Rimfire Central Firearm Forum banner

Show me your 54 Sporters

187K views 443 replies 150 participants last post by  refuze2falo 
#1 ·
I miss the one I traded off to my dad and I need a fix. I'm hoping I can find an older pristine one in Tulsa in April but I need a hold over.
 
#149 ·
I've finally found the time to put everything together and take it out to shoot it. And I've also found out a bit more about its history. My brother told me that Dad only started using the Sportmaster after the SA54 started acting up. I found out what he was talking about when I shot it. It wouldn't group well at all. It would throw bullets an inch left or an inch right here and there. I took the action out of the stock to adjust the trigger and found the problem. There is a front pillar and a tang pillar. The front puller was too short, and at some point when tightening the screw, it split the wood on both sides of the front pillar.
Wanting to bring it back to where I know it should be, I decided to re-pillar and epoxy bed the action. I did a lot of reading and learned a great deal about how to go about this and made some discoveries that may be helpful to someone. I suppose I should start a new thread for all that...
I wish I would have thought to document the process with photos, but I didn't. To make a long story short, though, it worked and is now shooting 3/8" holes at 50 yards consistently.
I also want to thank everyone for their kind replies. This forum has always amazed me with the maturity and respectfulness exhibited here. It is unequaled anywhere else on the web as far as I have witnessed. I will try to post photos once I've had a chance to take some and have figured out how to do so!
 
#161 ·
I did lightly chase the checkering; I have the tools to do it properly. However, too much coffee or the pressure of NOT screwing it up was getting to me and I could see making a very bad mistake. So I stopped well short of having done the checkering justice. I mainly just wanted to remove the excess BLO I had rubbed into the boundaries and sharpen things up a bit. It worked reasonably well. I have since put some dents and scratches in this stock, but it desires nothing more than to be well used! My dad obviously didn't baby it so I won't either. Well, maybe a little bit...
 
#150 ·
Bedding my SA54 Sporter

Instead of starting a new thread for this, I figured that those most interested in this rifle are right here in this thread. I will be brief. I found out from Pete at J&P what size the front action screw was. It's M6x.75. The rear is M5x1.0. I got lucky and found threaded rod on Amazon for both sizes, along with nuts and nylon washers. I wanted to squeeze out the compound using threaded rod and nuts instead of my action screws. The pillars were cut from 3/8" OD x 1/4" ID aluminum tube. I did the inletting with my drill press and an X/Y axis vise. I was worried about the very small tang area, thinking that there was a good chance the bedding could let go in that area so I used a 1/2"x 3/32" key seat cutter remove stock material in the tang area, and using the protruding cutter to undercut that area so the bedding would be trapped under the wood. I removed about 3/16" of material there so that the pillar was captured by that much bedding material. I used a 7/16" Forstner bit for the front pillar so that the bedding could get all the way around the pillar and repair the crack simultaneously. I kept the action centered by wrapping the barrel with electrical tape. I masked off the front and sides or the recoil lug, found the center of gravity of the action with the scope on it and bedded from that point (about 1.5" in front of the lug) back, thinking that if it didn't pan out, that portion could be removed from the lug forward. I used Devcon 10110 and mixed WAY too much. I used Kiwi Neutral Shoe Polish as a release agent and, naturally, removed the trigger and mag well, filled voids with clay, and made a huge mess. I put the barrel in the vise upside down, with the threaded rod and pillars attached, put bedding on the pillars and in the stock and placed the stock down onto the action, put the trigger guard back on, put nylon washers on the threaded rod to protect the guard from the nuts and slowly tightened it down, cleaning as I went, until it was home. Then I swapped the threaded rods for the action screws, (with release agent on them) and hand tightened them. It sat like that for a couple of days because I had to work late. I took the action screws back out, screwed in the pieces of rod, and used them as a striking point while putting pressure upward on the stock. A few taps with a mallet on he rods and it came out. I was impressed! Anyway, I have a whole bunch of that threaded rod left, along with nuts and washers if anyone wants some studs. Just PM me with your address and I'll send them on. I have about 30" of both sizes left.
 
#151 ·
I wanted to add something that I thought was very interesting. When I first shot that rifle, not knowing the stock was cracked at the pillar, I was reminded of shooting a spring air rifle. There was a vibration to it almost, I couldn't put my finger on it at the time, but I knew it was odd. That, obviously, went away after bedding it, as did the inconsistency. I'm extremely thrilled to have this rifle, and have it working well. I will be shooting this one for a long time, as will my girls after I've kicked the bucket. I actually had a really good time with this rifle, learning about it's history, learning how a hair line crack can affect accuracy, about how to bed an action, and about the lengths to which I would go restore glory to an inanimate object! I think I'm going to take that rifle squirrel hunting this Saturday.
 
#156 ·
I finally took photos of my Dad's old SA54 Sporter. I got lucky and found the original sight hood. So, this is it. I refinished the stock myself, as it had been banged up pretty badly. I should have taken another poster's advise and just looked for a replacement, as it took weeks to do myself. I installed the Kelbly's Rings and the Leupold VX3 6.5-20x40mm EFR Target Dot Scope. When I took it out to shoot it, it didn't do well at all. I discovered that the stock was split on both sides of the front action pillar, so I Devcon Bedded it as a both a repair and an experiment. Once everything was said and done, it now shoots extremely well. 3/8" holes at 50 yards are common with Eley Target. Tenex shoots even better, holding well under an inch at 100 yards, whereas the Target shoots about an inch with no wind with the occasional "flyer" that makes the group 1-1/4" or so.


I'm still barely an "A" class in Silhouette but I can see why the 17 series dominates, this is a very nice rifle to shoot offhand. I did manage a 30 yesterday and missed 6 of 10 pigs! I know...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#162 · (Edited)
I just went over the complete thread again and there are really some amazing rifles on display here!

I think I have not shared my latest sporters with you, on top is a 1522 with a Geco branded scope made by S&B in an Anschutz bridge mount, below is a .222 Remington with a Noris branded scope made by S&B, also in an Anschutz bridge mount.

At the bottom is one of my old 1422s that I converted to a DST. Cutting the base plate that was for a .22 Magnum to fit the .22 l.r. was stalling me for a while but I had in the meantime refinished a spare 1422 stock and fitted a buttpad to it. I am now eagerly awaiting the delivery of a 1993 Anschütz 1710 with DST ... and so the addiction is not yet remedied.



Edited***The 1710 arrived home. the scope is a Diflex 4-12x48 A1 and is manufactured by Schmidt & Bender. I put it on an Anschutz bridge mount.



Baby's home
 
#164 ·
Dear Sir,

I like your last picture most .... superb revolver :) Take good care for it because they don't make this quality anymore.

Best regards from Johannis.
Dear Johannis,

I always admire how polite you are in your posts. I know that we share a common love for the Mannlicher stocked rifles and both appreciate quality in guns.

I am eagerly awaiting those two Korth revolvers, the 4" barrelled one was made for the Hamburg port police and was the first real firearm revolver developed by Korth after his gas revolvers. The police slipped out of the contract and the guns were sold on the civilian market.

When I have them in my possession, my total number of Korth revolvers made in Ratzeburg are then 15.
 
Top