Model 64 salvaged
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Model 64 salvaged
I bought a bubbaed Model 64 Winchester almost a year ago. It had issues! I thought I went a little high on the price but I have wanted a Model 64 for some time and you don't see many so I went for it. I also like to tinker so a little repair work doesn't bother me. The action looked sound and the important thing to me was that the bore looked absolutely perfect. However there were more issues that weren't visible.
What I could see at the gunshow was that the magazine hanger and the end of the magazine tube were mangled. There are also various deep gouges in the metal work here and there and of course buggered screw heads. But the bubba that bludgeoned this rifle wasn't your average bubba! The reason the magazine hanger was mangled is because Bubba drove it out of the slot sideways. The hanger is supposed to twist in and out. I guess when he reassembled it he had to hammer the tube back in and mangled the front end of that too. OK, I saw that when I bought it. What I didn't see was that for some reason he tried to weld the back end of the magazine tube and ended up cleaning up the burned and melted metal with a grinder. Also the forend was cracked in two places and was chipped under the nose cap and the tenon that fits into the front of the receiver had been attacked with a rasp. The butt stock was badly cracked around the tang. I didn't see the cracks. The dim neon lights at the gun show are a sellers best friend!
That was all a little discouraging so the rifle got stuck in the back of the safe for a while. I repaired the magazine tube first. The serial number indicates the rifle was made in 1939 and the barrel is stamped 35. The rifle has most of the bluing and it has gained a greyish patina that I find quite attractive. Since I wanted to keep the patina I repaired the old tube instead of buying a new one. What I did was swap ends on the tube because the bluing under the forend was still in good shape and I wanted that part to show. I cut the welded and ground back end off, squared it up and drilled a new hole for the nose plug. Then I cut the old mangled front end off and turned a taper on the outside. I got another piece of magazine tube and turned a taper on the inside. Then I tinned the two tapers, fit the two pieces together and soldered it. Cut it to length and that took care of the tube.
Cleaning up the dovetail for the magazine hanger wasn't to bad. Bubba had filed the dovetail out so it would be easier to hammer the hanger back in. Luckily there was enough metal left to peen the slot back into shape. A little cold blue took care of the shiny metal there. A little judicious blacksmithing on the hanger got it back into shape. A little peening got rid of most of the vise grip marks on the magazine plug. That was last summer. Then the rifle sat again.
I finally decided to repair the stock a couple weeks ago and you may recall my posting about that. That turned out well so I started cleaning and reassembling. But Bubba never rests! He may pass out when he's had to much beer but he gets after it when he comes to! He had also done a trigger job on this poor innocent rifle. He ground the sear to an uneven knife edge. Then he attacked the hammer! He must have been trying to narrow the sear notch but he also ground most of the half cock notch away while he was at it. I wanted to shoot it so I put it back together. Luckily there is still enough half cock notch left for it to do its job. The next day I found an extra sear I had bought some time ago and forgot I had so I installed it.
I got the rifle to the range last week. I couldn't tell much about accuracy because the rear sight was driven way to the left and by the time I got it rezeroed I was out of ammo. There was a lot of vertical dispersion while I was moving the sight over so that didn't look real good. I don't do well with the issue sights though so I decided to mount a Marbles tang sight I have laying around. I couldn't find a long enough tang screw so I took the receiver sight off another rifle and put it on. Did I tell you Bubba never rests? The tang screw isn't correct. The threads have been ground off the end and only about 3 threads catch. Why do that anyway? Well you do that when you put a 12-30 screw into a hole threaded for a 12-28 screw!
Anyway I got back to the range this morning with the receiver sight mounted and two different loads. The first group I shot was with a load using H322. It went about 1-3/4" at 50 yards. Not to good! The other load used RL-7. What do you think? Three shots at 50 yards.
And the rifle:
What I could see at the gunshow was that the magazine hanger and the end of the magazine tube were mangled. There are also various deep gouges in the metal work here and there and of course buggered screw heads. But the bubba that bludgeoned this rifle wasn't your average bubba! The reason the magazine hanger was mangled is because Bubba drove it out of the slot sideways. The hanger is supposed to twist in and out. I guess when he reassembled it he had to hammer the tube back in and mangled the front end of that too. OK, I saw that when I bought it. What I didn't see was that for some reason he tried to weld the back end of the magazine tube and ended up cleaning up the burned and melted metal with a grinder. Also the forend was cracked in two places and was chipped under the nose cap and the tenon that fits into the front of the receiver had been attacked with a rasp. The butt stock was badly cracked around the tang. I didn't see the cracks. The dim neon lights at the gun show are a sellers best friend!
