My new BSA CF2 6.5x55

Birmingham Small Arms CF2 in 6.5x55

She's in good functioning condition just needs some TLC to get her back to the glory days of Empire.

The ejector is a little weak spitting out cartridges (not empty cases), is that normal? I'm used to the fixed ejector on Mausers throwing them out a few feet. Otherwise, other questions are, is the diamond on the grip cap supposed to be white? Mine's black. Also, there are some handling marks and dings here and there, a little chip on the rosewood fore-end cap on the right side. The bolt cycles very smoothly and feeds fine. Rifle is very well balanced for an 8lb gun! Trigger.. wow.. amazing! So light it's incredible, better than my Savage Accu-Trigger. The safety is positive and easy to use. Magazine release functions too.

There's a lot of grease in this gun and some dirt and grime. I'm not sure about the history of this gun, whether it was used and stored away or what. But the mag plate has lots of grease as well as the mag well. Bore is excellent!

Pictures (please tell me about the roll marks)

BSA was a firearms manufacture in the Gun Quarter of Birmingham, England in the West Midlands.

They manufactured the Lee Enfield No.1 Mk III, No.4 MkI and II battle rifles of Empire.

It's a 1982 BSA CF2 model.

Twist is standard 1 in 8.5'' or something like that. 4 groove.

It's going to be a lot of work, but she handles very nicely for her weight (haha!) and will be a joy to shoot when she is restored.

I think it's a score in terms of potential to be restored. Right now I am figuring out how to get it back to the way it should look.

Probably going to get the bottom metal anodized or my local gunsmith can use the Gun-Kote Gun Blue Polish to try and match it to the remaining bluing. Do you guys find it strange that the bottom metal is scratched up but the magazine plate is fine? Either one of the two parts have been swapped, but I still find it weird that the bottom metal is the only part on the gun to exhibit wear.

Also, anybody know how to take down the bolt for cleaning?

And how does one steam out the dents and dings? Strip the finish off, damp cloth, steam the dents up? And then just beat the raised grain down with a wooden dowel or some sort? I don't want to sand it. Once raised, just add BLO coats hand rubbed, then finish off with paste wax?

I think the bottom metal is an aluminum alloy. I tried a magnet there and it wouldn't stick. Any idea what the costs are to re-anodize the bottom metal?

Starting to work on it right now It's going to be a lot of work but fun. I love restoring stuff!

I bought some Simple Green and man this stuff really cuts the grease and cleans the parts really nicely. Oil them up after and they look much shinier.

I just worked on the small parts like the Weaver bases, rear sight base, action screws, magazine well to test the product and see how much work lays ahead. Doesn't seem too bad for the metal, just need to be patient.

I haven't used it on the stock, but it says not to use SG on unfinished wood. I'm going to strip the stock and highlight the grain with Alkanet Root Oil, and then BLO, and then paste wax.

Anybody know where I can find the Williams guide rear sight slide and blade?

FYI for those that own a BSA CF2. I was at my local gunsmith and he showed me how to take the bolt down. It's not too difficult.

1) Turn the bolt shroud clockwise so it sits on the top of the bolt body, not in the notches. Do not over turn it or else you'll get stuck, just enough so it sits out of the 'cocked' groove. This will align the holes in the bolt shroud to the holes in the cocking piece of the firing pin assembly.

2) Insert a thin punch through both holes and pull up and unscrew the assembly from the bolt body. Remove punch and bolt shroud will separate from firing pin assembly.

3) Cocking indicator can be taken out of bolt shroud, careful as it is spring loaded.

4) To remove firing pin from from spring/assembly, compress the firing pin spring, and slide the firing pin off. It is secured by a notch that allows it to slide into a mating surface on the spring guide. If you are familiar with the Swiss K31 rifles, it is the same concept.

5) Completely disassembled bolt. Reverse these steps to reassemble.

Hope that helps!

Ithaca did import. Check out de Haas book on google books. He documents the history of BSA rifles in a few pages! Very good reading.

I will try to get pics.

Progress thus far: all the metal has been degreased and removed of gunk and pine needles to the best of my abilities. I didn't want to mess with the trigger assembly so I got out as much as I could in there.

Bottom metal is at the smith being KG Gunkote'd to match the bluing. He told me it's a Zinc Alloy or 'white metal'. No worries about chipping when I get it back, as it's GK is good enough for the SEALS, it will serve me fine for my purposes. Plus it's a thin finish so it won't mess with the tolerances.

I have the Alkanet root powder and I'm going to make up some oil today. Anybody know what's a good recipe for this?

Next got to strip the stock, iron out the dents, and then oil her up.

This is way too much fun.

This ain't gunbroker.

I'll post some full photos when the rifle is completed.

Just made up some Alkanet root oil, it looks pretty rich. Going to let it sit in the sun for a week or two.

*Edit - smith juts called and the bottom is all done! took only 1 day!

Today I stripped the stock down, ironed out the dents as much as possible, and just burnished the wood to a subtle sheen.