High Desert Rifle

charlesb · Post by **charlesb** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 3:23 pm

I have an old Interarms Mark X Mauser in 7mm Rem mag that I bought for a project that I later decided not to do. My original idea was to rebarrel the gun in .450 Marlin.

It shot so well though, that I thought that it would be a travesty to rebarrel it.

Instead, I would just pretty it up a bit. - The gun hadn't been shot much, like many 'closet queen' 7mm mags that folks buy and shoot maybe once or twice - and then park in the closet. It had lots of dings on the stock from banging into other guns, but the action and barrel looked either unfired, or mighty close to it.

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I removed the original "white line" spacers on the grip cap and butt-plate, but to remove it from the black plastic fore-end tip, I had to saw off the whole affair.

I stripped off the original finish, and discovered that there was some nice wood under there. Not all of the dents came out, but the worst of them did and I was about to order a chunk of ebony for a new fore-end tip when I got a phone call...

My farm had sold, and I had thirty days to vacate.

I checked a few of the game ranches in the Big Bend area, where I intend to move, and discovered that my .243 Winchester deer rifle was only good for a varmint rifle, in the high desert. They have mule deer there, much bigger and tougher than white-tails - and the shots tend to be long.

So I decided to keep the 7mm mag for myself, in case I get a chance to hunt this year.

I knew that I wouldn't have time to order a new fore-end tip, so I just rounded off and contoured what I had, mixed equal parts of MinWax "Red Mahogany" and "Tru-Oil" and gave it a three-day, three-coat finish, rubbed down between coats and after it was done with fine steel wool for a soft sheen.

It's nothing to brag about, but it's presentable enough, and I already know that it shoots good.

Now all I have to do is to pack up my machine shop, along with all of my possessions and haul it all off to Alpine, Texas.

I may be out of pocket off and on, as I go in-between internet providers - but I'll be back!

blue68f100 · Post by **blue68f100** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 6:34 pm

Charles that came out nice. 7mm in one of my favorite long range guns I shoot. Sadly I no longer have a place to shoot that I need that much gun. My Rem 700 BDL has always been a tack driver right out of the box. Mine is one of the older ones from the mid 70's Sporting a Leopold 4.5x10 VXIII.

charlesb · Post by **charlesb** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 12:02 am

I was surprised at how it came out, it was better than I expected, and now I'm thinking that I'll keep an eye out for other Mark X Mausers from that era that have good metal, and maybe a few dings on the stock.

I used furniture stripper, the clear, runny, jelly-like stuff that comes in a steel can and is very caustic. After it's all bubbled-up, I remove it from the smooth wood with steel wool ( wearing plastic gloves! ) and the checkering I clean up with a soft brass bristle brush, brushing along with the lines first one way, then the other.

Then I did my sanding and scraping to get out the worst of the dents. The checkering and places on the stock with end-grain like the fore-end, I gave a coat of pure Tru-Oil so they wouldn't darken up too much when I applied the Tru-Oil/Stain mixture.

I'd let the stained Tru-Oil dry for a day, then knock off the gloss with fine steel wool before the next coat went on. After three days, I was satisfied with the finish and quit, at least for now.

All that is left now is to glass-bed the stock and then test fire the gun again. - I removed a front sight and ramp that had been on the barrel, and this may affect how it shoots, I dunno. - There's only one way to really tell.

It didn't cost much at all to do it the way I did, and it looks OK if you don't look too closely. - Some of the dents were too deep to eliminate, so it still looks used, even with the new finish. I was able to re-use the original grip cap and butt-plate with the Interarms logo, minus the white-line spacers.

I'll probably dent it up on a hunt anyway, it's nice to have a gun that I don't have to baby and be gingerly with all of the time. Tru-Oil finishes are easy to touch-up and repair.

charlesb · Post by **charlesb** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 11:18 am

The Remington BDL is a good looking gun. The stock fits me perfectly, I like that design.

When I was little, my uncle had a BDL in 30-06 that he kept in a glass-door gun case, where I could look at it. He also had a model 1100 shotgun in there.