I've posted about the no-name German Drilling I had acquired on this forum several times before as I worked to repair the action, and here's an update on the refinishing work I've done to the stock. I got this Drilling at a very low price as the stock was split through the wrist extending to the comb. I had carefully pried it open slightly and used thin super glue to repair the split, securing it with the addition of two brass screws which were then filed off flush. It has "no maker's marks" on it and the cocking pins needed much work to have them operate correctly; so I'd always suspected this was an apprentice-built gun. Yet a fellow member of the GGCA tells me that's not very likely. Well, whoever made it, the original checkering job was done rather poorly -- as there were many dozens of flat points near the edges of the pattern, very uneven spacing of the lines and several lines which ran into each other.

When I recut the checkering, it was easy enough to sharpen up the flat points, and those came out well. The lines which co-joined were an issue; best I could do with my skills was to repoint the diamonds on the original lines -- errors and all. A more skilled checkering artist may have attempted to fix them, but I didn't want to risk making it any worse. Overall, I am pleased with how the recut checking came out, as shown in the images attached.

The point of this posting is to make the forum aware of 2 really nice products I used on this refinishing job.

The first being the Cabot Satin in "Gunstock" color, which has a hint of the "Winchester Red" hue that my late father liked so much -- me too. It may not be original to German-made guns from the 1930s, but the color it is very pleasing to my eye. I had also carefully sanded very lightly where the split was and now it's all but invisible, except for a faint line 1/2" below the top of the nose of the comb.

The finish that I applied was the "Genuine Oil" by Birchwood Casey which is a lower-gloss satin version of their tried and true TruOil finish. I hand-rubbed on 8 thin coats and it was starting to look a little glossy, so then I cut that back with synthetic 000 steel wool and then the last coat went on nice & smooth -- rubbed lightly until warmed by my hands, then carefully stroked with my fingers so as to leave a smooth even finish -- with the satin sheen I wanted. I'm really pleased with how that came out too.

Here she is now...







Next steps are to sight-in the 8mm Mauser barrel to the Hensoldt-Wetzlar scope at 75 yards (and check the impact at 100, 125 and 150 yards -- more than enough for the woods I hunt), and then to adjust the Einstecklauf in 22 Mag to hit to the scope at 35 to 50 yards, for use on small game.

Then by next fall, she'll be all ready to take to the Maine woods for deer -- and of course I can also take partridge, fox or rabbits too if/when I see them. The pursuit of a St. Hubertus award from the GGCA will thus start in earnest next November.

Waidmannsheil.

Old No7

Grand effort all around. How did you keep the screws from surfacing on the other side? Or better stated how did you know just how far to place the brass screws?



Serbus,

Raimey
rse

I don't think I even used a ruler, and I just eyeballed the width of the stock where it needed the screws. Then I selected brass screws of the proper length; stopping them when they were about 1/4" shy of the other side (while ensuring the threads were all "in the wood"), and I still had plenty of screw outside to cutoff and file smooth.

I painstakingly filed those down too, using a hole punch on thin tape to put on the wood around the screw; and I carefully filed them to they were flush and the file caught on the tape. I think I used 3 different thin tapes to get them flush with the stock, and now I can't catch them with my fingernail. Yes, a whole lot of extra work, but I am pleased with the repair.

Old No7

Brownells makes a kit with "1/2" hard pins for this type of repair. I've used them on several guns and found they work very well. Drill with the supplied drill apply accraglas or some other epoxy, screw in and file off the excess.I did drill all the way through on the ones I repaired, these were not high end guns and the small tip showing was not an issue. They do file off flush very easily. Here is the part number 080-565-000WB Stock Repair Pin Kit.

Old No7,
Believe me, you learned more about drillings by doing this job, than you ever could otherwise. Good on you. Good luck next fall.
Mike

There is a specialized type of plane made that lifts a small curl of wood. Then a nail, screw or pin can be installed, and the curl of wood is glued back down, thus perfectly concealing the now hidden fastener

I read of that trick, but I never knew that there was a specialized plane for it, thanks for posting.