Relic (part 3)

[Day444]

A frantic friend calls me, says he like to see me a soon as I can get a chance to do so. "What's the matter?" -"Oh, I don't want to talk about it on the phone."- "Ok, I'll be there soon."
Off I go with a thousand "What if's" running through my head...
Meets me at his door, says I have to go down stairs with him. Ok, no big deal, we've done this routine before. Normally it's some rare car or motorcycle related item.
Nope not this time. He points into the cross beams, "There!" "Take it down!" I see what appears to be some sort of rifle stock. Gently I remove it from it's hiding spot. Take it down and blow off some of the years of dust. Barrel is pretty rusted on the out side, stock looks fairly good. Bolt is difficult to open, but some WD40 solves that. It's empty, looks like it's chambered for a .22. Marks on the bolt end of the barrel are almost impossible to read.
Cut to the chase: I clean up the markings, Winds up being a Hoban model 45 single shot, Boy's rifle, .22 S/L/LR made in the mid to late 1940's.
It's in rough shape, who knows how long it was in the basement. It's missing the rear sight assembly. Might clean up and make a interesting wall hanger..

 

[Day444]

This little fella is coming along nicely. I cleaned the stock up using some Goo Gone Pro Power. It's a citrus based cleaner, and works pretty well. Just enough to get off the dirt but leave the color of the wood alone. The metal parts are another issue. Cleaned the barrel, bore looks smooth and wasn't overly dirty or rusty. Barrel will need sanding and re-bluing. Next on the list..

 

[Shoots100]

You sure that wasn't off the set of the planet of the apes movie ?
It's fun to get ahold of those old guns and take them apart to see how they tick.

 

[Uzi]

Cool find. Looks like a simple and cheap restoration if the barrel is decent. A pass or two with a bore snake and some oil might help get off some surface rust.

 

[Day444]

You sure that wasn't off the set of the planet of the apes movie ? It's fun to get ahold of those old guns and take them apart to see how they tick.

Now that you mention it.. Does have that look about it.
Yeah two screw if you count the barrel band and it's apart. Spring trigger is enclosed in a stamped steel housing (frame) and there doesn't seem to be any way to take it down further. Since it was a "Boys" rifle, I'd guess they didn't want those parts messed with. Also make for a cheaper assembly to keep cost down.

 

[Day444]

Cool find. Looks like a simple and cheap restoration if the barrel is decent. A pass or two with a bore snake and some oil might help get off some surface rust.

Outer parts had a fair amount of rust on them. Took a bit more than a light cleaning to clean it up.
Bore looks really good. Scrubbed it ran a number of patches through it till I got clean ones. Re oiled the bore. Barrel has been sanded down with 400 grit. Doing the re bluing myself. So far it's only getting better.

 

[thegatman]

Very nice find.

 

[Day444]

 

[nortatoga]

A few years back my sister brought me a 22 rifle she found in the garage down on the east end of the Island, I had too peal the gun case off of it! Like yours covered in rust! I took it apart and sprayed it down with Break-free let it sit awhile then rubbed it with 000 steel wool. It cleaned up pretty good. Turn out it is a 1930's Savage model 19 NRA and a real good shooter! Enjoy your refurbish job!!

 

[Day444]

Photo's aren't the greatest, using a flash just screws things up even more. Any who, this Hoban model 45 has come out fairly nice. Didn't mess with the stock too much, I like the look of the darken wood.
I lightly blued the steel parts, now looks like it's been over cleaned over the years. (Wiped down a lot) Still needs a rear sight, got a Marbles buck horn coming my way. It will take a bit of fitting as the barrel area where it should mount is less than 3/8". More photos when I can get some thing worth posting.

 

[camper4lyfe]

Pretty cool score.

I guess it's good to have pussified friends.

 

[Day444]

Pretty cool score. I guess it's good to have pussified friends.

Funny thing is all the years I've know this guy, I never in a thousand years thought he was this way.
Can't recall the subject of guns ever coming up in a conversation.
Hot Rods cars and motorcycles, drives like a pro. (Loves to ride with out a helmet..) Just has an unrealistic attitude when it comes to firearms!

 

[Day444]

You sure that wasn't off the set of the planet of the apes movie ?...

Like this?

 

[Day444]

This rifle is missing the rear sight. It's not a standard 3/8" it's smaller. Any one know where I could get a dove tail milled into this barrel?

 

[kev74]

This rifle is missing the rear sight. It's not a standard 3/8" it's smaller. Any one know where I could get a dove tail milled into this barrel?

If you can, fit the sight to the gun. A small hand file can work down a standard size sight to fit pretty quickly.

 

[Day444]

If you can, fit the sight to the gun. A small hand file can work down a standard size sight to fit pretty quickly.

Yeah, I could do that. But the Dove Tail on this rifle is messed up, looks like it was hammered at one time. Bending back into shape is not working.

 

[kev74]

I can't imagine a gunsmith who's worth anything charging less than the rifle is worth to recut the dovetail.