Having checked with the usual suspects, I'm told no more than 50 were made in this configuration. It's rougher than 6 miles of Russian road & appears to have languished in a garage or barn for many years. As purchased, it had no bolt or handguard. Covered in light rust all over and cobwebs in every crevice. The bore was nasty, but oddly, it cleaned right up! Got it shiny now!
This might take a while, but like the cliche' about eating an elephant, it will be one bite at a time. Shown is the magazine covered in light rust.
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This is pretty much representative of the entire rifle. I've no idea why the magazine was left in place - it's for the 10.4x47R cartridge. On another site, a know it all kind of guy said it was there to collect empty 22 hulls, but there's a plate welded over it, so that's out. I'm not complaining - I like the look. I'll be off to work before too long so no cleaning today, but the plan is to start out by spraying it with WD-40 - let soak overnight and attack with brass wool the following day. I've got some brass wire wheels for hand drill, but I'm starting out with hand operation only. I don't want to monkey this up!
This is actually a Vetterli rifle with a 22 barrel installed by Beretta. Had an extra 6,5 Vetterli bolt on hand but it wouldn't close. It was too long by about .050" which I cured with a handy-dandy 8" mill bastage file. Cut - n - try. I only want to remove enough metal so the bolt would close but still be tight. I have fond hopes of actually shooting it someday. Shown is a standard 6,5 Vetterli bolt and the one I filed to fit.
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Next step was to fit a firing pin. Really not much to show here - I just filed high spots until it fit easily. Eventually, I'll put a fired 22 short case in the chamber and use those to file the firing pin to proper protusion. I do think it will fire, but we will see about that much later. Just the end of the firing pin is seen at the end of the bolt. It did take quite a bit of fitting. Cut - n - try... go slowly. Once you take metal off, it's hard to put back!
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Then it was compare, measure and mark the new handguard. I don't think this will be too bad. I'll cut a shallow groove on the top for sighting - the original had one as far as I can tell. Then relieve the front to fit under the barrel band. Once I get it fitted, I really don't want to take it apart too often so I plan to clean the barrel first.
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Pics of that as it happens. Last pic just shows the rifle with a closed bolt and handguard held in place. Keeps me too busy to hit the bars!
SW
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