BLINGED PRE-WAR

[mjohno]

Here's a couple of pics of that rifle

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q.../misc/bsa1.jpg

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q.../misc/bsa2.jpg

I remember that article, didn't realise it was that long ago.

[edbear2]

Well, its less rusty now and I have just pieced it together enough to get an idea of what it will look like....am now thinking maybe blue after all!....have a few other ideas, ie. antique brass, mix of blue/nickle, browning (the scope tube is brass, so would match) but what do you guys think.....the missus says the lord mtg is "pig ugly"...but I quite like it....The spotters out there will see that its actually a std. no2, not a D!.as for the airgun world gun, its certainly different, and the bipod on one of those must be a first!.......it reminds me of a degtyarev 28 russian ww2 lmg minus its drum mag!......as I have said before, this was a wreck of a gun, a £70 tops bit of kit, I have others in the light rust, even patina state, they look fine and show their age well, and I would not dream of changing them.Refinishing is always a hot topic for collectors of anything, but if we all did and liked the same stuff, how boring would that be........pics here;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3122848...7612687471706/

P.S. thanks for the nice compliments, but I dont consider myself to be a patch on some of the guys even I have met through the years....anybody who has done a few years in a machine shop could easily make a complete airgun from scratch with the exception of the barrel....its just getting it to look "right"

[mowerman]

Eddie mate that is stunning!
As contraversial as this may be to collectors I've now decided the next run of the mill mid twenties L pat I get is getting the 'treatment'!
So there!
Paul.

[t-10]

That is beautiful. You've done a great job on that rifle. I've got a 1924 standard. Its just begining to rust, it is in need of a new seal and spring and a bit of tlc. Im going to have it re-blued. I want to fit a modern scope to it. Where did you find the mounts and what could i expect to pay for a pair that would take a scope with a 25mm tube?

Thanks, tom

[edbear2]

Hi Tom...the mount I used is an american ward mtg...usually found on mossberg and similar .22 and larger guns.....I chose it because it is fairly contemporary with the gun, and the 3/4 dia scope doesn't "overpower" the overall look...the block between the mount and the cylinder I made myself....I was going to use some quality steel period mounts (leupold/p.hale) or similar, and machine the bases to suit the cylinder, then silver braze them on....but was a bit concerned about the heat needed....the block I have made has a much larger contact area, and I can use a tin/silver low temp alloy, which is strong, but requires only propane......Basically you have to make your own, or get someone to do it as these guns never had the provision....I have looked at making a set of "figure of eight" clamps..discounted that....scope rail a'la webley mk 3 would work with a lightweight scope, as the webley ones were badly spotwelded and are real pain to repair....I use a spotweld drill to take them right off and then tig weld them....200-300% stronger, but a bad design in the first place!.....that leaves milling grooves.....really easy to get this horribly wrong, you need to set it up spot on, and the correct cutter, but I chose not to do this as I can "unstick" my mount anytime and put the gun back as it was......last options are to braze steel rings to the cylinder....have covered this above....and finally tig weld steel rings on...this is O.K. and may have been how the guy did the one in the pics posted earlier in this thread.......its not a quick/simple job however you go about it really....

[Binners]

ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING







Nice job Eddie, now lets see you do it to the Service

[auora5000]

Heres a webley premier that met the same fate........

[edbear2]

binners...we both know that WONT happen!
















Its at hydrographics, in the tank as we speak







NOT!

[silva]

That is beautiful. You've done a great job on that rifle. I've got a 1924 standard. Its just begining to rust, it is in need of a new seal and spring and a bit of tlc. Im going to have it re-blued. I want to fit a modern scope to it. Where did you find the mounts and what could i expect to pay for a pair that would take a scope with a 25mm tube?

Thanks, tom

Hi,

There are still lots of steel Parker Hale bases about, both two piece and the later one peice bases. The older ones will need PH rings but the later one piece types will fit 11mm mounts. These are drilled and tapped to the reciever.
I seen periodish scoped Bsa Standards they had PH bases on them
Or there are probably several modern bases that can be modified.

