VZ-24 Intra-war build manufacture germanized capture project

[5five6]

about a mont back I was looking for a small project to pick up while a vendor delay put a larger project on hold. I picked a random stock out of my pile of misc stocks and decided to convert the metal parts and wash and apply a fresh application of BLO and figure out what it was. It turns out that it was a VZ 24 stock that was built in 1938 and was probably still in the BRON factory when the Germans took it over

It had some pretty significant damage. Looks to me like it was leaned up against something when a vehicle backed into it. I’m assuming the barrel and or receiver were damaged and discarded

So I decide to go about looking to see how much I’m going to spend to get an undrilled or cut barrel VZ24 with a sporterized stock. When I came across this one. It turns out to be an almost perfect match and lookign at the time stamps, it had been listed within a few minutes of the exact time I picked my VZ stock out iof the pile… talk about a coincidence!

 

[5five6]

Unfortunately for me, there were a few other people rather interested in this donor rifle and I ended up paying way too much for it… but I won the auction and it’s sitting at my FFL for 10 days now. As suspected, it was chosen for sportorizatin for an outstanding bore which is still in very good shape

having sourced all the parts to compete it, my next task is to repair the stock to accept the front metal. The nose metal I received is actually for a different Mauser variant and the cleaning rod hole is only 5.5MM, not 7MM as needed for the VZ cleaning rod and it doesn’t quite fit in the H-band. I’m holding off on final fitment of my plug untill my correct bayonet lug arrives.


With this jug, I managed to drill the cleaning rod tunnel with only 0.012” deflection!

My idea is to clean out the damaged wood in the front and acraglas this plug in place. Once done, the repair should be invisible without taking the gun apart.


To be continued…

 

[5five6]

Well, I decided to make the plug fit the cavity instead of the other way around. I did get a chisel in the cavity to true up the interior a little but I decided this would be a stronger repair. One issue is that that leaves the entire length of the plug’s cleaning rod tunnel exposed to acraglas when I glue it. I had to order a section of 7mm drill rod for fixtureing because the mechanical lock on the drill bit flutes would never release.











Now my problem is, and I don’t know if you can tell from the photos, but the barrel and receiver appear to have been cold blued. With the wood on the home stretch, I’m turning my attention to the metal which I intend to just convert the rust and probably leave it or possibly a pass or two of slow rust blue if it looks gawd awful. Here I am at a loss, I know I need to remove the cold blued before I can successfully convert the barrel but I don’t know how to do it.

Does anyone know how to effectively and completely remove cold blued?