Updates and new projects!

Okay so it has been a while since I posted last, but can you blame me. Who wants to sit inside during the summer when you can be out enjoying the weather. Now that the temperature in Chicago has dropped down its a little less inviting to stay outside as much. So its time to jump back into the swing of things. Recently I acquired an 8mm Mauser sporting rifle that was beat to piss. The stock was in terrible shape, most of the bluing was worn away, and the interior of the barrel was caked with oxidation. Unfortunately I was so excited to start working on it that I completely forgot to take pictures of it beforehand. Ill do an update once the stock is finished hardening with "after" pictures though. The end product is very  nice.

Moving on to a little bit of a shop update. I have moved onto casting and sizing my own bullets now! My grandpa supplied me with one of his extra sizers and I have been going to town with it. My first batch of bullets that I created are .45ACP 200gr Semi-Wadcutter. I currently have some brass in the tumbler getting cleaned up. Once that is finished I'll have to reset my Blue Press and play around with a few different loads I have been looking at.

After I'm done with the .45ACP I think I'm going to move onto loading up some 9mm. I'm starting to run a little low and now that I can cast it will be even more affordable to shoot.

Time to get down to business. My newest project that I have taken on is a very special one. Recently I  have decided to focus a bit more on Gunsmith work and restoration. A friend of mine came to me with her late brothers Marlin mod.336a 30-30. When she dropped it off I immediately noticed that it had been sitting around for quite a while. There was no oil to be found anywhere on the rifle. There was also a decent amount of rust starting to form on all components of the rifle. last but not least the action was stuck open. It took quite a bit of force to get it closed, and when it did I could tell that something had malfunctioned.

Turned out that end of the carrier rocker had snapped off. Fortunately enough it is not expensive, but it is also not as available as an entire carrier assembly. Regardless I ordered one up and I should expect to see it in the next few weeks. In the mean time while I wait for the part to arrive I decided to start working on all the rust and oxidation on the rest of the rifle. With a little bit of patience, Hoppe's no. 9, and some 0000 steel wool I got to work. I was worried that I would have to re-blue a few areas once I knocked off the rust, but to my surprise the bluing was hardly affected at all. 

*Before* Notice all the surface rust on the lower part of the receiver body. Also the bolt had lots of marring.

*Before* The lever was coated in surface rust inside and out. the trigger assembly was almost as bad.

*After* The Hoppe's no. 9 solvent really breaks down the rust. The 0000 steel wool does an excellent job of taking away the imperfections but does not affect the bluing in any way

The bolt had many marred spots on it. I used some Blue Magic metal polish and an old cotton rag to buff the metal at first. After I gave it a good once over I used a two stage 6" buffing wheel to give it a near mirror finish on it.

Not much to do now except wait for the carrier rocker to come in and put it all back together.