Many years ago, long before something called Covid, or the word pandemic became popular. There was a place called the yellow forum. .
I used to post a lot, much more than recently. I also did a lot of stock work, and posted the results.
I was contacted by another member of the yellow forum about a rifle he wanted to sell me…He really wants to sell it to me. We end up talking on the phone, San Francisco area code. He said he’s not worried about the price we will decide the price when I see the rifle, he is very insistent. But he doesn’t make me nervous. He just really wants me to have the rifle. I finally say OK. He says it is in pieces, but it will be beautiful. I’m not kidding.
When I receive the rifle, it is pretty much a disaster. And it is in pieces. But underneath the mud on the stock, there does look like there’s some grain in the wood, which almost looks like walnut, if you look at it in the right light from an angle.
The metal looks absolutely horrible. There’s rust., surface rust. All over the receiver especially underneath. The barrel has some type of hard acrylic finish on it that was dripped on it. Really ugly bad. It looked like an accident, like a can of polyurethane fell over and dripped on the barrel slowly over about a 5 inch area.
I texted the gentleman in San Francisco that it had arrived safely. He texted me back that he was going for a walk…I never heard from him again. My texts no longer went through.
It was very eerie.
The rifle sat there a gathering dust - a pile of parts for years. I pulled it out this winter and made a project of it. Sanding the finish off the stock was an absolute bear
! It was so ugly.
The bluing is so thick on these old German rifles you can’t even tell I removed any rust. I’ve found this before in the past. You can’t count them out.
I’m going to give it to a friend who helped me take down a huge oak. He wouldn’t allow me to pay him enough, so I said I’d give him an Airgun.
I think the gentleman was sick, and he wanted someone to see his project through.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Enjoy the pictures.
Mike
