Clipper
Member
Bought a hex Tula a month or so ago from J&G, and started disassembly today. It's all #s matching, but while the receiver is a '31 and in great cosmetic shape, the barrel is a '52...Great, but was kinda surprised to see it had been backbored & recrowned. No big deal, as I'm chopping it anyway, but I was kinda surprised. No trigger pin, but I probably lost it in disassembly, 'cause I never had a loose one and didn't think to watch for it.
So I turned a mandrel I can chuck into my lathe that fits nice and snug through the action and locates in the chamber. a little duct tape around the tang to set between the chuck jaws and act as a drive dog and with the live center, I can work on turning the sight dovetail off and polishing the barrel after recrowning.
I had origionally planned to rebore to .348, but the cost of the rebore and custom reamer, dies, cases and bullets will probably start at around $500.00, and being retired, I ain't made of money, so I'm gonna stick with the original chambering for now. I can always change barrels later, and the full stock won't need refitting as I'll be using a Mosin barrel if I do.
I'll post pics later after I get a bit further into it, but right now I have the trigger and ejector screws (which are a bit buggered up from somewhere) soaking in penetrating oil...
So I turned a mandrel I can chuck into my lathe that fits nice and snug through the action and locates in the chamber. a little duct tape around the tang to set between the chuck jaws and act as a drive dog and with the live center, I can work on turning the sight dovetail off and polishing the barrel after recrowning.
I had origionally planned to rebore to .348, but the cost of the rebore and custom reamer, dies, cases and bullets will probably start at around $500.00, and being retired, I ain't made of money, so I'm gonna stick with the original chambering for now. I can always change barrels later, and the full stock won't need refitting as I'll be using a Mosin barrel if I do.
I'll post pics later after I get a bit further into it, but right now I have the trigger and ejector screws (which are a bit buggered up from somewhere) soaking in penetrating oil...