New to me rifle safety check begfore firing!

[zeebill]

This applies to refurbs and just new to me used rifles and pistols. The people who don't do the following in my mind are endangering themselves and the people around them at the range. Until you at least teardown and safety check a new gun to you there is a good chance it may not work right and hurt you and maybe someone else you know and love at the range. As I posted in another of the posts online, actually Joe's post, I just bought a really nice 1936 SKY Sako 28/30. I bought it from a very reputable PA Gun Shop with no warnings from the seller. I started to take it apart and the first thing I found was the firing pin protrusion was set way off even though it was set about normal looking on the cocking piece screw. No big thing I can reset that easily. Then it would not close on any head space gauge I own so I will at least have some bolt head changing and checking to do. Them I began to take the interrupter out of the action and it fell in two pieces on the floor. It set in the action looking just fine but up under the thin strap running forward there was a heavy corroded area surrounded by storage grease. This made it a happy little rust area working on that interrupter till it feel apart when I went to remove it. Wonder what would have happened if I just went ahead and tried to fire the thing with no inspection? This is possible to see in a refurb too so don't think they are immune from this and you can ignore this post. All you guys who don't even clean your weapons at all because you don't intend to ever fire them this little pocket of rust covered by grease is almost normal for me to find in rifles I buy from you.

I sure hope you don't because I could be in the next lane over when you accident happens. Be a big boy and show how responsible you really are and check things through like you know you should! Bill

[millman]

If it won't close on a nogo, but will chamber a round, you are good headspace wise.

[OLd_Sarg]

zeebill, well said;

I may be odd....... ok I am odd
anyway I like taking down the old rifles, it is like Christmas to me
you never know what you are going to get; underwear or a cool old firearm!

anyway when I am gone whoever gets my stuff will not be getting underwear.

[entropy]

If you own a 'go' gauge, and it still won't close, On the plus, you wouldn't have been able to fire it anyway. And if you do not own a go gauge, Bill, why not? You are an avdvanced enough collector with enough firearms experience to warrant owning one.

Good reminder for all of us, and important advice for those new to guns, and milsurps in particular.

[racerguy00]

I check everything, that helped me find that the one T53 I had bought had two big holes drilled into the chamber under the wood line. That could have been bad.

[zeebill]

I own a no-go, a field gauge, and a go gauge and it would not close on any of the above. I should have tried to chamber one of my dummy rounds but instead just changed out the bolt head and re-adjusted the firing pin and replaced the interrupter.. Everything was good to go after that for a test fire but after checking the muzzle tightness with a round I have decided I may just slug this barrel as it is oh so tight. May be a 308 bore versus the usual 310 which loves surplus. Bore turned out perfect after little or no work. On to other things till I find time to slug this thing. Pays in many ways to work slow and be sure of things. Bill

[Junk Yard Dog]

I buy every rifle with the certainty that everything inside is buggered up, busted, worn out, and it's only use will be as a wallhanger. I wouldn't fire such a dangerous piece of shit on a dare so I check everything, I even run a glass over the receiver looking for cracks. If I find no problems then I consider myself lucky, I frequently find problems even if it's just a loose screw or excessive mess under the woodline. Be paranoid when buying these relics to shoot, be very paranoid. You wouldn't take some beat up old car you bought off a crackhead for $100 onto the interstate and open it up to 100mph without even opening the hood or looking at the brakes would you? Yet some people will do that with a rifle that is a 70-120 years old that has been used in countless wars by who knows how well trained soldiers and then tossed into a dungeon for 50 years.

[Ironnewt]

I check everything, that helped me find that the one T53 I had bought had two big holes drilled into the chamber under the wood line. That could have been bad.

Ya Think! and YOICKS and other comments

[Ironnewt]

I buy every rifle with the certainty that everything inside is buggered up, busted, worn out, and it's only use will be as a wallhanger. I wouldn't fire such a dangerous piece of shit on a dare so I check everything, I even run a glass over the receiver looking for cracks. If I find no problems then I consider myself lucky, I frequently find problems even if it's just a loose screw or excessive mess under the woodline. Be paranoid when buying these relics to shoot, be very paranoid. You wouldn't take some beat up old car you bought off a crackhead for $100 onto the interstate and open it up to 100mph without even opening the hood or looking at the brakes would you? Yet some people will do that with a rifle that is a 70-120 years old that has been used in countless wars by who knows how well trained soldiers and then tossed into a dungeon for 50 years.

You mean you don't???????????????????????????????????????????

[entropy]

I own a no-go, a field gauge, and a go gauge and it would not close on any of the above.

Wow. Imagine the odds. In all my years of working on guns, I've had maybe two or three not pass a go gauge. One was a .30-06 that was short-chambered (not finish reamed) . Not a military rifle, this was a brand new bolt action (Insert manufacturer from Ilion, NY here) that the owner (from north of Hwy 8) took to the range, loaded the mag, and tried like hell to shove a round in . It buckled the shoulder and still didn't close! In his north of 8 style, he tried another round, with the same result. I'm sure a lot of WTF's follwed. We sent that one back to Ilion to be finished. the other two were rebarrellled milsurps chambered to different round and not so marked. Both had the barrels finished in a similar finish to original. Who'd go to all that trouble and then not bother to stamp the barrel?

[OLd_Sarg]

Both had the barrels finished in a similar finish to original. Who'd go to all that trouble and then not bother to stamp the barrel?

Not sure but many seem to do that!
there is one in my safe now, a Remington Mohawk, that is marked .222 and is cambered in .223, I need to take it and have it re-stamped.

[zeebill]

Who'd go to all that trouble and then not bother to stamp the barrel?

The same people who swear they will never sell their recreations of snipers or as they will call them returns to previous service or sometimes restorations. It all comes down to classic misrepresentation no matter how you look at it and in this case can result in injury to yourself and others.

Yeah I have never had a rifle that failed to close on all three gauges. I really wonder how that could be? It appears fine now but as I said I will want to slug that barrel before shooting to see if it is a 308 bore and not the normal 310.
I will admit to shooting surplus in a 308 bore without any evident problems but now that I am a few years older and hopefully smarter I choose to slug the bore. Bill

[joe7170]

Good to hear you got it straitened out Bill. I guess that bolt head was way out of spec? Wonder if that slipped by a Finn armorer, or if someone here stateside had messed with it? It was such a pristine rifle, I wouldn't have guessed anyone had worked on it since the Finns. The interrupter, I can understand, things rust and break over time, the bolt head and firing pin protrusion, I can't.

This whole thing kinda reminds me of my Rasheed rifle, I bought it, brought it home, tore it down, and I'll be damned if the gas screw lock was missing. Now mind you it wouldn't have blown up, worse case it just wouldn't have cycled the action. Just wish I would have seen it before I bought it, I could have bargained on the price

Well, Bill looks like the headspace gauges and pin protrusion tool is going on future trips now.

[Gunowner99]

I always break down and clean and check over, period.

[qz2026]

I always thoroughly inspect and clean my rifles. Bill is right. I can't tell you how many rifles had "happy rust" growing under to goo.