New Member
Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2023 11:27 pm
Greetings from South Africa.
I have recently got my hands on an early model F.N 1900 in 35 Rem. I have a few questions that I'm hoping some experienced members can assist me with? I'm a complete novice when it comes to these firearms.
I will post some photo's tonight with serial numbers for your records. Unfortunately the firearm is in a very poor state and I would like to see this rifle serviceable and returned to its original functional state. I do not know if the firearm is capable of firing.
My biggest issue is that at some point the barrel shroud and receiver were left to rust and it now has bad pit marks. The previous owner, in his infinite wisdom, decided to ceracote the rifle. To make matters worse this was done without treating the rust and the rust is now bubbling though the ceracote in a few places.
The stock has been sanded, cut short and a recoil pad installed.
The internals look ok (And I'm hoping all there) except for the magazine indicator spring which is broken (A smith should be able to make me a new one as I have the broken part).
I'm in two minds as what to do about the finish of the rifle. I can remove the old ceracote but I'm worried the receiver and barrel shroud was sanded, which means i will have to re-blue the rifle (something I'm incredibly hesitant to do). Alternatively i can just treat the rust and live with it. Do any other members have any experience with this and can offer advice?
I would also like to know if anyone has any schematics of these rifles? As I have no faith in the previous owners ability I decided to strip the rifle to check function. I don't think the barrel was assembled correctly? It came apart easily by hand which I'm assuming could mean the recoil spring is shot or something else is wrong? I would like to make sure all the parts are there and correctly installed.
Lastly, after a thorough clean of the barrel, I tried to insert a cartridge into the chamber however a cartridge wont chamber and about 10mm of the cartridge protrudes. I measured the ID of the chamber at 0.452" which seems a little tight and under Saami spec of 0.458". Were these rifles chambered tight or is there perhaps some thing else that could have gone wrong? I have thought about casting the chamber to see if there is perhaps something wrong.
As indicted above I'm not someone who believes in re-finishing rifles, I have many original vintage rifles that I actively hunt with, but my choices are limited and I would like to see this rifle working again. I'm sure I will have many more questions as I embark on this project, just hoping there is a sympathetic member out there.
Thanks and regards
Carl
I have recently got my hands on an early model F.N 1900 in 35 Rem. I have a few questions that I'm hoping some experienced members can assist me with? I'm a complete novice when it comes to these firearms.
I will post some photo's tonight with serial numbers for your records. Unfortunately the firearm is in a very poor state and I would like to see this rifle serviceable and returned to its original functional state. I do not know if the firearm is capable of firing.
My biggest issue is that at some point the barrel shroud and receiver were left to rust and it now has bad pit marks. The previous owner, in his infinite wisdom, decided to ceracote the rifle. To make matters worse this was done without treating the rust and the rust is now bubbling though the ceracote in a few places.
The stock has been sanded, cut short and a recoil pad installed.
The internals look ok (And I'm hoping all there) except for the magazine indicator spring which is broken (A smith should be able to make me a new one as I have the broken part).
I'm in two minds as what to do about the finish of the rifle. I can remove the old ceracote but I'm worried the receiver and barrel shroud was sanded, which means i will have to re-blue the rifle (something I'm incredibly hesitant to do). Alternatively i can just treat the rust and live with it. Do any other members have any experience with this and can offer advice?
I would also like to know if anyone has any schematics of these rifles? As I have no faith in the previous owners ability I decided to strip the rifle to check function. I don't think the barrel was assembled correctly? It came apart easily by hand which I'm assuming could mean the recoil spring is shot or something else is wrong? I would like to make sure all the parts are there and correctly installed.
Lastly, after a thorough clean of the barrel, I tried to insert a cartridge into the chamber however a cartridge wont chamber and about 10mm of the cartridge protrudes. I measured the ID of the chamber at 0.452" which seems a little tight and under Saami spec of 0.458". Were these rifles chambered tight or is there perhaps some thing else that could have gone wrong? I have thought about casting the chamber to see if there is perhaps something wrong.
As indicted above I'm not someone who believes in re-finishing rifles, I have many original vintage rifles that I actively hunt with, but my choices are limited and I would like to see this rifle working again. I'm sure I will have many more questions as I embark on this project, just hoping there is a sympathetic member out there.
Thanks and regards
Carl