Just picked up one of these cute little rifles ths afternoon--impulse buy--- of course I probably paid way too much--as usual.  I don't have much interest in "boy's rifles" but this is such a solid little rifle I couldn't pass it by.
It looks to be in good condition though the TD mechanism is a bit worn so the barrel has a little play in the action.  The wood is dull but nice on the forend and the butt has a lot of minor shallow scrapes and scratches. I think it well respond well to a little TLC.  The metal is straight and sharp--no pits, dings, rust, or scratches. basically a pretty solid uniform fine patina.     Bore looks good no noticable pits and the rifling looks clean and sharp except fo a couple of inches ahead of the chamber where it has worn pretty shallow.

 What was the original finish on the action--  blue or CH?   any way to tighten up the takedown?

What's the history on these things.  I don't have Grant's books.  if anyone would be interested in copying and mailing or scanning and emailing me the relevent pages I'd be happy to reimburse the expense.

I've had it apart, destocked and debarrelled and have been spraying it and soaking it out with a good automotive rust penetrating oil  (PB Blast) and wiping it with paper towels here in the motel. I even improvised a pullthrough bore cleaner with an extra bootlace. Its cleaning up nice. the action is/was clogged with a lot of old grease. When the extractor clicks into place it helps lock the barrel up a lot tighter.  the action sure is nice and crisp.   It might be case hardened but it just looks really well blued.  Can't wait to get it home and clean it really good.

mine is the lever type,  no colors all blue

It may also be possible to relieve the inboard end of the thread on the takedown screw so you can run it in another 1/4 turn or so and wedge it up tight again.  Mine is the screwdriver screw takedown, not the lever, and it has a small cylindrical section just under the screw head so it can go in just a little more without binding the head.  Don't know if the lever is the same.

Or, if you know a welder who is a real artiste, you can have a small bead of new metal put in the channel under the breech of the barrel and dress it back with high-spot blue and needle files.  Put a toothpick in the bore so no scale forms when the heat is applied.

hst,

A small piece of wood when heated in the closed area forms a reducing atmosphere so that even if the inside of the bore does get hot, the oxygen of the air cannot attack it and cause scale and roughness.  I've put thicker pieces of wood (dowels, or turned cylinders)  in larger barrels when hard soldering on sight bases, etc., for the same reason.

My shop teacher heat-treated air-hardening steel parts by wrapping them in a stainless steel foil envelope with a scrap of paper always added.  The envelope, with its glowing contents, was taken out of the treatment oven and an edge caught in a vise while a fan played on the package.  When cooled and opened, the part would be hard, only slightly discolored by the heat, and the paper would be a sheet of carbon.  Without the paper, the part would be more or less badly scaled.

If you plan on staying with the 22 LR then 16" is all you need. Test done about 20 years back showed that the 22 LR had its highest volocity at that length so it should have the best accuracy also.  The mod 4 was also made in 25 and 32 rimfire and should be strong enough for the 22 mag or the 17 rimfires. Many years ago I made a Cresent into 32 S&W. I chambered it for the long but sometimes shot shorts. With the shorts it was shooting less than 1" groops at 25 yards and didn't make much noise.

John, I know that 16" is max efficiency, in terms of velocity, but barrel length is also a matter of sight radius, balance, and proportion.  I know that the short fat stiff barrels are best for max accuracy----but they are UGLY---JMO of course.  my ruger#3 38-55 has one,  I like the way it shoots--but its UGLY.  My long barrelled 'wall in 38-55 may or may not shoot as well---but it looks nicer and since I can't shoot all that well I have to go for looks--right?  Now if I'd just stain, sand, and finish it and put the forend on with something other than packaging tape  .  .  .  .  .


my present idea for the #4, subject to more data of course, is to set aside and preserve the original barrel and stock in the condition they are in for the future,  replace the worn barrel with something I am comfortable with and make a stock that looks basically like the original but is upsized a bit for adult use.  I'd want a barrel that is a bit longer that I can scope that will fit tightly in the action and still not be too heavy for that small action ring.   I'm envisioning this as a grown up's version of a #4 that will be a light handy accurate squirrel and small game single shot, but not neccessarialey an ASSRA  or gallery 22rf competition rifle

QuestionableMaynard8130 wrote on Dec 5^th, 2006 at 9:41pm:


To have the best of both worlds, you can reline a very long barrel with a sort liner.  This the equivalent of a backbored barrel, and I highly recommend it.  Balance will be better than you think too.

Brent

PS.  That 16" efficiency rule is not exactly cast in stone.  I can't say that I've found it to be even close to true with normal of high velocity ammo and it is only approximately true with subsonic ammo in the rifles that I have tested for this particular effect.

Brent