My rifle & I came to an understanding today.

[AntiqueWeapons.org]

Before today, I've only disassembled rifles only as far as needed for a good cleaning & that was it.

Recently I picked up 7 Gew 88. 2 of them which are nearly complete, only missing bolt head, extractor, ejector & clip & appear to be in shootable condition & 5 of which are parts guns from OWS.

My plan was to restore the 2, so today began a complete disassembly. I removed every single component except removing the barrel from the reciever.

As I took it apart, I carefully examined everything as I took it apart
I meticulously inspected every individual piece as well as thoroughly cleaned, polished & then oiled.

I am re-finishing the stock & will be doing my own bluing with perma-blue.

Though alot of it was really dirty work & some screws & various pins gave me a hard time, I managed to complete the tasks.

While doing this, I discovered that I really enjoy this & I found it to be very relaxing. No worries, stresses, etc were on my mind as I was totally consumed & absorbed with what I was doing & I feel happy & accomplished at what I've done so far with my Gew 88 & can't wait to see what she looks like when she's finished.

Doing this gave me a great understanding of the mechanics, function & relationship of the parts for every single piece of my rifle.

 

[Amicus]

I could not agree with you more. I have restored and otherwise worked on quite a few Swedish Mausers (M94/96/38) and the first thing I do is break them down to the last pin and examine each piece, clean, oil, and replace anything that needs replacing. Sometimes I'll pull some oil out of the stock ... sometimes I'll leave it be.

I am constantly amazed at this simple machine's ability to perform its task. Every time I pull one apart, I experience a sense of wonder.

 

[Rockrivr1]

Every time I get a rifle that I want to work on, I am all excited and am fully engulfed in the project when I start. I'm not sure when that excited feeling changes, but somewhere in the project I start to get anxious to finish the project so I can get it out to the range. The first rifle I worked on, a Yugo SKS, suffered because I was rushing at the end to get it back together. The stock did not come out the way I wanted it to and I had to take it apart again to do it over. I learned my lesson though and even though I'm anxious to get it done, I make myself not rush to get everything done anymore. I enjoy this work and will not hesitate to take a rifle apart. My last project, an Enfield 2a, came out very nice once it was completed.