A.F. Lafqvist Eskilstuna rolling block

[Paatz]

It's a Remington, right?
12.7 x 44R?
The wood is pretty scratched up, but it's a pretty nice piece of wood.
Would you restore the stock on this?

 

[Willy Tincup]

No: I would not restore the stock. I would refurbish the stock and blend in the light coloured scratches on the left side of the forearm.......possibly steam out some of the dents, make it look a bit better but not restore it. My .02!

 

[Paatz]

So by "refurbish" do you mean leave the original finish, just fix it up a bit, whereas "restore" would mean to strip off the old finish?

 

[Willy Tincup]

Yes; exactly. That gun is 130 + years old...its not supposed to look like a new one. Most of those marks represent a story, an event in history and got put their whilst that beautiful old rifle was doing its thing and earning its keep. We should not destroy the stories that they tell.

 

[Claven2]

I would just slop some linseed oil on the sratched areas, maybe 5 or 6 coats to blend the scratches a little, steel wool any active rust off the metal and use it as-is once it's in firing condition (which might need some gunsmithing - hard to tell from your pics).

 

[gabrielguitars]

No, I would not refinish the stock; I would attempt to buy it from you and shoot it as is, feeling a unique sense of pride in being involved with that antiques life story! Or, I might put a few coats of linseed oil on and try to blend it a bit, removing the active rust with 0000 steel wool . . .

 

[ben hunchak]

I don't believe that it has a great deal of collector value as it looks like a Rem. copy, check timing,pins, and in this case, the firing pin, as it may be siezed or could seize and be dangerous when closing on a loaded round.

 

[Paatz]

Thanks, I appreciate the input guys.
I don't reload yet, so it won't be fired any time soon.
It's been sitting for a long time and I'm in no hurry to do anything to it really. Anyone used that Lucas gun oil? I thought I might try that with the super-fine steel wool on the metal.

 

[trevj]

Probably started life as one of the run of Military Remingtons that were made under contract in both the Husqvarna and Carl Gustaf works. May have been made from the start as a sporting rifle.

Take a close look at the markings between the action pins, on the RH side of the action, if there are any. Typically there would be either a C or an H, along with the date, possibly just the date, if it actually started out with a Remington made action.

Take a look at the bunch that TradeEx has for sale and you should be able to see some of the variations, google up "rebooty dutchman rolling block" and you should hit one of the better sites out there with Swede RB info.

Your call on the wood, but I'd leave it as well enough alone as I could, limiting work to cleaning it up and maybe steaming out dents as was mentioned.

Cheers
Trev