Original 45 and Tuning

[LESS THAN FORTUITOUS KENNETH]

Bit more info for you:

At the back end of last year, I bought an old Original 45. Mien gott, it was rough. The action had seen better days. It was covered in thick gunk, but thankfully no pitting. The stock looked like it had been thickly daubed with some kind of plastic window paint. It looked and felt like toffee. I decided to have the action reblued by Colin Molloy, and what a superb job he did! It looks mint, just like it left the factory. The trigger was absolutely pants. No feel to it whatsoever. So commenced did I to strip it down. All the stuff on the interweb said it was quite a difficult gun to work on. I didn't find it so, or I'm more skillful than I give myself credit for. . I was very surprised to find that the internals were like new and didn't seem like they would need over much doing with them. The leather piston seal was spot on. Sod all wear and nice and supple.


All the action was stripped to individual bits, given a quick clean, and sent off to Colin to perform his magic. I gave the trigger unit a good soak and a clean with a toothbrush. I've never seen as much gunge come out of it. Dried it and gave it a light oiling where need be. I also found the trigger spring was a bit hefty, so I replaced it with a weaker one out of my box of tricks, and it feels miles better. Played about with it out of the gun quite a bit to to get it where I thought a good starting point would be on reassembly. The spring was like new so I decided it did not need replacing, just polished the ends. The guide fit was sloppy, so I rectified that. The spring was also sloppy inside the piston. Even though these guns have a piston liner, I made another to fit inside the original to tighten things up.


The stock was stripped with a hot air gun and then sanded down and finished with 0000 wire wool. Quite a plain stock with very little figuring, even for beech. You can't win 'em all! It got about 8 coats of Danlsh, wire wooling between coats, and finished off with Rydnor waxing wax. I like this stuff because it doesn't fingermark easily when buffed up.


After the action arrived back, it was game on. First job was to give the barrel a really good clean. Going on what the outside of the gun was like, I thought it best to do it. I noticed it is quite tightly choked at the muzzle. Again, articles on the web say it's a difficult gun to work on, but I didn't find it so. They say it needs a spring compressor, but I managed it quite easily without one. Not much preload on it TBH. Getting the cocking shoe in is awkward, but got it on the third time of asking. Getting the pins through the safety is tricky too. I found that just getting the rear pin in first, then pulling the safety back, opened the front end of the spring to make getting the front pin in easier.


All assembled and action fitted back in stock. Everything working as it should. Even though I only lubed very lightly with some of Mr Bum's slidy stuff, it dieselled like buggery, worst I've ever seen, for the first ten or so shots and then, just like turning a tap off, it stopped. Chrono time. The first few shots while dieselling were all over the shop. When it stopped, the results were excellent. 597 +/- 3 ft/sec. 11.48 fpe with superdomes. These guns are renowned for twang, but there is non at all, so the tighter guide and extra piston sleeve seem to have done their job. Recoil is very tame. On a par with my tuned TX and LGV. I was expecting the trigger to still be a bit to be desired, but no. A solid stop at the end of the first stage and a very light, clean, crisp let off.

[jonnyone]

Nice read that Ken. They are worth the effort and make a nice practical classic.

I've got an old 45 jubilee that I'd like to undertake a similar refurbishment off.

I've got two 45s with replacement synthetic guides and heads and though some would frown upon moving away from OEM spec they both perform nicely and are used to.hunt from time to time.
Dave

[Drew451]

Does anyone make spring guides for the 45?

[jonnyone]

Does anyone make spring guides for the 45?

Chambers up your neck of the woods used to do guides for both the 45 and its similarly powered 50T01. However, for some reason they seemed to have stopped. It may be worth dropping them a line to enquire. The guides have a flat cut from.the circular base.in.order to sit in.the trigger assembly.
I think Tinbum toyed with the idea.of adding it to the range at one stage but not too sure??
Other than that I'm not too sure where.you would go these days other than someone make you a one off? I guess there.is mot a huge demand for guides for these guns now since they've been out of production since Noah was a lad. But the benefits in twang free shooting is worth trying to track kne down or have one made if you shoot or hunt with one regularly. As is a top hat....
Dave

[Drew451]

Chambers up your neck of the woods used to do guides for both the 45 and its similarly powered 50T01. However, for some reason they seemed to have stopped. It may be worth dropping them a line to enquire. The guides have a flat cut from.the circular base.in.order to sit in.the trigger assembly.
I think Tinbum toyed with the idea.of adding it to the range at one stage but not too sure??
Other than that I'm not too sure where.you would go these days other than someone make you a one off? I guess there.is mot a huge demand for guides for these guns now since they've been out of production since Noah was a lad. But the benefits in twang free shooting is worth trying to track kne down or have one made if you shoot or hunt with one regularly. As is a top hat....
Dave

Yes, no longer listed at Chambers. Im wondering if its a case of adapting say an aftermarket guide for say a 34 with the cut end.

[LESS THAN FORTUITOUS KENNETH]

I dropped on lucky with the spring guide. I had some steel tube knocking about which just fit over the original guide. A little bit of polishing on a buffing wheel and the result was a perfick fit.