Cheers

[keith66]

Do a search on here for scoped Mk 3 webley, i did a set of mounts for one a few years ago.

[BC312]

Hi Tom...the mount I used is an american ward mtg...usually found on mossberg and similar .22 and larger guns.....I chose it because it is fairly contemporary with the gun, and the 3/4 dia scope doesn't "overpower" the overall look...the block between the mount and the cylinder I made myself....I was going to use some quality steel period mounts (leupold/p.hale) or similar, and machine the bases to suit the cylinder, then silver braze them on....but was a bit concerned about the heat needed....the block I have made has a much larger contact area, and I can use a tin/silver low temp alloy, which is strong, but requires only propane......Basically you have to make your own, or get someone to do it as these guns never had the provision....I have looked at making a set of "figure of eight" clamps..discounted that....scope rail a'la webley mk 3 would work with a lightweight scope, as the webley ones were badly spotwelded and are real pain to repair....I use a spotweld drill to take them right off and then tig weld them....200-300% stronger, but a bad design in the first place!.....that leaves milling grooves.....really easy to get this horribly wrong, you need to set it up spot on, and the correct cutter, but I chose not to do this as I can "unstick" my mount anytime and put the gun back as it was......last options are to braze steel rings to the cylinder....have covered this above....and finally tig weld steel rings on...this is O.K. and may have been how the guy did the one in the pics posted earlier in this thread.......its not a quick/simple job however you go about it really....

I was thinking of scoping up one of these pre-war BSAs. I like your option ideas but as you say it would be nice to remove the sights and mounts so the gun can revert back to its original form. I was thinking about a C clamp that would clamp around the cylinder leaving the bottom open for the cocking link to pass, clamped tightly to the cylinder with a bolt/screw above the cylinder through the top part of the clamp with the mount and sight above. Either a one piece mount or two using the thin old fashion style scope in keeping. The inside of the clamp to cylinder would be lined with a piece of rubber strip both sides that would grip better than metal to metal of the clamp and cylinder so it wouldn't mark the gun. The trigger housing would act as a natural recoil arrestor and the clamp designed around the trigger guard would act to stop the mount from moving left to right. Do you think this would work or is there an easier way to scope a pre-war BSA without modifying the gun itself?

[keith66]

The Webley mk 3 i did has leupold turn in rings sat on ring bases bored to fit the cylinder with a close sliding fit, the back one was located up against the breech block & the rear stock bolt mounting screw located it. Front mount was cut to allow cocking lever to pass. Both were bonded on with loctite engineering adhesive. This way the rifle could be returned to standard with little effort ( loctite unbonds at approx 170 degrees c) only thing left would be small gap where mounts were inletted into the stock.
Since doing the job ten years ago the rifle has been used a lot and has never lost its zero.

[edbear2]

Thats a good way to do it!....a lot of people do not realise the range and strength of sealing/bonding/engineering adhesives around these days ......I have seen no end of barrels disfigured by punch/hammer marks around the sights, when a degrease and penetrating bearing set grade loctite will sort it out........if the rearsight say is REALLY loose, I always have a stock of old feeler gauges to make into shims to put under the sight, and then use the solution.

[frakor]

After realising the pitting INSIDE the barrel and cylinder,where to serious to be fixed, I went looking for a nice period scope ...

In the mean time I started to get rid of as much pitting on the outside as possible,but some parts where left as they where,the pitting was to deep.

Last week my "vintage" scope found its way to my door.

So after a short discussion with my friend,we decided to go for a pair of scope grooves,instead of some kind of extra mounting system.














-------------------------
Frank

[edbear2]

Hi frank.......although I am biased..that looks the part mate....is it a md4 mossberg scope?.......it was one of the ones I was considering........I am also impressed that you went for it all out, and milled scope grooves!!....(on mine, the mtg. screws are dummys,and the mounting block was attached with a copper/bronze filler, which means I can return the gun to standard).....I think your mounting may be the way to go, as I am having a few zero issues with the scope due to the plunger system (I recently dicovered a lyman "poloroid" 3/4" scope with a heavy set of springfield type mounts, so may be reworking mine soon)