ZF41 clone project
- Thread starter Claven2
- Start date
Yes, I was happy to find it. Huge improvement over the Kriegs bolt I had before and just about perfect for an f-block byf44, since some were actually issued with FN-made transitional bolts like this one. No idea what bolt originally was in my receiver though since I got it bolt-less.
Still waiting for my bolt to get here, so in the meantime I did some additionaly minor work. I have an un-marked colt collar to replace the WaA63 collar on my inbound bolt. I removed the blueing off it in evaporust. I also had an un-marked cuppled buttplate I got off a sporterized red glue laminate stock that I believe was originally on a mid-war Oberndorf.
When I got it, the red anti-rust pain on the inside was maybe 50%, but there was some tenacious rust on the outside and some inside. I soaked it overnight in evaporust, which got rid of all rust issues, but also ate what remained of the anti-rust paint. This paint was originally applied by the Germans on all cupped buttplates to help deter rust when rainwater got under the cupped buttplates and might not have drained out. It's actually a good ideal to re-apply that paint if it's missing in case your rifle ever gets wet
Here we can see the remaining pitting that was left inside the buttplate after the paint and rust was removed. It's taped and ready for paint.
Krylon "Ruddy Brown" primer is an exact colour match for the original paint on these buttplates.
And voila! Looks pretty convincing huh? Many of the buttplates you see on e-bay that look "as new" have thusly been faked and people will pay more than double for one they think has intact nazi paint in it, just sayin'...
At the tip of the buttplate toe you can see where the stubborn pitting/rust was before being removed.
When I got it, the red anti-rust pain on the inside was maybe 50%, but there was some tenacious rust on the outside and some inside. I soaked it overnight in evaporust, which got rid of all rust issues, but also ate what remained of the anti-rust paint. This paint was originally applied by the Germans on all cupped buttplates to help deter rust when rainwater got under the cupped buttplates and might not have drained out. It's actually a good ideal to re-apply that paint if it's missing in case your rifle ever gets wet
Here we can see the remaining pitting that was left inside the buttplate after the paint and rust was removed. It's taped and ready for paint.
Krylon "Ruddy Brown" primer is an exact colour match for the original paint on these buttplates.
And voila! Looks pretty convincing huh? Many of the buttplates you see on e-bay that look "as new" have thusly been faked and people will pay more than double for one they think has intact nazi paint in it, just sayin'...
At the tip of the buttplate toe you can see where the stubborn pitting/rust was before being removed.
I thought about faking that ink stamp just to show how it's done. It basically involves carving a stamp (Staedtler erasers work the best) and using thinned lacquer black paint. Doesn't have to be perfect, most originals are pretty smudged.
I wan't planning on doing the stamp because:
a) it's a lot of work to carve a fake ink stamp.
b) nobody would ever see it.
PS: that's a WaA497 buttplate made by J. Grossfuss. Later they started marking the outsides with the bpr code.
I wan't planning on doing the stamp because:
a) it's a lot of work to carve a fake ink stamp.
b) nobody would ever see it.
PS: that's a WaA497 buttplate made by J. Grossfuss. Later they started marking the outsides with the bpr code.
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These are actually all brg marked plates. One has the brg and WaA 497 on the outside as well as the 497 stamp inside. One is WaA 147 ink stamped but no WaA on the outside, just brg, and the first one I posted is brg with no WaA on the outside and the WaA 497 ink stamp inside. Three different variations. Here are the other two. Bottom two pics are the same one with different lighting. It's the best one I have.
I don't have a fine pen here, but using a medium bic ballpoint for a quick and dirty test yielded this ink transfer. Obviously the detail is not there and I did it quick, but it's proof of concept.
If I had an old style ink jet printer, IF could maybe do a direct transfer before the ink dried.
In other news, a nifty item (unrelated to this build) arrived in the mail this week.
If I had an old style ink jet printer, IF could maybe do a direct transfer before the ink dried.
In other news, a nifty item (unrelated to this build) arrived in the mail this week.
Progress!
The bolt worked out great, perfect headspace right from the get-go. The barrel, fully installed, was 5 degrees shy of the sights indexing, so new set-screw holes had ot be drilled in the barrel to retain the sights while soldering them in place. The rear sight base was assembled and indexed off an original sight leaf, the front was indexed t the rear base using parellels, and the whole thing was parellelled to the receiver flat on the underside behind the recoil lug. Worked out splendidly. (what a pile of work making the repro base work adequately though!)
