BSA MkIII* Resto and Cleanup

[nijalninja]

G'day there everyone. I figured I might share my first refurbish/cleanup project undertaking that I finished not even a week ago. There was nothing really big that had to be done with the rifle but TLC, oil, rust removal, and stock cleaning. Lucky me it had all its wood and all the parts inside are in perfect order.

Initially the rifle was in good enough to use and show-off but it was far from pretty with green corrosion showing on the disc and the little rivets in the side of the stock. There was also lots of grime showing between where the stock mounted to the action and basically any interface surface.
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(I didn't think to get many pictures until it came to reassembly when everything was cleaned, so you just have to take my word for it on how dirty things were inside)

Spent two days stripping it and cleaning each bolt, screw, pin, and piece with hoppe's and G96 oil using a cloth, toothbrush, and seal-pick. Then sealed all the little bits in plastic bags and let them sit while I worked on the stock. The stock took way longer than it should have since I had it in my head to draw out all the oil from the stock with soapy water and a cloth then polish everything, rather than just BLO/RLO everything. After all the cleaning I hit all the stock bits with a few coats of BLO (My mistake is that I didn't think to coat it in RLO first for a deeper set).
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Here is a before and after on the stock alone.

After I took about a million pictures of all the markings plastered all over the gun for future reference. Then cleaned all the bits and pieces once more with a clean rag and resembled it all with a film of high temp grease all over the action and barrel (I don't want any rust in there ever again), and grease in the nooks and crannys of the stock to soak and hopefully seal around the action and whatnot in time. Finished off with one more coat of BLO and everything is done.
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Nothing fancy like some of other stuff on here because this gun was so complete, but it looks and feels so much better knowing everything is oiled and clean inside and out.

Hope nothing I did will get me crucified by other Enfield people D:.

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[Salt Flat]

Looks good-- should be good for at least another 100 years! I'm amazed how some of these have survived for so long and through hard fought wars. Salt Flat

[nijalninja]

Thanks, and considering how it lasted its first 100 years, I'm sure it'll outlast me without too much trouble.