first freshly "restored" No1 and other distractions

infideleggwelder

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here my first "restoration". 1942 SHTLE MkIII*.
original butt stock, new MkIII fore end, new rear hand guard, ancient and purple front hand guard that lost about 1/2 pound after i cleaned the grease and dirt from it. the other bits came from a few CGNers. colour match will not be a priority for me until some cheaper matching furniture lands in my lap. if i ever go to maine, i`ll pick up a full set or two at liberty tree.
it was expensive, but kept me occupied for a month or so this winter.
can't wait to go fire it again, fired it at xmas before the re wooding.

and now for other distractions for the winter
 
awesome...and who cares if the wood doesn't match right now, wouldn't be any fun if the project was totally complete first go round !

cool axes...are they tomahawks ?
 
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Great job! I admire your patience and skill. I have a couple of No. 4 rifles that would be great candidates for restoring, but lack the courage and know how to attack the job.
 
I too am interested in the wood darkening, or lightin i tryed rit dye looked good till i started the linseed then just got lighter and lighter ...
 
thanks to all for the compliments, but i am still not all that haooy with the dark wood. when i was degreasing the front hand guard, it was getting lighter in colour, almost to an acceptable redish level. first coat of oil brought it right back to purpley/black. i think i`m just going to live with it, at least till i get to the point where i do not have to work for my bread, and have some time to make a new one out of a wood more closely associated with walnut or maple. the hand guard that i got from liberty tree is definately a tropical wood, maybe rosewood. it will make an excellent pattern to follow. i did manage to get the "DP" stamping out. it is very faint now to the point where it probably isn`t actually there. it disappeared during the cleaning/washing/degreasing process.

kjohn, if you are thinking about restoring them one day, you really should look into gathering the parts and pieces you will need, as they are readily available and relatively cheap for No 4s. i don`t have a No4 yet, but am putting together more gun money for parts for one or two. all the sport No4s i have personally seen have had the barrel cut just to remove the bayonet lug. where in SE sask you from? i grew up in Balgonie.
 
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I know what you mean about the handguard being a different color, it took me awhile to find a proper "hue" front hg to finish off my Longbranch to my satisfaction. However, one thing to note is that during the war, damaged rifles were refitted with whatever was what at hand to get them back into battle. Lots of "mixmaster" wood on original battle rifles out there.....
 
hit the range with the MkIII* today. first firing since restoration. did pretty good, think the bedding is right where it should be for someone with poor trigger control, not paying attention to breathing, and mixed commercial ammo, 3 or four different brands and loads i would imagine. federal,winchester, remington and some greek or russian stuff. i`m also not the best shot out there.
had one or two groups within 4", if i was paying more attention to marksmanship principles, i think i could have closed those up. all the mixed ammo is gone i think now. no pic of the target, the SKS came out, also brought out the No5, and my young fella with his borrowed 22 poked a bunch more holes in it.
 
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