AusVarmint

i have recently been in a full length leg cast for 15 weeks(footy) which drove me insane and soon as i got out doctors told me i have Osteochondritis Dissecans which is a small area of dying bone tissue in my knee which is stable(for now) and im not allowed any sport for 3 months. after the first week i couldnt stand just sitting around and doing nothing, so i went to the lgs with dad and he brought me a sportco 62a in ok condition for a project rifle for something to do while my knee is healing, i chose this rifle because it has a 15 round mag which i thought would be a good for sitting on a rabbit warren shooting off a bipod. so far the things i want done is to have the barrel shortened about 4 cm and recrowned to remove the front sight screw hole, shorten stock to remove previous sling swivel hole(to far forward for a bipod) and place another further back, re finish the stock and get the barrel and actioned reblued.
also what is the function of this little raised piece of steel (pointed by red arrow) as it makes it very hard to get a cleaning rod through.is it something to do with extraction/ejection?
i am wondering if a plug could be made up to fit in the dovetail of the rear sight so i can remove that, and if it worth bedding it with a acraglas gel kit , remember this project has to last me 3 months worth of weekends so any input or suggestions would be much appreciated
cheers tikka

Im not that familiar with the sportco but if i had to guess i would say it has something to do with your bolt release.

It looks fixed though so it might have something to do with case extraction, similar to the mauser action on my CZ 550 which doesnt allow a cleaning rod guide into the receiver.

Ejector blade

As the others have said it is the ejector. The bolt has the extractors that hold the empty (or load) case, when the bolt is pulled back the case hits that and make the case eject out of the action.

You may be able to get a bore guide to protect the rod.

my brno model 2 has ejection problems and a guy at the range said this can be fixed by replacing the mag, is this true?
cheers
tikka

Check the feed lips on the mag mate, may be worn. Pretty sure the Brno uses the end of one of the lips to flip the case out of the extractor.

The Brno has an ejector similiar to the one in the photo of the Sportco. I have fixed Brno ejection problems by packing up the part with the ejector blade on it. If you pull the rifle apart , one of the screws that holds the magazine housing on also holds the part with the ejector blade.If you make a shim and fit it under the back of the part with the ejector it will lift the ejector up slightly.A beer can cut up makes great shims, you have to make the shim U shaped to fit around the bolt that holds mag housing on and if you make it to thick the ejector blade will rub on the underside of the bolt.
Hope this helps.