Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

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rbertalotto
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Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

Post by rbertalotto »

Last week I was on business in Minneapolis. When anywhere near a Cabelas I simply must visit the gun library! I've been to every Cabelas in the USA.....Some a number of times.
While there I saw this 1894 Winchester take-down, 32Win Special, Octagon to round, pistol grip, Marbles tang sight.......I fell in love!

But it had some warts....someone had drilled and tapped the side for a cheap scope side mount and mounted an El Paso Weaver 4X, the stock had a pretty bad crack at the toe and the take down mechanism would not work.

The bore looked excellent and the action functioned fine. The price was a little steep ($750) so I passed. The next day all I could think about was that little rifle. I called the Gun Library and spoke to Jaclyn. She said they still had it and would hold it for me. I drove back to Rogers, MN, about an hour and a half from where I was now, and decided to buy it. Had it shipped to my FFL here in Massachusetts ($25 for 2nd day FedEx..Nice!)

When I got the rifle home the first thing I did was try to get the magazine tube to turn butt this is how the take-down function works. No Joy! It was locked up solid.

So I removed the take-down lever, removed the forend cap and carefully drifted out the forend cap boss. This allowed me to pull off the forend. I could clearly see that someone had been using WD40, the bane of the firearms industry, to try and keep rust at bay. Well it did its job as far as rust in concerned, but it turned into that brown WD40 wax and locked everything up solid. A bit of Kroil Oil (the savior of the firearms industry!) and I had it apart.

The action was covered with the same WD40 wax. A real mess. I put the whole action into my Ultrasonic Cleaner and let it stew for 5 minutes. This removed about 90% of the stuff and now allowed a full disassemble. Every last piece was taken apart, wire brushed and put back into the Ultrasonic Cleaner. The parts came out looking like new!

I reassembled everything, and everything was right with the world! But the hammer spring was extremely stiff. This caused the action to be very hard to open as the bolt tried to push back the hammer. I pulled the spring and took it to the shop and ground down about 40% of its thicvkness. Reinstalled and the action is smooth as silk! I test fired a bunch of cartridges with primers onlt to be sure I had enough hammer fall. No Issues!

The stock had a bad split at the toe that someone tried to fix with Elmer's glue. Unfortunatly I couldn't get the pieces back to gether without a small gap. I mixed up some epoxy and added some brown stain, glued it up and when dried I scrapped the excess glue off the joint. A bit of steel wool with Balistol and it is hard to see the repair.

I removed the scope mount and used four filler screws to fill the holes. At some point I'm going to TIG weld the holes and have the receiver re-cased. I'll also replace the wood as this rifle doesn't really have any collector value.

So here's what we ended up with:

Image
Image

Interesting front sight....Anyone know anything about it?
Image

I'd love to know what these 6 "hash" marks are all about.......Six dead bandits? Six dead deer?
Image

More pictures on next post...
Last edited by rbertalotto on Sat Apr 20, 2013 6:30 am, edited 2 times in total.
Roy B
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www.rvbprecision.com
rbertalotto
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Re: Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

Post by rbertalotto »

Image
Image
Image
Image
Last edited by rbertalotto on Sat Apr 20, 2013 6:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
Roy B
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www.rvbprecision.com
rbertalotto
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Re: Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

Post by rbertalotto »

Image
Image
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The current TD Fammily:

Rossi 92 Custom Take-Down (45LC)
1892 Winchester TD (38-40)
1892 Winchester TD (45LC)
1886 Winchester TD (45-70)
Roy B
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www.rvbprecision.com
Pete44ru
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Re: Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

Post by Pete44ru »

.

A 1906 Model 1894 Rifle - Nice grab, Roy !

That front sight looks a lot like the old Marble's Improved Front Sight from the Winchester Model 1894/94 sight option list, but it's got a male dovetail that's larger on each end and the top sighting bead is much larger - so IMO it's by another maker.

Mayhap somebody with the GD vintage sight book will chime in.

That's the first Rifle Model I've ever seen w/o checkering - sanded off ? ?


.
rbertalotto
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Re: Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

Post by rbertalotto »

Thanks Pete,

I have the book "Old Gun Sights and Rifle Scopes" and I'll have to crack it open to see if it has anything on that front sight.

The stock does not appear to be sanded, but who knows after 107 years, anything could have happened.

