Dave DeLaurant
Member
Last week I ordered yet another antique rifle from Simpsons Ltd., this time a model of 1889 straight pull 'Schmidt-Rubin'. The rife arrived promptly and it came with a muzzle cover, sling and a little spring clip that locks out the magazine disconnect feature. Wood, external metal and bore all appeared to be in excellent shape given the rifle's age.
As is my usual practice, I took the action out of the stock for a close inspection, cleaning and oiling. Before putting into the rack, I tried chambering an empty 7.5 Swiss case to see whether it would balk -- this early rifle used a cartridge was about a half-millimeter shorter than the typical GP11 case. Problem: the case would not even enter the chamber. A close inspection revealed an unexpected issue, an apparent ring of brass firmly stuck at the rear 1/4 of the chamber.
I don't blame Simpsons for missing this, as I also overlooked it several times while swabbing the bore. However, there were clear signs that a previous owner had tried and failed to remove it, so I anticipated a struggle.
I recalled that either Anvil Gunsmithing or Midway's YouTube channel had suggested using Cerrosafe to forcefully grip a stuck case, the idea being to fill the chamber then tap it out with a mallet and brass or aluminum rod placed down the bore. I had these things on-hand, so yesterday I went for it. I stripped the rifle down to its barreled action, stuck it into a padded vise and applied some Mobile One around the rear of the broken case with a Q-Tip as lubricant. I then plugged the mouth of the chamber with a tight patch, liquified a goodly quantity of Cerrosafe in my Lyman lead ladle using a propane torch and poured it in from the breech. The first try did not budge the brass, so I resorted to a precision screwdriver and some gingerly hammering to carefully peel the rear section of the stuck brass toward the center. On my next attempt this provided enough surface for the Cerrosafe plug to achieve a solid grip and I was successful knocking it loose.
Though there was a surprise -- it turned out that the entire front 80% of a case came out!
With the broken case removed, inspection showed a number of burrs in the chamber that had evidently trapped the last case. One distinct possibility was that an unwise round of GP11 had been fired, which this springy action allowed to expand beyond its elastic limit in multiple directions.
I made an improvised hone from some rolled 300 grit wet-or-dry, a shotgun brush and an electric drill and knocked down the high spots so the chamber would accept a steel conversion insert for 32 H&R pistol ammo (I also have a .308 Flex Hone on order for finer polishing later on). I tested this combination out this morning and produced a couple of reasonably good groups at 15 yards at my indoor pistol club.
That's about all I plan to use this old rifle for anyway, so I'm happy to leave things there for now.
BTW, at the range I made a point of removing the bolt and checking the bore between shots -- with a barrel this long, I wanted confirmation that the pistol bullets had enough oompf to make it out the muzzle!
As is my usual practice, I took the action out of the stock for a close inspection, cleaning and oiling. Before putting into the rack, I tried chambering an empty 7.5 Swiss case to see whether it would balk -- this early rifle used a cartridge was about a half-millimeter shorter than the typical GP11 case. Problem: the case would not even enter the chamber. A close inspection revealed an unexpected issue, an apparent ring of brass firmly stuck at the rear 1/4 of the chamber.
I don't blame Simpsons for missing this, as I also overlooked it several times while swabbing the bore. However, there were clear signs that a previous owner had tried and failed to remove it, so I anticipated a struggle.
I recalled that either Anvil Gunsmithing or Midway's YouTube channel had suggested using Cerrosafe to forcefully grip a stuck case, the idea being to fill the chamber then tap it out with a mallet and brass or aluminum rod placed down the bore. I had these things on-hand, so yesterday I went for it. I stripped the rifle down to its barreled action, stuck it into a padded vise and applied some Mobile One around the rear of the broken case with a Q-Tip as lubricant. I then plugged the mouth of the chamber with a tight patch, liquified a goodly quantity of Cerrosafe in my Lyman lead ladle using a propane torch and poured it in from the breech. The first try did not budge the brass, so I resorted to a precision screwdriver and some gingerly hammering to carefully peel the rear section of the stuck brass toward the center. On my next attempt this provided enough surface for the Cerrosafe plug to achieve a solid grip and I was successful knocking it loose.
Though there was a surprise -- it turned out that the entire front 80% of a case came out!
With the broken case removed, inspection showed a number of burrs in the chamber that had evidently trapped the last case. One distinct possibility was that an unwise round of GP11 had been fired, which this springy action allowed to expand beyond its elastic limit in multiple directions.
I made an improvised hone from some rolled 300 grit wet-or-dry, a shotgun brush and an electric drill and knocked down the high spots so the chamber would accept a steel conversion insert for 32 H&R pistol ammo (I also have a .308 Flex Hone on order for finer polishing later on). I tested this combination out this morning and produced a couple of reasonably good groups at 15 yards at my indoor pistol club.
That's about all I plan to use this old rifle for anyway, so I'm happy to leave things there for now.
BTW, at the range I made a point of removing the bolt and checking the bore between shots -- with a barrel this long, I wanted confirmation that the pistol bullets had enough oompf to make it out the muzzle!
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