I went to the site of my favorite importer in Florida last week and ordered a Husqvarna Model 26 single shot rifle in 25-20 caliber to add to my small group of 25-20 caliber rifles. The importers have been bringing these rifles in for about a year now and they are getting to the bottom of the barrel. The one I bought is missing front and rear sights, was drilled and tapped on the barrel for an awful imitation of a weaver base, and has a mis-matched and ill fitted bolt that won't close all the way. It also had a rubber cheek-piece glued the comb of the rifle and like all of these guns, is missing the extractor. The saving grace to this train wreck is that the bore is excellent and the wood is pretty... not to mention it was only $125 US.
I pulled off the rubber cheekpiece, separating the epoxy from the rubber and leaving it on the wood. I started the tip of my pocket knife under the epoxy and found that it would peel off in thin, opaque sheets if I pried gently so that was all removed in about 30 minutes. Easy. The bolt was another story. Once I figured out how to take it apart I ran the main bolt body into the receiver after staining the lugs with lay-out dye. It took me about 3 hours of stoning to get the bolt to close with just a little pressure at the last few degrees of travel. When I reassembled the bolt another problem surfaced. The striker would only travel about 1/8" before seizing up hard in the receiver body. Back to the layout dye and a few hours of stoning. Now is snaps forward all the way. The safety malfunctions and there isn't much I can do about that other than to weld it up a bit. It holds the striker back but not far enough: if you pull the trigger with the safety on the striker will slip forward of the sear which would cause an accidental firing if one were to then flip the safety into the "off" position. A problem for another day. The extractor will be made of spring stock. I got a look at an original on line and should be able to replicate it without too much cussing. I'm going to make or retrofit some sights and then shoot it before I make the extractor. I'll just knock the empties out with a cleaning rod.
I like the 25-20. With a 72 grain bullet at 1845 fps it's like a .22WMR on steroids. Having a long neck the bullet gets excellent alignment in the case and most 25-20's are very accurate. I'll post additional pics as things come together.~Muir
I pulled off the rubber cheekpiece, separating the epoxy from the rubber and leaving it on the wood. I started the tip of my pocket knife under the epoxy and found that it would peel off in thin, opaque sheets if I pried gently so that was all removed in about 30 minutes. Easy. The bolt was another story. Once I figured out how to take it apart I ran the main bolt body into the receiver after staining the lugs with lay-out dye. It took me about 3 hours of stoning to get the bolt to close with just a little pressure at the last few degrees of travel. When I reassembled the bolt another problem surfaced. The striker would only travel about 1/8" before seizing up hard in the receiver body. Back to the layout dye and a few hours of stoning. Now is snaps forward all the way. The safety malfunctions and there isn't much I can do about that other than to weld it up a bit. It holds the striker back but not far enough: if you pull the trigger with the safety on the striker will slip forward of the sear which would cause an accidental firing if one were to then flip the safety into the "off" position. A problem for another day. The extractor will be made of spring stock. I got a look at an original on line and should be able to replicate it without too much cussing. I'm going to make or retrofit some sights and then shoot it before I make the extractor. I'll just knock the empties out with a cleaning rod.
I like the 25-20. With a 72 grain bullet at 1845 fps it's like a .22WMR on steroids. Having a long neck the bullet gets excellent alignment in the case and most 25-20's are very accurate. I'll post additional pics as things come together.~Muir
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