I don’t want anyone to get the idea that I crank these out like an assembly line. I have been working on these two for months, this one has been sitting waiting for me to finish up the 61 so I could send everything to be blued in one box.
The action came back from the plating shop in Pennsylvania this evening. There probably aren’t twenty parts on an 1890, so reassembly only took a half hour.
Here’s the deal, the 1890 is the original, there are three models of 1890 and they were available with pistol grip special ordered. Same basic gun, first model is solid frame, all the rest are takedowns. The 1906 & 62 are the same as a third model, but have a cheaper round barrel. The 62a the flat main spring was changed to a wire spring. Other than the 1890 they have a shotgun butt plate. There are other changes, but they don’t mean anything except to collectors.
I forgot to include a side cover and mainspring screw to be plated, so I’m going to have to get that corrected. And, I need to get a long enough tang screw to work with both the tang sight and pistol grip on this little fella. It is what is known as a 1906 Expert (it has a pistol grip and deluxe pump handle wood) and they aren’t that easy to come by either, but nowhere near as scarce as an original 1890 with pistol grip.
The 1906 cost a bit more than a 62/62a, but less than an 1890. It is a nifty little rifle, kind of the 10/22 of its day as far as being handy around a ranch.
There are a lot more photos here.
https://www.rimfirecentral.com/threads/winchester-model-06-expert-project.1314898/page-3I’ve got a line on a trashed 9422M, if that pans out I’ll post that project as it progresses. Maybe put an octagon barrel on it and stock with crescent butt plate or something like that. From what I hear it is a disaster, so would need everything. Draw filing, polishing, fitting a replacement stock and crescent butt plate, stock finishing and maybe fitting new internal parts. That would be a good one to post on because it would cover how I do any aspect of restoration on a rifle. The way I do things is consistent with how some others do them, but I’m not going to claim it is the best way. Others who do this kind of farting around have a valid opinion on what works best for them. I post on my projects in the hope that others will see that they can teach themselves to do it. Especially younger folks.
I usually have some other something going on concurrently that is still hobby Gunsmithing, but of a different genre. I am making up a rimfire bench rest rifle on a Remington 541, but am waiting on a barrel before I get going on it. That might be interesting.
I doubt anyone would be interested in any Mr Potato Heads, 10/22s and 457s are pretty boring. Anyone who can read the directions bake a Betty Crocker box cake without screwing it up can change out parts on them. I’m not planning on doing anything with any of ours, but if I do I’ll give a heads up and if someone wants me to walk through it, just let me know.
I have a beater BRNO ZKM that I haven’t made my mind if I’m going to restore or make a custom rifle on. They can be interesting. The BRNO ZKM is the same basic gun as a CZ 452/453, they were replaced by the CZ 455 then 457. Both of those are Mr Potato Heads. Pretty boring. A ZKM project can be interesting and a complete junker can be had for a couple Ben Franklins and as far as I’m concerned there is no better bolt action rimfire sporting rifle than a Model 1, 2 or 5 BRNO. They made scads of them and they are not that hard to find a junker to start with. I have a Model 52 and Kimbers and others that are in the running, so I’m not just making it up when I say they are among the best rimfire sporters ever produced.
The pump handle is original to the rifle and is gum wood. The butt stock and barrel are both Winchester factory replacement parts. The stock is Walnut. I figured that I would see how they look and not replace the pump handle if it finished up OK and looked good together. Gum wood was a less expensive alternative to walnut, when someone replaced the original stock and barrel that’s what was available. It looks fine to me to have them not matching.
