Greetings Gents,
Well, I have been working on my Rolling Block some more. All in
all, I would guess I have about 20 hours invested in draw filing
and polishing. I almost have the action body where I want
it. I have removed pretty much all of the pits I can and have
taken it to around a 400 grit hand polish. Depending upon who I
talk to, either a 400 or 600 grit polish is what I will need for
a good color case hardening job. I will have to accept the fact
that there are a few pits that I will not be able to remove.
That stinks, but that's life. Here are a few before and after
shots up to this point:
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
Like I said, there are a few pits I will have to live with, like
the one I have circled below. You will notice that the "lip"
above the red line looks pretty raggedy...not a problem. When
the barrel is installed, the area above the red line gets faced
back to the action. I also didn't spend too much time on the top
of the action since that will be machined into an octagon shape
to match the barrel contour.
Here is a shot of the upper tang after a good scrubbing with
Kroil and a 3M scrubby pad. I have been talking to Bill Adair,
and the action will be going in the mail later this week so he
can recut the letters that need it. He estimates a two-week turn
around. I'll post the "after" pics when I get it back!
While the action is out getting spiffed up, I will concentrate
on recontouring the military hammer and block to resemble those
used on a commercial Remington Rolling Block Sporter. After I
get them recontoured and polished, I will cut some new
checkering. At this rate, I should have the rifle done sometime
in 2008! Oh well, it gives me something to do, and it keeps me
out of the saloons and brothels! (Just kidding, Dear...)
Wayne Miller
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