That was all a little discouraging so the rifle got stuck in the back of the safe for a while. I repaired the magazine tube first. The serial number indicates the rifle was made in 1939 and the barrel is stamped 35. The rifle has most of the bluing and it has gained a greyish patina that I find quite attractive. Since I wanted to keep the patina I repaired the old tube instead of buying a new one. What I did was swap ends on the tube because the bluing under the forend was still in good shape and I wanted that part to show. I cut the welded and ground back end off, squared it up and drilled a new hole for the nose plug. Then I cut the old mangled front end off and turned a taper on the outside. I got another piece of magazine tube and turned a taper on the inside. Then I tinned the two tapers, fit the two pieces together and soldered it. Cut it to length and that took care of the tube.
Cleaning up the dovetail for the magazine hanger wasn't to bad. Bubba had filed the dovetail out so it would be easier to hammer the hanger back in. Luckily there was enough metal left to peen the slot back into shape. A little cold blue took care of the shiny metal there. A little judicious blacksmithing on the hanger got it back into shape. A little peening got rid of most of the vise grip marks on the magazine plug. That was last summer. Then the rifle sat again.
I finally decided to repair the stock a couple weeks ago and you may recall my posting about that. That turned out well so I started cleaning and reassembling. But Bubba never rests! He may pass out when he's had to much beer but he gets after it when he comes to! He had also done a trigger job on this poor innocent rifle. He ground the sear to an uneven knife edge. Then he attacked the hammer! He must have been trying to narrow the sear notch but he also ground most of the half cock notch away while he was at it. I wanted to shoot it so I put it back together. Luckily there is still enough half cock notch left for it to do its job. The next day I found an extra sear I had bought some time ago and forgot I had so I installed it.
I got the rifle to the range last week. I couldn't tell much about accuracy because the rear sight was driven way to the left and by the time I got it rezeroed I was out of ammo. There was a lot of vertical dispersion while I was moving the sight over so that didn't look real good. I don't do well with the issue sights though so I decided to mount a Marbles tang sight I have laying around. I couldn't find a long enough tang screw so I took the receiver sight off another rifle and put it on. Did I tell you Bubba never rests? The tang screw isn't correct. The threads have been ground off the end and only about 3 threads catch. Why do that anyway? Well you do that when you put a 12-30 screw into a hole threaded for a 12-28 screw!
Anyway I got back to the range this morning with the receiver sight mounted and two different loads. The first group I shot was with a load using H322. It went about 1-3/4" at 50 yards. Not to good! The other load used RL-7. What do you think? Three shots at 50 yards.
And the rifle:
My "HB" (Hunting Buddy) She's a good cook too!
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Re: Model 64 salvaged
Mighty fine work done to salvage a classic lever rifle. You should be very proud of your work and what you accomplished. Congratulations and I know your going to have that rifle around for many, many years. Should make a really great carry rifle when after deer and such.
"If a man does away with his traditional way of living and throws away his good customs, he had better first make certain that he has something of value to replace them." - Basuto proverb.
- kimwcook
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Re: Model 64 salvaged
Good job, Marc. Looks great from what I can see of the pic. And, I think you found your load too. Now load'em up and shoot the snot out of it.
Old Law Dawg
Re: Model 64 salvaged
wow.
nice shootin'.
wonder what other little secrets that poor old girl is still hiding?
nice shootin'.
wonder what other little secrets that poor old girl is still hiding?
careful what you wish for, you might just get it.
"BECAUSE I CAN"
"BECAUSE I CAN"
Re: Model 64 salvaged
Nice group, 64's & 71's warm my heart. danny
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Re: Model 64 salvaged
you have it on the mend, looking pretty good!
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Re: Model 64 salvaged
That's a beauty! Thanks for sharing...Tom
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Re: Model 64 salvaged
Looking very good indeed!
Best,
Oly
Best,
Oly
Cheers,
Oly
I hope and pray someday the world will learn
That fires we don't put out will bigger burn
Johnny Wright
Oly
I hope and pray someday the world will learn
That fires we don't put out will bigger burn
Johnny Wright
Re: Model 64 salvaged
Had a tear in my eye reading what Bubba did to the rifle, but I feel better after seeing it, nice going!
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Re: Model 64 salvaged
+ 1Bigahh wrote:Had a tear in my eye reading what Bubba did to the rifle, but I feel better after seeing it, nice going!
