For starters the barrel is a tad shorter than first envisaged. I was always unhappy with the sight radius even through the rifle was to be fitted with a target rear sight and the proportions looked odd so I chopped a bit more off and ended up with this look. The upper wood is now one piece, I will need to let in a block where the rear sight protector used to sit to tidy things up and loosing the original rear sight helps me no end as I always wanted a slightly heavier barrel profile which would mean building a completely new replacement for the original rear sight bracket.
The original cross screw was a pig to remove and the wood chipped slightly as it came out which left me with a dilemma, how to repair it, after a bit of head scratching I decided to cut two finger grooves which effectively removed the damaged wood and added a feature. The cross screw was replaced with two brass cups locked together with a stainless M5 and snake wood caps in the ends so no fear of splitting and it adds a small detail.
Today's jobs included machining the one piece replacement upper wood, adding the detail for the small front metal cover, I anguished over how to do this neatly and accurately and ended up machining a mandrel to match the diameter of the barrel channel and placing between the centres on the lathe then clamping the upper over the mandrel and finally machining it to the correct diameters. Whilst I was on the lathe I reduced the diameter of the upper to just above what is needed which saves a lot of time with a plane. Right now it is about a 1/4" too long which is deliberate.
One thing I must do is cut some channels for the two rear keeper clips on the upper and I have no idea how to do that right now, all I can say is it will be interesting.
The front of the lower wood is not profiled yet.
Vital statistics:
Donor rifle: 1968 Ishapore 2A1 with trued and blue printed action
Trigger: Shed custom 2 stage adjustable set at 5 lbs/2.3Kgs
Barrel length 13.5"
Cartridge 9mm-08 (9mm Rascal)
Rifle length: 31.5"
Weight: 7.25 lbs/3.3Kgs
The eagle eyed amongst you will notice the bayonet lugs have been removed and the nose cap tidied up. It took some serious work with a file to get it to this level and it still needs the rear shadow lone adding. Right now I am leaning towards a traditional rust browne finish for the shiny bits.
