A piece of American History down under

LVVP · Sep 17, 2014

Looks very impressive. Thanks

RDP · Sep 18, 2014

don hicks

Richard, I know you must be a romantic because that looks to me like a labor of love. Nice work, keep us up to date.
Cheers
Don

Thanks Don,

yes I love restoring old hand tools and machines, and this is the icing on the cake for me, after this is done and engraved, is going to be tough to beat,

JJ, thanks for your encouragement , I will try and do my best, there is a lot of metal to be removed to get there, to be honest I was going to leave a few battle scars on it, after all is a 101 year old gun, what do you think?, the bore from what I have seen, looks very dirty and rusted, that doesn't worry me as unfortunately it won't be a shooter, I will try and have a good look at it some how,

Thanks Vlad.

I gave the barrel a rest for now, and did a bit of inletting of the butt stock plate, there is a nasty split on the butt stock that has previously been repaired, not very good I may add, it was from a screw for a recoil rubber pad that some one fitted to it, obviously without drilling a pilot hole for the screw :no:, I am unsure whether I would make a new one or leave it as part of the history of it, also getting ready for the engraving process, I have drawn the templates to work on the design in mind, I have drawn them in Illustrator as well, I will try and convert them to PDF and post them here if there is interest for them, and JJ, you can add them to the template list you have I you like,

Thanks for looking,

Richard.

Willem Parel · Sep 18, 2014

Very nice tutorial of tracing outlines, thanks.
Btw, great job of restoration :thumbsup:

LVVP · Sep 18, 2014

Very nice job done so far, it is impressive. Thank you for this excellent tutoring.

RDP · Sep 19, 2014

Thank you guys, just tying to give a little back to the forum, hope I am not boring everybody to sleep,

Here are the PDF files for it, I suggest if anybody is going to use this for serious designing, to check and make sure it matches the gun you have before you put hours of hard work into it just in case there are differences,( or I messed up

) also there may be some outlines that you would not use for engraving, like the front of the receiver, that is just for my reference, thanks for looking.

Southern Custom · Sep 19, 2014

As for that barrel, Filing it out is not technically difficult. Look up draw filing on the internet if you don't already know how to draw file. Draw filing the barrel while held in the vise (rubber jaws help) lets you keep the flats true. After that move to paper tacked to hardwood blocks. I'm with you about leaving some of it's character/ battle scars.
Keep us posted.
Layne

LVVP · Sep 19, 2014

Thanks a lot for PDF files

RDP · Sep 19, 2014

Layne, yes I am familiar with draw filing, that's how I have been doing all the restoration, then sanding , as you described, thanks, :tiphat:

, you learn a lot from this forum, :thumbsup:

the barrel is starting to look much better now, more photos to come,

Richard.

atexascowboy2011 · Sep 19, 2014

Richard
I snapped a few very poor pics today of a beautiful 1/2 scale 44.40 Winchester.
Email me and I'll send them for you to study and get ideas.
NOT for copying as they are copyrighted.
Jeff
thekokopellicowboy @gmail.com

RDP · Sep 20, 2014

thanks Jeff, done.

Richard.

JJ Roberts · Sep 20, 2014

Richard,A good gunsmith could reline that barrel for you in the original caliber. J.J.

RDP · Sep 20, 2014

JJ, there is nothing I would like better than to be able to restore this to a shooter, unfortunately it has other issues with it, the barrel threads and the inside of the receiver have been badly corroded as well, the actual barrel has to be index as some one has filed some of the threads away and there is a lot of play in the mechanism, so I don't think it would be very safe to shoot, I saw a Model 92 at the gun shop down the road from me, in working order for $595.00 bucks, I have spend over $400.00 on it so far , I could have bought a non firing replica for $ 450.00, http://www.collectorsarmoury.com.au/images/Rifles/John%20Wayne%20Rifle.jpg

I would hate to think what a barrel reline would cost :shock:

as Don said it is just a labor of love, and has already cost me more than I wanted to spend on it, I just want to be able to make it look as it should, and learn from the experience, :thumbsup:

it does not deserve a rusting away to nothing ending,

, thanks JJ, now back to filing

Richard.

RDP · May 29, 2015

Hi all, it has been a while but not because I had given up, I am still working on it, for the last few months I have been drawing and redrawing, redrawing and drawing

, and I think finally I came up with a design that I am happy with, at least as good as I can at this stage, it certainly has been a lesson in engraving for me, I recommend that any beginner that wants to engrave a gun, first buy a cheap Winchester stock butt plate, design the engraving, transfer it, find a way of holding it, and then try to engrave it, but only after you have worked out what sort of graver heal angle you will need to cut some of the compound curves and angles that will come up to you as you are cutting,

I did not show any drawings for critique as I wanted to do this on my own, and as you know the story of how I came by this and what I paid for this it does not mater if it does not turn out as good, but I will welcome any critique as I show you the pictures of the finished work, as I see it, I know there are a lot of things I would have done different(background removal, and finishing needs improvement) and or better, but as I said I am gaining a lot of experience as I go along, thanks for looking, and the next chapter will be the lever,

Richard,

SamW · May 29, 2015

A pleasing design on a period piece and a large bucket full of experience. You are doing well.

RDP · May 29, 2015

Thank you SamW, hopefully I will fill a 44 gallon drum of experience with this one

Richard.

atexascowboy2011 · May 29, 2015

Richard,
Too bad you weren't into engraving when Selleck was there, as he would have definitely hired you.
I'm betting you'll be getting some side restoration work from the likes of Murdock in the future.
Back in the 80's his Polo team came to the U.S. Open in San Antonio, Texas and I was fortunate enough to be the team's farrier.
All of these blokes had been in the "Man From Snowy River" and told of the shooting of the movie. The lead horseman who piled off of that fricking mountain side had NEVER ridden before that movie !
AND !, he refused a double for that shot !
The players were equally ballsy, as even though each of them was a millionaire, they too performed their own stunts, such as the one where the horse jumped the log, losing the rider and dragging him with his foot caught in the stirrup.
Keep up the great job you're doing.
Jeff

RDP · May 30, 2015

I'm betting you'll be getting some side restoration work from the likes of Murdock in the future

Thanks Jeff, yeah, I can see the dollars rolling in now,

RDP · Jul 5, 2015

Here are a four more photos of the work in progress, any comments welcomed,
thanks for looking,

Richard.

atexascowboy2011 · Jul 5, 2015

Richard, you're attending one of the best schools there is, " The School of Hard Knocks".
You're covering ALL of the bases to become a qualified engraver.
Gunsmithing.
Restoration of the basic canvas.
Design.
Engraving.
Finishing.
Very, very few engraver's can do what you are accomplishing .
My hat is off to you amigo ! :tiphat:

RDP · Jul 6, 2015

atexascowboy2011 said:
Richard, you're attending one of the best schools there is, " The School of Hard Knocks".
You're covering ALL of the bases to become a qualified engraver.
Gunsmithing.
Restoration of the basic canvas.
Design.
Engraving.
Finishing.
Very, very few engraver's can do what you are accomplishing .
My hat is off to you amigo !

Thanks mate, I appreciate your encouragement, but,
#1 I wouldn't shoot if I had anything to do with it, :caution:

#2 Any one can do it if they listen to JJ Roberts tips and tricks, and they try hard enough, :tiphat:

#3 Every one can do it better than me,

#4 loooong way to go, :shock:

#5 I'm hoping I won't stuff it up any more!, :beatup:

:biggrin::biggrin:

Richard.

A piece of American History down under

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