Ishapore #1 Mk3 cracked stock progress

[fritzhund]

The progress has been slow on my latest project.



I bought an Ishapore Enfield #1 Mk3 with a cracked stock from J&G ($99.00 C&R) after Norm had posted about redoing one.

Norm, you must have a lot of bench time available to you! The one you did looks great, mine looks like something I will spend the summer cleaning up

PMA, pretty much apart.......

I Easy-Offed the stock. That came up as nice as I expected, one crack that is not so bad, but several pressure cracks throughout the various stock parts. There are quite a few numbers stamped in the buttstock. Perhaps Indian military units? Boiled linseed oil, polished brass buttplate, and the stock is finished. I'm still not happy with the stock though. It has seen some hard abuse during it's life. This might be a good one to convert to the EBR with bipod and scope

The metal was filthy, not to mention the black paint. I kero dipped it, brushed it, washed it in boiling hot soapy water, brushed it again, and then took it apart. I now have a whole bunch of rifle parts soaking in kero for the second time. They will be boiled in Dawn before the weekend is over. They might be baked as well.

I have never been an Enfield fan, so this is a totally new project for me. I can clean a soaked in cosmoline SKS in an afternoon and it will look pretty by the time the dishes are put away after dinner. The Mosins require less time. This however, is a real project that will require some serious scrubbing time. At least I can work outside in this nice weather!

Again, Norm, thank you for the help and information.

The bore looks like a sewer pipe. I will let the chemicals do their thing before I deal with it.

My local small town gun shop has some Pakastani corrosive .303 for super cheap, like take it all and I'll get a real good deal. Hey, that's what this rifle was designed to shoot, so we'll see.

Photos to follow.

Fritzhund

[normsutton]

Fritzhund


get some ace hardware paint stripper it well take everything off except the blueing, be very careful with it and don't get any on you , get a throw away pain brush use that to paint stripper on, take hot water a dish soap to clean of parts and stock you can do that in a few hours. after stock dries wipe down with denatured alcohol , the crack in the stock can be sealed with 5 min epoxy let set for about 15 min, then take a razor knife a trim excise off , sand if need be,the wipe down again with the alcohol , the steel wool

metal parts get a 6 in. fine wire wheel and buff the metal parts then cold blue , it take a lot longer to the stock than the metal , it takes a bout a week to do the stock, about 3 to 4 hours to the metal

for the bore take a cleaning patch and diah soap and hot water and the a bore brush it should clean up just fine

if thats the before pix you made out like a bandit

NORM

[fritzhund]

Yes Norm, that is a before shot. I am all about cleaning this one up! Thanks for the suggestions. I have an ACE Hardware just down the street. Looks like a plan for Sunday afternoon.

With my C&R and shipping it was $117.00 door to door.

I really enjoy the diamond in the rough. I remember the first time I found an SKS under all of the cosmoline. This one is a different beast however as the cosmoline has not only preserved the rifle, but the Indian dirt and black paint embedded in it as well! Yuck. I did not realize that a gun could support so much grime.

I can't wait to fire it, but that is for a later post. I'll shoot some photos when it is a little cleaner.

Fritzhund

[carguy]

Do it once and do it right...you won't regret the time you spent getting all the gunk, grime and paint off of it! Good luck, you'll love it! And I picked up a case of that pakistani 303 and it shoots great...so far!

Can't wait to see the finished product

[normsutton]

Fritzhund

I should be home all day to day if you need help give me a call

NORM

[fritzhund]

Thanks Norm:

6:30pm and I am still scrubbing dirt out of the metal. They must store rifles in mud puddles in India! This thing just bleeds filth. The bore has come up a little after some severe scrubbing and solvent applications.

I'll give a call later this evening or during the week.

Thanks, Mark (Fritzhund)