AYA Model 105 stock renovation….DONE:-

What do you think?……….

 

AYA SxS 12G Model 105 (made 1950)

I have recently acquired a new project in the form of an AYA side by side boxlock which in itself is in good condition for its age but the piece of wood it’s attached to has seen a hard life!!

The stock is Walnut with 2 large..no wait…LARGE splits down each side where the wood meets the action and it appears to have been pinned a few times from a previous repair as well as a piece of what looks like beech used to repair the butt where it was probably dropped at some point.

The forend is also looking a bit worn out with 3 splits and an old repair consisting of a secound piece of walnut being grafted into it. So I started repair by removing action from the wood and then using a steam iron and damp cotton cloth, proceeded to steam out a lot of the dinks/dents from the stock.

Next task was to glue the splits back together using epoxy resin and clamping up the stock for a couple of days whilst the resin did its thing . (normally I would have left it for 24 hours but it’s quite cold out in my garage workshop and epoxy resins work better/faster at room temperature).

The next job was to strip the stock down to bare wood ready for my friend to work his magic on the staining and matching the two different woods of the stock before matching the forend to the whole thing and then it would be ready for reassembly.

All I have to do in the meantime is give the innards a general clean and regreasing ready for putting back together and trying it out at a near future shoot .

Open Sights For My Marlin 39A

I finally got round to finding some open sights for my Marlin39A Golden after waiting weeks/months for 2 different RFD’s to give me a price.
I looked online and found:-

I couldn’t BELIEVE how great the prices were/are for parts that I’d previously only seen on US sites and when you consider delivery charges etc from USA then things can get a bit ‘pricey’ . However……Jim Starley of Marlin Spares.com has made my day by supplying me with the parts I needed to put my Marlin 39A Golden back to factory spec with standard open sights which were absent when I bought this fantastic rifle secondhand from Guntrader(at a great price I might add!!).

It’s going to be much more fun to shoot down range now as there are 2 other lever action shooters who regularly shoot at our home club and maybe some little ‘side competitions’ may have to be had .

So if you have a Marlin Rifle and need parts then MarlinSpares.com is DEFINATELY worth looking at for the BEST UK supplier of all parts Marlin.

I’ll post some pictures of my open sights groupings after Xmas,

HAVE A GOOD ONE EVERYBODY

Let’s Get .22 Pistol Shooting Back!!

.22 pistol shooting for sporting disciplines is not linked to crime but due to its banning in UK disables our olympic squads from practicing in our own country and prevents legitamate sporting shooters from enjoying target shooting in various pistol competitions.

PLEASE sign this Epetition and help us get 100,000 signatures so the matter will be heard in the house of commons.

Sussex League, Summer 2011 Div11

Looks like I won it then, just need to make my way up to the higher divisions now starting with div6 which I’m already 4 rounds into so far.

  Lizzy is doing well being top in her division in the Sussex league so far . We have the next rounds to shoot tommorow evening which will no doubt be a good shoot which I’ll be using my semi .22lr for and Lizzy will no doubt use her CZ BRNO which she’s starting to shoot very well with now that I’ve CONVINCED her to use a shooting stance more common and natural which has proved a GREAT success and seen a fantastic leap in her scores and a great decrease in her groupings on the cards.

ALL’S GOOD ON THE COMPETITION FRONT

Another Winchester for the cabinet!!

Just recently got hold of an old but very reliable Winchester 1500XTR 12G. I had the 1400MK2 before which I swapped for a SxS 12g (the MAC one) . The 1500 XTR was only produced for 3 years between 1978-82 so they’re quite scarce nowadays for spares etc.

But being so damn reliable, they rarely go wrong as long as you look after them. The one I acquired hasn’t so much been ‘abused’ as ‘used’ and it took a fair bit of stripping out and cleaning/lubrication etc (including getting the choke out undamaged…not an easy task) but now she’s all singing,dancing and shooting spot on for average clays with the MOD choke fitted.

There was a great big ‘dent’ in the stock amoung the many smaller marks in the wood but with the help of the steam iron and a damp cloth, I managed to virtually remove it by rehydrating the wood fibres back into shape. Steaming dents out of wood is a great way to improve the look of a bashed up workhorse like this semi auto was and a hell of a lot cheaper than reworking the stock by sanding,wire wooling,paint stripping be it not as satisfying as a complete overhaul. I just wanted a semi which can be used for clays,vermin,pest control and not be worried about if it were raining or dusty etc because I know I can strip it easy enough to clean for next time.

Here’s a picture of the sort of ‘dirt’ I’m talking about which I had to remove when I got the shotgun home and took the trigger group out:-

I’ll post some more pictures up soon maybe in full stripdown position (the gun not me thank god!! lol)

Shooting Update…

Well, Lightweight sporting competitions are going well for both of us. Lizzy’s average is now well up in the 160’s/200 and I’m still at the top of the division  after 4 rounds this season, Lizzy is shopping for a new semi auto(self loading) and my clay shooting scores are going up due I believe to my shooting glasses now fitted with my prescription lenses which has also solved my master eye issue.

The Aramberri 12g is now back together and looking nice with it’s new wood finish:-

and I’m now on the lookout for a long barrelled revolver(LBR) for target shooting at the club. So when anything new happens I’ll post it up on here for you all to see.

Getting stuck into Lightweight Sporting Rifle (L.S.R) Competition.

After my success of coming from the bottom spot in Div7 to winning Div7 of Hampshire Winter league I have now been placed in Div5 which should/will make things a ‘bit’ more competitive for me.

We’ve already shot 3 rounds(pun) of targets and I’m reasonbly happy with my performance so far although I think my Sussex League L.S.R comp is going better for me at this stage, maybe because I shoot the Hampshire cards first from a clean cold barrel and Sussex second with a bit of ‘fouling’ in the now nicely lead lined barrel??

Some competitors state they never clean their barrels and others shoot 20-50 shots practice before doing competition cards. I’m starting to favour the 20-50 practice shots method prior to competition as there’s no excuse for a dirty gun in storage!!

I’ll see how I get on next round but in the meantime, I have a 50 or maybe 100 bird clayshoot this Sunday and I’m going to try to stick to the same gun for a few months instead of switching between my O/U and SxS’s .

I may even try shooting with my glasses on which I’m supposed to wear for long distance viewing so it’d make sense to give them a try .

Bad Day Out!!!

Did rubbish on Sunday with the SxS. I think it was a combination of stock ‘slightly’ too short, completely different feel from my usual O/U, and the fact I had the beginnings of a chest infection which is in full swing as I type this post! I have Anti-Biotics and I’m hoping/planning to be well enough for this Sundays shoot which I’ll be taking my Laurona O/U along to so I should get some better results .

Sunday 13th March

Haven’t posted for a while but ‘should’ be more regular now…….

I have a round of 50 English sporting tommorow at a regular ground we visit every 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month. I’m going to use the SxS 12G I got the other week . Not many people use side by sides for English Sporting but I think it’s more traditional and although I prefer Over/Unders for English Sporting 100 clay rounds, as this is only a 50 clay shoot then it will be fine.

I will post again and say how I got on!!