Once the bases were soldered on, I checked alignment to make sure nothing had warped and the fitting of the sight ramp was still valid - it was, nothing had moved. Then the interface areas were cold blued to see if any solder was missed in cleanup. The bluing will be removed prior to hot bluing anyhow.
Now waiting for the stock to get here from Europe...
Here is the proof that I'm not going to totally pass tis off as an outright fake. The barrel came off an East German action, found it in a bin of orphan barrels at a local gun shop. Someone had removed it with a monkey wrench (I think). I left these marks in place as they indexed to the underside of the barrel and are covered when assembled. A disassembly will betray the linage of the barrel though There were wrench marks on the exposed areas too, but those have been filed out and re-contoured - you can't tell anything was ever there. Bore on this barrel is PERFECT. I suspect it was not shot after being imported, someone took it off an action they used to build a sporter. Should make a great shooter.
Here you can see what is (IMHO) the biggest giveaway that the repro base is fake. Look at the retainer screw, there is a small gap around it. On a real base, this gap is not perceptible and the fit is tighter. The screw is real, though I may yet make a replacement that eliminates the gap.
Now some progress on prepping parts for bluing. This was a 1943/44 era extractor with a mis-matched serial. I used emery paper to remove most of it, then over-stamped the serial with new numbers in such a way that the residual marks from the old serial were covered by the new numbers. Pretty convincing huh? I went over it with coarser paper afterward ot match the rough wartime finish.
Bolt assembled for test fit.
Parts I scrounged that are correct for a byf44 awaiting bluing.
This is the TG I have on-hand. I have another on the way that is not serialized, we'll see whichever is nicer when it gets here. This one is REAL nice apart from the m/m serial number overstamped on the byf logo. Note the late war solid lock screws. These are real, not repro. I had them in my parts bin.
And finally, here is the drop-in rail I did not use, but my repro base came with it. Though maybe someone would like to see what they look like. The situate the scope too high - I'm not a fan. BBOTW surmises the Germans made a part like this. It's an error in the book - they are all fake/fantasy pieces.
The bolt worked out great, perfect headspace right from the get-go. The barrel, fully installed, was 5 degrees shy of the sights indexing, so new set-screw holes had ot be drilled in the barrel to retain the sights while soldering them in place. The rear sight base was assembled and indexed off an original sight leaf, the front was indexed t the rear base using parellels, and the whole thing was parellelled to the receiver flat on the underside behind the recoil lug. Worked out splendidly. (what a pile of work making the repro base work adequately though!)
Once the bases were soldered on, I checked alignment to make sure nothing had warped and the fitting of the sight ramp was still valid - it was, nothing had moved. Then the interface areas were cold blued to see if any solder was missed in cleanup. The bluing will be removed prior to hot bluing anyhow.
Now waiting for the stock to get here from Europe...
Here is the proof that I'm not going to totally pass tis off as an outright fake. The barrel came off an East German action, found it in a bin of orphan barrels at a local gun shop. Someone had removed it with a monkey wrench (I think). I left these marks in place as they indexed to the underside of the barrel and are covered when assembled. A disassembly will betray the linage of the barrel though
There were wrench marks on the exposed areas too, but those have been filed out and re-contoured - you can't tell anything was ever there. Bore on this barrel is PERFECT. I suspect it was not shot after being imported, someone took it off an action they used to build a sporter. Should make a great shooter.
Here you can see what is (IMHO) the biggest giveaway that the repro base is fake. Look at the retainer screw, there is a small gap around it. On a real base, this gap is not perceptible and the fit is tighter. The screw is real, though I may yet make a replacement that eliminates the gap.
Now some progress on prepping parts for bluing. This was a 1943/44 era extractor with a mis-matched serial. I used emery paper to remove most of it, then over-stamped the serial with new numbers in such a way that the residual marks from the old serial were covered by the new numbers. Pretty convincing huh? I went over it with coarser paper afterward ot match the rough wartime finish.
Bolt assembled for test fit.
Parts I scrounged that are correct for a byf44 awaiting bluing.
This is the TG I have on-hand. I have another on the way that is not serialized, we'll see whichever is nicer when it gets here. This one is REAL nice apart from the m/m serial number overstamped on the byf logo. Note the late war solid lock screws. These are real, not repro. I had them in my parts bin.
And finally, here is the drop-in rail I did not use, but my repro base came with it. Though maybe someone would like to see what they look like. The situate the scope too high - I'm not a fan. BBOTW surmises the Germans made a part like this. It's an error in the book - they are all fake/fantasy pieces.
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