[BeneathTheSky13]

Hey gentlemen,

I started collecting a couple years ago and have found my nitch. I like to take the crappy RC K.98s, 1934-1945 German manufacturer, and restore them to look contemporary to their code and year. I try to match WaA's but do not worry about that too much with there being so many subcontractors and variations and all anyway. I clean up the stocks using denatured alcohol and then finishing them with BLO. I clean up and oil up the metal, maybe do some bluing touch ups as well as sometimes wearing down the blue to make the parts appear to match in finish. I do not take off import marks or RC marks seeing as that just adds to the character of where the rifle has been and what it has gone through.

Well enjoy the pictures of my first finished product. I should have a dot 1944 high serial number, semi-Kriegs, coming along shortly as well. Hopefully these pictures will come through! Let me know what you think!

 

[chasdev]

You can "improve" the looks of the importer marks by gently tapping on them with a new flat punch (and a small hammer).
It will push the metal back down and while you can still see and read the importer name, it makes it much less intrusive.
BTW, looks good, I do the same thing.(I suspect many of us do)

 

[Black Bart]

BSK 13, what do you finish the stock off with? Is BLO a type of oil? Thanks & Best Wishes, BB

 

[zachary78]

BLO = Boiled Linseed Oil

 

[James N.]

This looks very similar to a 147/1939 I bought earlier this year; I essientially left it in the condition I found it in, "warts and all". Although supposedly a RC, it didn't have any of the telltale signs, other than the Century import marks on the barrel. The stock seems to be dated 1940 to Mauserwerke. All waffens, proofs, acceptance stamps, etc. are present, if somewhat faint. I think I prefer this look on something that went through a war 60+ years ago, to the idealized "Mitchell's" pimpshine. Of course, rust & varnish should be removed, and the arm made as complete as possible. I opted for repro cleaning rod & sling; but the apparent original on this one obviously looks better. Cleaning the stock can improve the looks, but is somewhat irreverseable; if I decide to go to that extreme in the future, I can always do so.

 

[solman]

NICE. i like the sauers. nice wiemar eagles.

 

[Heirmossy]

Very nice. Looks authentic yet not over done.

 

[BeneathTheSky13]

Hey thanks chasdev, I'll have to do that, maybe put a little bluing on it as well...

Especially for RC stocks denatured alcohol is the way to go... as well as some good rubber gloves. That oven cleaner stuff works, but you have to wash it off which causes the wood to warp and expand a little bit. You'd probably want to expose this old wood to as little moisture as possible. The boiled linseed oil from what I have read is exactly what the troops used on their rifles (when they had it around). I would imagine that modern, commercial grade BLO is clean and filtered compared to what they used as well.

 

[p229sas]

Looks good!

I use acetone soaked 0000 steel wool and lightly scrub the shellac/grime/oils away. If there is original finish underneath, I would apply Howards and call it a day. If it is like most of them and there is nothing, I apply tung oil in several layers until I am satisfied.

On the occasion that a stock is being stubborn and won't clean up well, I will use Easy Off Heavy Duty oven cleaner. What I do is coat the entire outside of the stock and let sit for about 2-3 minutes then lightly scrub with a large soft brush then rinse off with a hose. I then gently pat dry with a towel and then let it finish drying out overnight or longer.

Because of how strong the stuff is, oven cleaner can make cleaning up a breeze but I'd recommend using it as a last resort and only for a few minutes otherwise you risk damaging the adhesive on laminated stocks. Even on hardwood it can damage the wood so again, use this stuff quickly and sparingly.

I look forward to pictures of the other rifles you have done!

 

[ab4ka]

good looking rifle! nice "character" to it.

 

[BeneathTheSky13]

Because of how strong the stuff is, oven cleaner can make cleaning up a breeze but I'd recommend using it as a last resort and only for a few minutes otherwise you risk damaging the adhesive on laminated stocks. Even on hardwood it can damage the wood so again, use this stuff quickly and sparingly.
QUOTE]

Well, thanks, I'll have to keep that in mind on my next norwegian capture stock. The shellac on those seems to be much more difficult to get off than the RC shellac.

And PS, I got lucky and found that solid Kriegsmarine off eBay. It wasn't an RC stock. Only some German worksman and mother nature can take credit for how nice that stock looks. As well as probably an American GI.

 

[mag204]

Here's a 660 code I bought from Empire. I redid the stock on it and it looked okay but then found a Kriegsmarine stock with the appropriate flat buttplate that I didn't have to do anything too. I'm glad I switched stocks, here's the result. The 1'st pic is of the original RC stock. These RCs can clean up nice.

 

[BeneathTheSky13]

Is that second stock a Russian capture as well? Norwegian maybe?

 

[swissrifles1]

Nice rifles. It is amazing whats under the shellac...

 

[mag204]

BTS, The 2'nd stock was from a Norwegian capture rifle. I didn't have to do a thing to it.

 

[1srelluc]

I just picked up this RC 1937 dated S/147 today. It had a nice WaA26 flat laminated stock on it. Bore is nice too. I paid $300.00 OTD for it but I wanted a transition K98 with the right type of stock sooooo I went for it.

 

[carldoc]

The stock that came with it looks nice too...nice job!

 

[Tumtatty]

How do you wear down the blueing on a reblued rifle?

 

[BeneathTheSky13]

Tumtatty,

You won't believe me, but....

I use an abbrasive cloth from 3M. It has a grit of like 200-300. Basically its cloth sand paper. Sounds ridiculous huh? It works perfect, and being a cloth it bends around the rifle very well. You can pick one up at Lowe's for 10 bucks or less in the sandpaper section.

Using that cloth and some of Birchwood Casey's rebluing I can make almost any parts aesthetically match. Just takes a little TLC, and it works like a charm on any of your Russian Captures. It would probably work very well on a stock, too if you wanted some light sanding. Namely you could get into the bolt inlet without rounding the nice sharp edges. Haven't tried that though.

 

[craig61a]

Nice...