It's a real nice old rifle and will look nice next to my other "vintage" rifles (1873 Winchester, 1889 Marlin, 1893 Marlin )

Still looking for a vintage 1892 TD in 38-40.....
Roy B
Dartmouth, MA
www.rvbprecision.com
rbertalotto
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Re: Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

Post by rbertalotto »

I found the front sight reference...

Image

The book says its worth $75!!!

I wonder what I could get for the El Paso Weaver 4X
Roy B
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www.rvbprecision.com
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Borregos
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Re: Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

Post by Borregos »

Nice one, I like it, interesting front sight, thanks for the information :D :D
Pete
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RIHMFIRE
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Re: Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

Post by RIHMFIRE »

wow what a beauty...congrat on a great find...have fun with it! :mrgreen:
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FatJackDurham
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Re: Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

Post by FatJackDurham »

Thanks also for the description of your careful take down. It taught me more about how to do it next time I get a nice old rifle
rbertalotto
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Re: Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

Post by rbertalotto »

The best thing I bought recently for cleaning guns is an Ultrasonic Cleaner. I bought it at Horrible Freight......

http://www.harborfreight.com/25-liter-u ... 95563.html


This ultrasonic cleaner makes it easy to clean items like jewelry, eyeglasses, waterproof watches, silverware and more! Just fill the cleaner with an appropriate ultrasonic cleaning powder (available separately), mix with water and then just drop in the items to be cleaned. The ultrasonic cleaner works with or without heat and features a clear-view window so you can see its cleaning power in action!

85 oz. cleaning capacity
Five cleaning cycles: 90, 180, 280, 380 and 480 seconds
Clean with or without heat
Easy-to-read LED digital timer
Clear-view window

$79.99

I use the Lyman Turbo Sonic gun cleaning solution. A minute or two in the cleaner and your guns come out sparkling. Use compressed air to blow them dry and then a nice spray with Remington synthetic gun oil.

These Ultrasonic cleaners do an amazing job on your brass. With the Lyman brass cleaner, the brass comes out like new. Inside and out. Even the primer pockets.
Roy B
Dartmouth, MA
www.rvbprecision.com
Pete44ru
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Re: Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

Post by Pete44ru »

rbertalotto wrote:
Still looking for a vintage 1892 TD in 38-40.....
Hey, Roy - I found a lead on a 1903 issue ......... please check your email.




.
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Dave
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Re: Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

Post by Dave »

Not bad at all! Glad it came on apart.
rbertalotto
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Re: Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

Post by rbertalotto »

Pete...No email received....??
Roy B
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damienph
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Re: Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

Post by damienph »

What a great rifle!!! I think that it is well worth what you paid for it. That old steel tube K4 could bring anywhere from $75-150 depending on condition and how clear and bright it is. At least around here.

Thanks for the pictures; I always look forward to your posts.
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AJMD429
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Re: Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

Post by AJMD429 »

Bringing New Life to an old firearm - that is pretty cool...!
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Pete44ru
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Re: Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

Post by Pete44ru »

rbertalotto wrote:Pete...No email received....??
Something must be amiss with the forum's email - please check your PM's, as I've now sent the lead to you there.

.
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sore shoulder
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Re: Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

Post by sore shoulder »

Very nice collection. Although I don't own any, I have an affinity for takedowns. Particularly the old Marlins and model 12 shotguns.
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BenT
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Re: Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

Post by BenT »

Super Cool! You have to let us know how that front sight works.
WoodrowC
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Re: Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

Post by WoodrowC »

Spectacular photography skills. Great rifle!

Regards, Gerry
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Sixgun
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Re: Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

Post by Sixgun »

Yea, I would have paid what you did for the semi-deluxe. (deluxe without checkering) Good snag!

The front sight is designed for snap shooting in the woods. It gives one a better view of the bead. If you look straight down the bore (as if you are shooting at something) it will appear like the bead is "floating" in the air. I have several on different rifles and are very hard to find.

On one Model 53 in 25-20 I have, I put one of these sights on it for silhouette competition and some smart alec tried to get me ejected from the match for using an "aperture" sight. Some people need to be educated and that I did............if front of everyone. --------------------Sixgun
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Hombre
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Re: Latest Addition to the Take-Down Family

Post by Hombre »

Very interesting to read. Thank you very much for sharing.

/Stefan
Sweden
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