The Ugly Gun Lives!

I had intended to make this project another tutorial. Unfortunately it took forever for me to get going on the project. Then a friend wanted a beater rifle to hunt with. You see the area we hunt was until this past year shotguns only. When they opened it to rifles, guys with shotguns stopped seeing deer within range. The deer got smart fast. He was in a big hurry to get it before his wife spent the tax return. I was going to rust blue the gun for practice. He wants a duracoat finish. I don't have access to an oven that big, so I left the metal as is.

The gun was priced at $100 when I bought it. I did some trading with the dealer and it only ended up sosting me about $60. I've told you in the past about swagbucks . Using swagbucks enabled me to get the stock and scope mount for free. Both were purchased off of Amazon using gift cards earned with swagbucks. The scope is a Tasco long eye relief pistol scope purchsed in a consignment shop for $20. The rings are Millets and at $30 break the low budget theme of this rifle. More about that later.

I can highly recomend the Fajen F34 stock  . This stock was nearly drop in and well worth the $65 price tag. It only required minor fitting. I used a dremel with a sanding drum on the lowest speed. It could also be easily accomplished with a four in hand file. There was only one minor hitch. After doing some minor relief work at the front action ring and along the sides of the sight base. The action still wouldn't  seat into stock. The hole for the front action screw had some heavy flash. This flash prevented the recoil lug of the action from mating with it's counterpart in the stock. A quick pass with my Dremel and everything dropped right in as it should.

The scope base install was uneventful after finding a little trick. The base came with no instructions. So, I just went online and read the instructions for similar units. You have to remove the leaf from the rear sight. There is a spring under the leaf that needs to be left in place. This spring is pretty strong. The problem is getting the holes lined up. Actually keeping them lined up. It takes both hands to compress the spring. You either need a second person to thread the screw through the hole or a third hand. I didn't have either. What I did was line the holes up then drop the shank of a jewelers screwdriver through the holes. Then I used two thin blocks of wood and a large C clamp to hold everything in place. Remove the screwdriver and install the screw. Be careful, the sight base is made of aluminum. It will be real easy to bugger up the threads.  I had trouble finding a set of rings that would drop right on to this base. The rings I did find while not outrageously expensive weren't the cheapest I could find. The slots on my base were slightly under size. This could be easily corrected with a fine file. Doing so will remove finish from the base.

The only other work done to this gun involved lapping the crown to correct some damage. I'm not a huge fan of the 8x57 cartridge. So, I decided to sell it rather than add another cartridge to the stable. Should another VZ24 action come my way I will probably buy it. The next one will be a little more involved.

Woods