Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Trying to build a custom 7x57, on the cheap

Stunning. You've done a great job......I'm envious.

I used Dalys Ship n Shore to seal the stock and Im using Timberlux to finish. I used to use Dalys for both but the one stock I finished with Timberlux seemed to be a little easier to use than Dalys Teak oil. And yes I will be sanding in the finish

So I have a couple of coats of finish sanded in, looks like its only going to take a couple more-

Beautiful rifle. Checkered bolt would be a nice accent but it doesn't improve functioning if you palm the bolt. Who did the stock duplication?

Sweet rifle

Looking good!

Thanks for the compliments. I have completely finished the stock, second time I have used Timberluxe and am pretty happy with the results. I have rough shaped the bottom metal, need to do the final polishing before rust bluing. I am a little curious about a French Grey finish, anyone have any experience with it? Does it provide much rust protection?

That’s a pretty stock!

Looks amazing...well done. Who is going to do the checkering for you or will you do it yourself?

Fwiw I wouldn't checker the bolt and I would go pretty sparse on the stock checkering. Less is more imho. French gray looks great... it so does a well used and aged standard rust blue. Can’t go wrong imho

Not sure if it is the same but on a couple of my shotguns I have a matte nickle coating that some call french grey. It provided good corrosion prevention but is not that durable and once worn then corrosion is an issue. I have to polish with Flitz at least once or twice a season. I have also seen matte finished chrome for a similar look and if hard industrial chrome the corrosion protection is one of the best.

These are sort of faux French finishes. The original was just an acid etched bare steel. Later it was either bluing or case hardining with the color removed by acid treatment. This would give some protection but not much, much less than the nickle or chrome. If I had anything color case hardened I would want the color. Treating with casenet also produces a french grey effect as it is case hardening with out the colors. It improves wear resistance but not much better than bare steel as far as corrosion resistance.

On that rifle I think cold rust blue is the way to go as everything else is classic.

That is one of the prettiest rifles I've seen. I used this on the receiver of my 99 Savage that had been bead blasted. I rubbed in three coats, inside and out, and it was still a bit rough. I called the company and was told to apply a few more coats till smooth, then bake at 350 for 40 minutes. It's worked like a charm.

neat Savage

who did the stock work for you?

I had a retired gunsmith duplicate it and I finished it

Well I have completed all that I can do. I rust blued all the metal and rings this weekend, now I just have to have it checkered. Grand total invested $1070. I was able to sell the original stock and bottom metal this week which helped. I will probably have another $400 in checkering but it will have to wait, my checkerer is really backed up right now. I was hoping to come in around the same weight as the original gun 6 lbs 10 oz but it came in a little heavier 7 lbs on the nose and 8 lb 1 oz with scope and rings.

If that's built on the cheap...... I'd love to see one you really sank some serious cash in on.
She's a beauty!!!

Wow that turned out great !

That rust blue looks very classy, you definitely have some skills.

Very nice! ..... That wood makes it.

Some nice rifles on this thread. I’m not a wood/blue guy but I’m reconsidering.

A beauty. I bet the weight is because of the density of the wood. Seems like a lot of the highly figured wood comes from old trees that grew very slowly and are denser. This is less true for orchard trees that grow relatively fast.