Long Rifle Restoration – 1

Once all the disassembly and glue surface cleaning was complete I set to the task of making the pieces into a whole thing.  Not precisely a whole long rifle, as that would imply functionality, but at least a whole assembly of the parts.

My first step in this process was to determine if the pieces actually all fit back together again without any modifications.  Temporarily re-installing the barrel I decided that indeed the major elements fit nicely back together.

Since the configuration and shape of the rifle precluded my ability to really clamp anything together I used foam pads and wedges to hold everything in the precisely correct position and wicked-in some dilute hot hide glue into the break, just to hold things in place for what was to come next.

After allowing the glue to set fully overnight, I was delighted to pick up the rifle gently and realize that it stayed together.  With the proper shape established I then wicked-in slightly diluted West System epoxy with extra slow hardener to allow it to wet out the gluing surfaces and voids completely.  I let this sit for a week before touching it again.

Stay tuned.

***Apologia – somewhere I think I have a few more pictures of this process, but I either put them in the wrong directory or they are on a wandering SD card and have not been uploaded to my compewder yet.  If I find them I will post them.***