Lockdown fever

[CapitalBee]

Oh I like that! As someone else has already said, messing around for hours fuming with brick acid takes up a good day just waiting for rust to form, that salt and peroxide mix really does the business.

A tip I picked up quickly is that the reaction is speeded up with heat, so as a final degrease, I boiled the parts for 15mins before commencing the first application of the rusting solution. From then on, you're only applying the solution to a hot component.

[CapitalBee]

Well all back together now and fired a couple of test shots. Heavy trigger and haven't checked power but it's not too bad. (excuse the retaining screws not in as I need to get the barrel off again to shim the breech seal and I still need a rear sight)

[Shed tuner]

protek do a very cheap (less than a tenner) rearsight that fits the meteor and has the same lateral dovetail fitment.. I can measure mine if you want ?

[CapitalBee]

protek do a very cheap (less than a tenner) rearsight that fits the meteor and has the same lateral dovetail fitment.. I can measure mine if you want ?

Yes please John

I'm waiting on Protek to open as they seem to be the best likely source.

[WILBA]

Do you know if that process will work on stainless steel?

[cozzamec]

I used hydrogen peroxide and salt. I'd tried a few before, but took extra care with this one to card it between each cycle. I took 7 passes to get this finish, about 2 hrs in total with the last 20 mins boiling the parts for the last time. The only thing I'll do now is leave it for a few days to allow the finish to age harden. Not allowing this time cost me some unsightly marks on the finish when I did my first full rifle, an Original mod 27.

Thats a great job, what did you use to heat and did you have larger containers to put everything in?

[baldinio]

Awesome transformation mate, thoroughly enjoyed reading about it

[Shed tuner]

Do you know if that process will work on stainless steel?

you and your bloody underlever..
if you send me an offcut, I'll try it for you...

[Scott.]

Thats an astonishing transformation, very well done indeed

[CapitalBee]

Thats a great job, what did you use to heat and did you have larger containers to put everything in?

The periodic salt solution I keep mixed in a large glass jar. Boiling is done in an old turkey roasting tray on two gas rings (I have an understanding wife). I tended to use cotton make up pads to apply the solution and decant small amounts from the big jar to avoid contamination.

[joffy]

Very nice ....did you need to much preparation?

[CapitalBee]

Very nice ....did you need to much preparation?

Not really. The barrel was quite bad, so I couldn't have polished the dents and worst rust out. The cylinder just had the wire wool and oil treatment. As the original finish was so varied, I just aimed to standardize it really.

[joffy]

Not really. The barrel was quite bad, so I couldn't have polished the dents and worst rust out. The cylinder just had the wire wool and oil treatment. As the original finish was so varied, I just aimed to standardize it really.

Well you did a great job

[frakor]

@CapitalBee

Just noticed the barrel screws are on the right side of the rifle?
Are your pics of the refurbished rifle mirrored?
The Heym rifles I have seen had the screws on the left side as did the Weihrauchs.

What size are your dovetail for the rearsight, maybe I have one that fits, but dont get your hopes up yet.

======================
Frank

[CapitalBee]

@CapitalBee

Just noticed the barrel screws are on the right side of the rifle?
Are your pics of the refurbished rifle mirrored?
The Heym rifles I have seen had the screws on the left side as did the Weihrauchs.

What size are your dovetail for the rearsight, maybe I have one that fits, but dont get your hopes up yet.

======================
Frank

Hi Frank, no the barrel screws are on the right. There's a lot that confuses me as I looked at the photo library in VAGF and whilst there are so many similarities to the library images, this has a few differences. The dovetail width was 8mm x 3.8mm dp. Total width across the breech block 14.8mm