Not everything is as it seems with my post titles.
So, everyone and their brother probably owns a .22 caliber Norinco JW-25A. I'm sure Mauser enthusiasts also know that the little carbine sold by our favorite retailers is exactly the same length as the Brno Made G33/40 that served German Apline Troops in WWII. In the United States - when they were still being imported - they were actually known as the TU-33/40.
Well, the Norinco version doesn't look a whole lot like the real 33/40 - it's just a shortened KKW style rifle (the longer version was also produced by Norinco but they are NOT common in Canada). So I thought I would make a few bubba mods to this fine "sportinting" rifle (as the manual calls it) and make it look a little more like its supposed namesake.
First, I stripped the Chinese finish off the stock. I then sourced some European (German, ironically) beech. The Norinco model is made of Chinese beech with similar properties, and since the raw chinese beech is not available here, it was a good enough match. I got a thickness of nearly an inch.
I made a softwood prototype first:
I made a form for my router to profile the handguard to the right shape (once I had already routered the barrel channel of course).
The final product was an excellent match to the stock and a pretty good copy for handmade:
Complete with brass reinforcing pin:
And a modified Yugo handguard clip:
I machined out the slot for the all important opposite side (from the K98) retaining spring:
And slapped a piece of bent steel across the side of the buttstock, and fitted a cupped buttplate:
I used an M48 barrel band and drilled another hole on the other side and I ground down a Kar98 band spring. I don't believe it was a Nazi band spring but it wouldn't tell me its political affiliations anyhow:
The finished rifle merely lacks some more darkening coats of linseed oil to the upper handguard. Note that on original G33/40s there are color differences between the laminated stocks and beech handguards.
I countersunk a wood screw to fill the spare hole:
Beside its rare big brother:
So, everyone and their brother probably owns a .22 caliber Norinco JW-25A. I'm sure Mauser enthusiasts also know that the little carbine sold by our favorite retailers is exactly the same length as the Brno Made G33/40 that served German Apline Troops in WWII. In the United States - when they were still being imported - they were actually known as the TU-33/40.
Well, the Norinco version doesn't look a whole lot like the real 33/40 - it's just a shortened KKW style rifle (the longer version was also produced by Norinco but they are NOT common in Canada). So I thought I would make a few bubba mods to this fine "sportinting" rifle (as the manual calls it) and make it look a little more like its supposed namesake.
First, I stripped the Chinese finish off the stock. I then sourced some European (German, ironically) beech. The Norinco model is made of Chinese beech with similar properties, and since the raw chinese beech is not available here, it was a good enough match. I got a thickness of nearly an inch.
I made a softwood prototype first:
I made a form for my router to profile the handguard to the right shape (once I had already routered the barrel channel of course).
The final product was an excellent match to the stock and a pretty good copy for handmade:
Complete with brass reinforcing pin:
And a modified Yugo handguard clip:
I machined out the slot for the all important opposite side (from the K98) retaining spring:
And slapped a piece of bent steel across the side of the buttstock, and fitted a cupped buttplate:
I used an M48 barrel band and drilled another hole on the other side and I ground down a Kar98 band spring. I don't believe it was a Nazi band spring but it wouldn't tell me its political affiliations anyhow:
The finished rifle merely lacks some more darkening coats of linseed oil to the upper handguard. Note that on original G33/40s there are color differences between the laminated stocks and beech handguards.
I countersunk a wood screw to fill the spare hole:
Beside its rare big brother:
