My latest project - Remington 40x

This is my current project that I am working on. It is a very early Remington 40x in .22lr that has a custom made 3 position stock in the Freeland style. As you can see from the 50 yard 5 shot group using cheap ammo the rifle is a shooter, but then one would expect that from Remington's top of the line Custom Shop rifle.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26.../40X/40x12.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...y/40X/40xt.jpg

The original stock maker is unknown and nothing is known about when the stock was made, but this style was state of the art in the 50s. This sort of harmonic tuner is very old school. Today they use a device at the end of the barrel to tune harmonics rather than tensioning it mid barrel.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...y/40X/40x2.jpg

You can see the very rough work around the hand grip area where the previous owner used a rasp to shape it to his hand. Pretty ugly!!
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26.../40X/40x10.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26.../40X/40x11.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...y/40X/40x9.jpg

After removing the hardware I started stripping off the cruddy old finish. I am trying to leave the stock as close to original as possible while smoothing out all the rough spots.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...ry/40X/40x.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...y/40X/40x0.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...y/40X/40x1.jpg

At this point I have cut and fitted a butt pad and steamed out as many of the dings as possible, the one that are too deep or where the grain has been cut will stay. I soaked some of the problem areas in stripper to leach out as much of the old gun oil as possible from the walnut the area around the rear of the receiver was black from powder soaked gun oil.

I started hand sanding with 100 grit and and currently down to 220 grit. I'm almost ready to start hitting it with 320 grit paper. Then 400 grit and it should be ready for some Remington Red stain and a hand rubbed oil finish, I figure 20-30 coats should do. It should be ready for the range by summer.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...y/40X/40x3.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...y/40X/40x4.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...y/40X/40x5.jpg

Shoulda bought a Winchester. . . :cooler:

Planning on doing a little 3p shooting? I love old target rifles. Its amazing how they all pretty much smell the same too, something about old body odor, stale gun oil, and nitrocellulose gunpowder that smells oh so good. I've seriously been considering restocking my 52 and after seeing this thread, you may have just pushed me to do so. I know this will be one fine looking rifle after you get done with it. Is this just going to be a refinish or are you going to add some modifications to it. I'm guessing from the group you shot your not planning on changing anything in the way its bedded. You might consider adding a rail for a hand stop or palm rest.

I'm gonna have to get a variety of ammo and do some 50 and 100 yard testing with my 52, the only thing I've ever fed it is CCI, I don't see much point in buying the expensive stuff for 50' indoor.

Man. now, you've got me itching to get another stock.


-Edit-

What kind of glass is on top of that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Newhouse

Shoulda bought a Winchester. . . :cooler:

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I have a few of them already. :)

Quote:

---

Planning on doing a little 3p shooting? I love old target rifles. Its amazing how they all pretty much smell the same too, something about old body odor, stale gun oil, and nitrocellulose gunpowder that smells oh so good. I've seriously been considering restocking my 52 and after seeing this thread, you may have just pushed me to do so. I know this will be one fine looking rifle after you get done with it. Is this just going to be a refinish or are you going to add some modifications to it. I'm guessing from the group you shot your not planning on changing anything in the way its bedded. You might consider adding a rail for a hand stop or palm rest.

I'm gonna have to get a variety of ammo and do some 50 and 100 yard testing with my 52, the only thing I've ever fed it is CCI, I don't see much point in buying the expensive stuff for 50' indoor.

Man. now, you've got me itching to get another stock.


-Edit-

What kind of glass is on top of that.

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I'm going to use it at my local club for our fun matches, we do a bit of 3 position some BR50 and some plinking games.

The optics are an old 20x Lyman Perma-Center with target turrets. Being a bit strapped for cash a nice Unertle was out of the budget. I used off set Leupold dovetail mounts.

I've been sanding all day with 320 grit and I'm now ready to get some sanding sealer. I will apply that tomorrow and start the long 400 grit sanding and sealing. I've got plenty of time as the stain will not arrive from Brownells for a week or so.
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/ns/sto...%20RED%20STAIN

Thats a pretty sweet looking little .22 there.

The weather finally broke here in Ohio and I laid a bit of color on the stock. I started with a very diluted vivid red alcohol stain left over from some guitar work I did a few years ago and then laid on a touch of dark walnut. It should be ready for some tung oil later this afternoon.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...X/IMG_3823.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...X/IMG_3824.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...X/IMG_3827.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...X/IMG_3830.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...X/IMG_3833.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...X/IMG_3836.jpg

looking good, man

As of this post I have about 4 coats of oil on it. I spent an hour or so rubbing it while still soft and I'm done for the night. It should be hard enough to steel wool and start fresh again tomorrow and rub in two to 3 more coats. I'm guessing if the weather cooperates it should be done after week or two of this.

Sorry about the bad pics but it's late and the natural light is long gone.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...X/IMG_3849.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...X/IMG_3855.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...X/IMG_3857.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...X/IMG_3867.jpg

The 40X stock is done, and the rifle put back together. Just nee to replace a few of the old beat up wood screws that hold the rail on the swovel to the rail and the one holding the trigger guard in place. I'm not really in any hurry and will wait until the right ones show up. Hell the hunt is half the fun.

Took it to the range and it's still shooting one hole groups at 50 yards with cheap ammo.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...X/IMG_4024.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...X/IMG_4022.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...X/IMG_4021.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...X/IMG_4017.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...X/IMG_4004.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...X/IMG_3999.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...X/IMG_3997.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...X/IMG_3992.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...X/IMG_3988.jpg

That looks absolutely beautiful. Great work!