BL22 project

Got2hav1

Got2hav1

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I bought a nice grade 2 BL22 Browning lever action a couple of years ago. The previous owner had put a lot of safe dings in the stock and forearm. Just recently I made the decision to fix it. I couldn't stand it any longer. I found a new rear stock on ebay in perfect condition and put it on the rifle. But I still had a dinged up and mismatched forearm. I found a random forearm without checkering in good condition, also from ebay. I sanded the finish off, but soon discovered matching wasn't going to be easy. Another problem surfaced. In order to remove the forearm and replace you have to disassemble the rifle. Reassembly requires dealing with the tiny ejector spring and the ejector. What a PIA that is. Eight tries and at least an hour later I got it together. It all worked out in the end and the match was pretty good considering I was dealing with two random pieces. I won't go into the refinish process unless someone wants the details. No dings now!!










 
One of my favorite rimfires!

I had one, let it go, and would love to have another.

And nice job!

I wouldn't mind hearing your process, because I have a .38/.357 Marlin that needs some attention. It's not dinged up, per se, but it was worked on to be more glossy, and looks like crap (previous owner).
 
Sure, Since I had a small piece I chose to sand the old finish off. Bigger pieces you may want to use some sort of chemical stripper. I started with 120 grit, then 220, 400, and finally 600. Next step is to select the shade of stain. On this one I used some red tint translucent stain from Minwax. I brushed it on and immediately wiped it off. After 24 hours I used a tack rag to remove any dust particles. I spray 3 coats of clear polyurethane. I used a product from Minwax Helmsman spar urethane. I waited 24 hours between coats. Use the tack rag between coats to keep the dust bunnies at bay. Between the 3-4 and the 4-5 coats I sanded with 2000 grit wet sandpaper. Two cautions , don't rush take your time and use thin coats. That is pretty much the process.
 
Nice. I have a Maple BL22 I need to shoot more. There is a spring kit available and a trigger job that can be done. I begged a friend to give it a try. I now have a clean, crisp 2.5 lb trigger on a BL22. They are beautiful rifles.
 
Great job! Looks really nice.
 
I have a BL22 setup as a race gun for rimfire challenge! The weak point on them is the iron sights, IMO.

I had Winchester m92 style sights installed, trigger / action job and a few other tricks done by "Cody-Matic" Custom Action Jobs.

it's a smooth shooter but consistently stroking definitely takes some practice!
most folks short stroke it when they try to go fast. The lever hole is fairly small, tricky if you have big paws.

 
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