Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles This winters project rifle

Just came in the mail today; Husqvarna 1600 series serial number 170XXX with the steel bottom metal in .30-06 . Wood needs repair and refinishing,there is a pretty good chip of the left side of the fore-end,the grip cap is missing, there are several good dings and gouges and a small crack behind the tang. The metal appears to be in decent shape, there is some surface rust. Depending upon how much blueing is lost after removing the rust I may spot cold blue, coat or paint the action and barrel. The bore to the naked eye looks great, bright with sharp rifling. The trigger is stiff and will need some love or replacement. I have yet to remove the scope bases, disassemble the bolt or pull the action from the stock so I am sure a surprise or two remain.

I am very impressed with the balance and handling of the rifle as set up with the factory(?) iron sights.

Plans are to clean up the rifle, fix the crack behind the tang, bed the rifle and see how it shoots before final plans for rehabilitation are made. Really looking forward to "playing" this winter.

Merry Christmas and best wishes to all.

GRF

Good luck with your cool old project. I've been working on one (old rifle) myself. Hopefully I'll get to shoot it after X-mas...

Love those old Husky's.

Neat old rifle, looks like a fun project. I have a whole list of projects/hobbies I want to get going on this winter, but.......
my kids are 3 and just shy of 5 and we just got a new puppy. Pretty busy around here to say the least.

Paint a fine rifle like that? Really?

Nice score, George! I love those old Husky Schnabel stocks. The rifles balance and handle like a fine shotgun. Mine is sitting in the safe in need of a new barrel. Enjoy yours!

I would rate that rear sight as "rudimentary".

Kaiser Norton

GRF,

I'm looking for a Winter project myself. Haven't figured mine out yet.

Keep us posted on the progress. It would be neat to follow.

Nut

Nice project. That will make a fine rifle whether you fix the existing stock or go hog wild traditional with some super nice wood or go old/modern with a non traditional glass stock. Choices, choices. Have fun.

Gentlemen; thanks for the kind words.

Bigswede; understand the offspring thing. My are now 27, 26 and 24 and all out of the house.

Gunswizard; if the rust is real bad and bluing is mainly shot by the time the rust is gone a nice coat of flat black Krylon does not look that bad, all though coating would be preferred.

Jordan; I remember that rifle. I am very impressed with fit, balance and point-ability of the rifle as is. I will have to make sure that I maintain the feel throughout the refurb.

Kaiser; rudimentary / durable same same to me. I quite like the sight. no moving parts and very well in sync with the front sight even for 53 heading to 54 year old eyes.

1Deernut; my plan was to keep y'all posted with the progress and findings / decisions along the way.

Dave93; I am really hoping to fix and refinish the original stock. Repair the big chip at the fore-end, although matching grain will be very tough,fix the tang crack, fill / lift the gouges and dings, add a recoil pad (maybe?), replace sling swivels, and do a rubbed oil finish. I will have fun

Merry Christmas all.

GRF

One of my favorites....I bet it will shoot too.

GRF;
Good morning to you sir and Merry Christmas Eve to you and yours.

Thanks for putting up the photos of your project, it looks to be a worthy one indeed.

As mentioned before, if I can be of any use to you for either finding parts or just to pick my brain please don't hesitate to give me a shout.

I can't imagine the end result not being a grand hunting arm in every way though, a very worthy project in my opinion.

Merry Christmas to you all from this side of the big hills.

Dwayne

Dwayne; I will most definitely pick your brain as this project progresses. Thank you for offer of guidance.

Merry Christmas to you and yours this Christmas.

GRF