Ronin
Distinguished Member
Old and new mix
This started a couple of years ago - coming to me from a well known auction house and is one of those rifles that are often just left to wither away despite being really good quality
Originally the spec from the client was to re barrel as a Swede but that morphed into it becoming a creedmoor
The original rifle was in decent order though the bedding, which you will see from the images left quite a bit to be desired
A Lothar Walther Chromoly Barrel was ordered (8 twist), in as close a profile as I could find, which I think was a Ruger sporter profile
The original plan was to send the old barrel to be copy profiled at Sassen but the ordering process was interrupted due to them ceasing trading at that time
At this juncture, I’ll add that I have never supported or wanted Brexit - it’s caused no end of issues getting parts and kit from Europe
So it was nearly a twelve month wait for the barrel to arrive
Once the barrel had graced me with its presence i machined the tenon and action thread to fit perfectly and then created the chamber. Once that was done, the barrel was re set in the lathe and machined for M14:1 mm muzzle thread with a protective cap
The barrel channel on the stock needed to be opened slightly to accommodate the barrel and I also attended to a slight offset of the original channel - despite the action being square in the action inlet
Took a few hours to get the channel correct but worth the effort
The barrelled action was sent for proofing and once back, removed and coated using a coating that replicates blued steel done by Liquid Steel Design who do my coating work - it’s a close match to the original bluing of the action and cocking piece - and a far less expensive option than sending the whole barrelled action and bolt away to be re blued
Next job was to sort the bedding - the original rifle had been bedded by someone in a previous life - the material was similar consistency to the type of hard pus you see in some cases of TB in fallow ,,, semi hard and cheesy
So that was removed with hand tools and the base material assessed - found to be good
The original pillars fitted by Heym were steel and found to be floating in the stock action holes. Once removed, and the barrelled action set up for bedding, I found these pillars to be exactly the correct length, so decided to use them in the new bedding.
The stock was then set up in the mill and a minimal amount of material removed to provide sufficient clearance and thickness for the devcon compound I use.
The barrel action was then prepped for bedding and once complete I applied material and left to cure for 24 hrs
Once cured the barrelled action was removed and the excess cleaned up
The bottom metal was also bedded at this time
Before you look at the images - at no time in the process of prepping the stock was any material removed from any part of the shut lines around the action
The stock was then treated to a couple of coats of hand rubbed oil finish of similar mix to original
Finished results and a few images of the process to get there
This started a couple of years ago - coming to me from a well known auction house and is one of those rifles that are often just left to wither away despite being really good quality
Originally the spec from the client was to re barrel as a Swede but that morphed into it becoming a creedmoor
The original rifle was in decent order though the bedding, which you will see from the images left quite a bit to be desired
A Lothar Walther Chromoly Barrel was ordered (8 twist), in as close a profile as I could find, which I think was a Ruger sporter profile
The original plan was to send the old barrel to be copy profiled at Sassen but the ordering process was interrupted due to them ceasing trading at that time
At this juncture, I’ll add that I have never supported or wanted Brexit - it’s caused no end of issues getting parts and kit from Europe
So it was nearly a twelve month wait for the barrel to arrive
Once the barrel had graced me with its presence i machined the tenon and action thread to fit perfectly and then created the chamber. Once that was done, the barrel was re set in the lathe and machined for M14:1 mm muzzle thread with a protective cap
The barrel channel on the stock needed to be opened slightly to accommodate the barrel and I also attended to a slight offset of the original channel - despite the action being square in the action inlet
Took a few hours to get the channel correct but worth the effort
The barrelled action was sent for proofing and once back, removed and coated using a coating that replicates blued steel done by Liquid Steel Design who do my coating work - it’s a close match to the original bluing of the action and cocking piece - and a far less expensive option than sending the whole barrelled action and bolt away to be re blued
Next job was to sort the bedding - the original rifle had been bedded by someone in a previous life - the material was similar consistency to the type of hard pus you see in some cases of TB in fallow ,,, semi hard and cheesy
So that was removed with hand tools and the base material assessed - found to be good
The original pillars fitted by Heym were steel and found to be floating in the stock action holes. Once removed, and the barrelled action set up for bedding, I found these pillars to be exactly the correct length, so decided to use them in the new bedding.
The stock was then set up in the mill and a minimal amount of material removed to provide sufficient clearance and thickness for the devcon compound I use.
The barrel action was then prepped for bedding and once complete I applied material and left to cure for 24 hrs
Once cured the barrelled action was removed and the excess cleaned up
The bottom metal was also bedded at this time
Before you look at the images - at no time in the process of prepping the stock was any material removed from any part of the shut lines around the action
The stock was then treated to a couple of coats of hand rubbed oil finish of similar mix to original
Finished results and a few images of the process to get there