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Re: Model 64 salvaged
I do feel good about how the rifle turned out. It was a lot of work but it is a shooter! I have a couple more things to do. I chipped the finish a little along the cracks in the stock so I am going to dab some varnish in the chipped spots and try to blend it in. The extractor is sticking in the groove so only the front of the extractor flexes. It takes to much force to snap over the rim. I am going to have to take the extractor out and polish the sides or whatever it takes to get it working right.
Other than that it is ready to go. I was going to put the tang sight on it but now that I have the receiver sight on I will probably leave it. I am going to hunt with the rifle and it is better for hunting anyway. The front sight has a silver bead that is mashed off on one side so I need to repair or replace it. I will probably get one of the new glow in the dark front sights for it. I don't know which one as I haven't looked at them yet. A drop of silver solder might fix the old sight too.
Load development isn't done. I live in the lead free buzzard zone so I need to work up a Barnes TSX load for deer here. I was going to use it for antelope in Wyoming if we went but now I am not sure we are going after antelope so I may not use any jacketed bullet loads. The main thing I wanted to learn from my first load testing is if it is accurate with any load or if I needed to do more tinkering to get it to shoot. It looks good now so I will start working on a TSX load for it next.
I don't know what Bubba was doing. There is very little bluing wear so it wasn't carried much if at all and it looks like it was never fired much. Why somebody would attack a fine rifle with blunt instruments and crude cutting tools is beyond me.
Other than that it is ready to go. I was going to put the tang sight on it but now that I have the receiver sight on I will probably leave it. I am going to hunt with the rifle and it is better for hunting anyway. The front sight has a silver bead that is mashed off on one side so I need to repair or replace it. I will probably get one of the new glow in the dark front sights for it. I don't know which one as I haven't looked at them yet. A drop of silver solder might fix the old sight too.
Load development isn't done. I live in the lead free buzzard zone so I need to work up a Barnes TSX load for deer here. I was going to use it for antelope in Wyoming if we went but now I am not sure we are going after antelope so I may not use any jacketed bullet loads. The main thing I wanted to learn from my first load testing is if it is accurate with any load or if I needed to do more tinkering to get it to shoot. It looks good now so I will start working on a TSX load for it next.
I don't know what Bubba was doing. There is very little bluing wear so it wasn't carried much if at all and it looks like it was never fired much. Why somebody would attack a fine rifle with blunt instruments and crude cutting tools is beyond me.
My "HB" (Hunting Buddy) She's a good cook too!
- O.S.O.K.
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Re: Model 64 salvaged
Wow - nice job!! I really like that configuration of the 94. I had an NRA commemorative that closely copied the 64 but foolishly let it go...
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MOLON LABE!
Re: Model 64 salvaged
Nice job Marc! Keep us posted on your load development. I have one of the NRA commemratives and an original 64, just have not shot them much yet
ScottS
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- Griff
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Re: Model 64 salvaged
Marc,
Glad to hear you salvaged that Mdl 64. They're not called the "Hunter's Rifle" for nothing. Another rifle that Winchester modeled off the mdl 64 is the Centennial Model. Several of my Winchester 94s have had to have some "fixin'" done to 'em. That is satisfying in and of themself.
I've found that RL-7 is one of the absolute best powders for the .30-30. Congrats on finding a good load so quickly.
Glad to hear you salvaged that Mdl 64. They're not called the "Hunter's Rifle" for nothing. Another rifle that Winchester modeled off the mdl 64 is the Centennial Model. Several of my Winchester 94s have had to have some "fixin'" done to 'em. That is satisfying in and of themself.
I've found that RL-7 is one of the absolute best powders for the .30-30. Congrats on finding a good load so quickly.
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Griff,
SASS/CMSA #93
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There is a fine line between hobby & obsession!
AND... I'm over it!!
No I ain't ready, but let's do it anyway!
SASS/CMSA #93
NRA Patron
GUSA #93
There is a fine line between hobby & obsession!
AND... I'm over it!!
No I ain't ready, but let's do it anyway!
Re: Model 64 salvaged
Great job.......I have a couple of guns that Bubba got ahold of too. They are coming along.
"I have reached up to the gun rack and taken down the .30/30 carbine by some process of natural selection, not condoned perhaps by many experts but easily explained by those who spend long periods in the wilderness areas."~Calvin Rutstrum~
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"You come to the swamp, you better leave your skirt at the house"~Dave Canterbury~