust. Overall, I don't see anything extremely deep but I have no idea how deep is too deep for safe function.



































Here are my best attempts to take photos of the bore, I have yet to figure out how to do this so they aren't the best. The barrel has already been counterbored about an 8th inch. The rifling is good almost right up to that counterbore with the exception of a couple of spots where it is pitted another 8th inch or so.







And finally, the worst areas on the receiver:





So what do you think, is it functional? Safe? The Timney trigger I was able to get off and get working again. The previous owner had it set at a hair trigger and it was frozen in place on top of that. Is working fine now and I set it to a more normal setting.

[Patrick Chadwick]

You're a brave lad for tackling this one!

I am in severe doubt as to whether that barrel will ever be usable (I can't judge the depth of the pits from here) but if you want it to at least look respectable, then a complete electrolytic derusting is the only way to get all "red" rust out of the tiny corners where no brush will reach, or at least converted to "black" rust, which is chemically the same as bluing (sorry, I keep on confusing ferrous and ferric oxide, and can't be bothered to dig out a chemistry book right now) followed by a parkerizing process as described here

https://www.milsurps.com/showthread....762#post256762

then fill with "liquid metal" (i.e. metal-loaded epoxy), smooth and paint with Suncorite or something similar.

At least it would look better. But shooting????

[Aragorn243]

Thanks Patrick for your advice. I gave it a second vinegar treatment today and nearly all the rust is off of it now. I think for now I'll oil it up to stabilize it for a bit while I can think on what to do with it.

I'm not sure I want to make it look "nice" if it isn't functional. It isn't a rare piece and even if I wouldn't shoot it, someone else down the road might make the attempt.

I'll see if I can find someone locally that can evaluate it. It's a shame because the interior is nearly perfect with the exception of the last half inch.

[Aragorn243]

I suppose I could make it into one of those tanker Mauser rifles, short barrel, etc. The stock is shot anyway forward of the band. What's the legal barrel length? 16"?

If I cut it off at 16 1/4 inch just to be safe, the barrel would end about an inch outside of the upper hand guard. Nearly all the barrel would be covered. There is also only about 4 or 5 inches of the smaller diameter barrel left and the pitting on that section is not as severe. Shorter barrel would reduce the pressure a bit as well.

I'm not doing anything now, just a thought.

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-Swed...item33808efd12
Not much time left. Is this the correct wood?