AusVarmint

So, back in 1982 (or thereabouts) my father bought this very flash rifle. A Model 70 Featherweight in 257 Roberts. Over the next 20 years it was used and abused quite a bit, the barrel running so hot at times it was burning to the touch. A few years back it passed into my possession when he could no longer hold a licence and I tried to bring it back into the useable hunting field. New cases were bought, loads were tried and no matter what I did it would only group about 2MoA. Finally, when I got my borescope, I looked down the tube from either end and it was clear that the barrel was stuffed. Throat was toast, crown not much better. What to do with it? At 8lb something with the lightweight 6x Leupold it was not a Featherweight by modern standards so something heavier was probably best.
Having always wanted a 338/06 (and holding a MarkX Mauser for that very purpose at the time) it was an easy decision to rebarrel it as the easy going middleweight.

The barrel dimensions were determined and a special profile 338 barrel was ordered from Lilja. We called it a 'Magnum Featherweight' - the original featherweight profile, but sufficiently large in dia. to accept the 338 hole down the middle and still have enough metal to contain pressure.

A 338/06 reamer was bought and the whole lot shipped off for assembly by Keith Hills in Cowra. When it came back as a 22in 338/06 it was pretty much all I was after and load development showed it was plenty accurate enough for the job with the 225gn Speer BTSP.
The factory recoil pad needed improvement with the 225gn being a little heavier in recoil than the original 100gn bullet.

This afternoon I have started the next stage of rebuilding for this rifle - the stockwork. Off came 1/2in of wood and on went a new X-COIL recoil pad. This pad really works, but the LoP was too long without cutting off the 1/2in. Next for the stripping of the original plastic coating on the woodwork. So far we are on our third coat of Polystrippa and it still won't come off!
More to follow.

Nice work Adam. I would of only done one thing different, and that is retain the original caliber. But that's me.

Looking forward to the next update.

Bout time you got your finger out and got this one done.
Spent a good part of the afternoon doing a finish removal from a stock I picked up this week, a nice Fajen thumbhole that has had a little abuse with a couple of small dings, the trouble is it was covered in some sort of finish that was around 1/32 of an inch thick, two coats of citristrip softened it, then scraped it back with a knife, some of the peelings were like peeling an apple. It was some sort of estapol or plastic shit, seems a shame to cover a nice piece of walnut with that crap. This may help you Adam.

Well, I bought some proper dichloro something or the other on the way home.

Finally, the factory finish is starting to come off!

The citrus inspired stripper may work well on paints, oils and estapol type products, but that thick Polyurethane finish the yanks were in love with during the 70s and 80s takes a bit more action to move.

Now done to the triggerguard, should be stripped finally on wednesday night. (0605 flight out tomorrow and not back until 2110 makes it hard to get anything done after work tomorrow).

Perhaps try a heat gun and scrapper to lift the plastic type coatings. Worked on my Miroku MLR and its glossy coating from the 70's.
Bruce

Let the citrus stripper sit while your away. That thick poly-vinyl-glossy crap takes a bit to move.
Cheers...
Con

So would the suggestions above also work on the hard "bowling ball" finish on a 1974 Remington BDL stock?

Marcus

Branxhunter wrote:So would the suggestions above also work on the hard "bowling ball" finish on a 1974 Remington BDL stock?

Marcus

I'd imagine the answer to that would be yes but take ya time doing it

What the G- Nome man said, or strip everything off it and give it an acid bath.

Branxhunter wrote:So would the suggestions above also work on the hard "bowling ball" finish on a 1974 Remington BDL stock?

Marcus

Marcus,

For the love of all that is efficient - buy proper Polystrippa, not the pantywaist indoor stuff or the limp dick citrus stuff. They work OK on paints and oils, but will not shift that 'dipped in plastic' polyurethane the yanks loved in the 70's and 80's (what my Model 70 started with).

Tonight I finished it off with the heavy chemical paint stripper, washed it down and it is now drying under a heater vent. I know that the citrus strippers are a favourite with some, but they simply won't work in a timely manner with this finish.

The 338/06 sounds like a blast
Can't wait to see how it performs.

Teepee wrote:The 338/06 sounds like a blast
Can't wait to see how it performs.

Hey Teepee, turn up at the next Missathon in Yass and Ill bring mine down for you to play with.

Snuck home from work early today and got the stock sanded, steamed to raise the dents, and sanded once more.

Then got the special tinted starting oil out and did the first oil. I work on the principle that the first oiling of a stock should be a drowning. The idea is to allow the stock to soak up as much oil as it can in the first oiling. So I use a small paintbrush, and slap the oil on thick, reapplying wherever the wood shows signs of starting to dry. This goes on for half an hour or so until the wood has a constant sheen of wet oil on it. The oil is then allowed to dry for a week without anything being done to it. At the end of the week I will wet sand the stock to fill in the pores.
More to follow next Friday.

Since the stock was reasonably dry, I took it to the range for shoot today. Something to do between 500m serials with the other rifles.

Anyway, 225gn Speer clocked a very repeatable 2760fps - 8fps SD kind of repeatable.

Accuracy is acceptable too.