Very impressive, and a real bargain at that.

Mike

What caliber? 

Awesome find!

It’s marked .38-55.  I was hoping a couple strokes with a brush and a few swabs with a patch loaded with the latest miracle juice would reveal a pristine bore (as happens all the time on the Internet) but alas, alackaday... It’s going to be job getting the pilot for the reline drill through that mess.

Gotta dig out my drawings and see what I need to make.  The triggers are drilled for the single-set adjustment screw, one of the hammers is fitted with a fly, and I have an extra sear with a groove to clear the fly.  Maybe I can cobble together  a single set trigger for this one.  I may need a coil spring for this one, although I prefer the flat springs.  Haven’t begun to consider a caliber.  I have enough .38-55s.

I had an aunt with a shelf full of jigsaw puzzles.  One was always in mid-assembly on the card table when I’d visit. Guess the gene mutated a little, but otherwise bred true.

Nice find, regardless of barrel condition. You could reline it or get a green mountain barrel for it. Does the dovetail under the barrel mean it had a flat mainspring or is it for the forearm screw? Nice project, have fun!

Consider a liner and chamber it 40-65.  I recently did that with a #1 Rolling Block (Egyptian) and really like the cartridge.  It shoots lighter correctly-sized pistol bullets (200-250 gr) and 400 grain+ equally well.  Brass is pretty easy/cheap to make.   Lots of flexibility and fun.  Planning another barrel for one of my Highwalls in that caliber next.  Good luck with the project - way beyond anything I would be able to do.  I pretty much just stick to new barrels for my Frankenstein projects.

I should add some detail in case anyone wants to try this.
Number one, always hook negative black lead of battery charger to part being cleaned (barrel here). Red positive lead gets hooked to electrode grid (anode). I just use mild steel for this (hardware store rounds, sheet strips, whatever I scrounge). I wire them with plain uncoated baling wire, running the wire up and out the tank, where you can hook up charger. Keep separated so they don’t touch. I run the baling wire thru the bore and wrap it around “round parts” like barrel shank. Avoid winding it around sharp edges like octagons, on H&A barrel I hadn’t learned that, and noted some wire marks in edges after 2 days in tank. Slight metal loss maybe you could see it but not measure it, file and polish took care of it. That’s why I caution anyone to check frequently the progress, so you can pull the plug if needed.

It's good to see an old firearm being brought back to life. And knowing that there are craftsmen out there that love doing it too.

John

GF,

Here's the current progress report.

Soaking the assembly in Liquid Wrench, PB Blaster and ATF-Acetone didn't seem to do all that much, at least with the equipment I was using.

I finally made octagonal aluminum jaws to keep the barrel from twisting in the barrel vise.  Even with lead packing in the round ones, the assembly would turn instead of loosening the action.  The internal Shaper practice I got from the exercise is always worthwhile.

The barrel clamped tight in the barrel vise, and the assembly soaked for months in the various miracle juices, it still took three full-power bashes from my 5-lb maul on the action wrench handle to get the receiver loose, and I had to leave the wrench on to turn it the first several turns to loosen.  Oddly, there was no rust on the threads, just light patina and whatever liquid had managed to penetrate.  All it takes is to be screwed on tight and left for 100 years to get a near weld.

I then soaked the parts in Evapo-Rust.  I have to say, having checked out any number of child-safe, environmentally-innocuous, nontoxic products, this is the one shining example that actually performs the office it's advertised to perform, rather than just sitting there and signaling its virtue.  Except for the deeper pits in the barrel, all the rust is either washed off or turned to a gray-black sludge that can be wiped off the surfaces, leaving them clean, gray metal.

I started drawfiling the barrel and was gratified to find that there weren't a lot of really bad pits, and those there were small and mostly on the bottom.

I got a .50 caliber liner from TJs and ground a pilot on a drill to fit.  The drilling ordeal will soon commence.  I had a couple moulds and a couple clutches of .50-70 shells and don't have a .50 rifle, enough reason for me.

I got set-trigger parts from MVA, and a coil spring from somewhere (can't remember), and with your kind donation of a knockoff, put the action together.  It doesn't always cock, and when it does, it doesn't snap, but the parts are a melange of new, old, and rejects from the bin that CSA used to have out at Gun Shows.  Had to weld a lump on the front of the lever and dress it with my index table on the mill.  It will have a spring off the barrel just to hold the lever closed, and the coil spring for powering.

Here's the drill, liner, barrel and action so far. The Evapo-Rust gray finish on the action is not displeasing.  Maybe some company will offer it as an option some day.