Sounds like an interesting "rescue/project". Post some pics if you're of a mind to as I'm sure that I'm not the only one that would appreciate viewing your progress.

 

We want pictures. 😃😃

 

Will do.

 

Well, I got the stock sealed, a couple coats of Pro Custom on it and knocked them down and put a third coat on tonight before I remembered that I promised pictures. Not looking too bad. I’ll try and remember to take more tomorrow when it can be handled.

 

Looks great

 

Thank you.

 

I had a ratty set of 541s furniture that polished up pretty nicely. I thought I had some 3/16 and 1/4 walnut dowel, called my buddy down the street and he was about to order some himself. So, I’m a bit stuck until Saturday when I will have dowel and can plug a sling swivel stud hole that is about six inches in front of the butt plate. Once that is done I’ll finish the stock out then relocate the rear sling swivel.

I’m really pleased with how that stock is looking.

I’m a bit behind in getting the furniture polished up and in the mail, I’m waiting on my buddy to finish up a barreled action he’s going to send along to be blued. But it matters not for this project. I haven’t ordered a barrel yet for this one yet, then it will be a few months before it gets here.

I’ll get some more pictures and post them. The one I posted above reminded me that I need to send the ADL trigger guards for a couple 580 CF conversions along to be Ceracoated.

 

That looks great, Nice.

 

Here are a few before photos. I started by cleaning it up with mineral spirits and a shop rag then orange degreaser in HOT tap water and a sponge. Then addressed the RKW using cabinet scrapers and my Jerry Fisher barrel channel scrapers. Sharpen every five minutes or so, RKW is very tough stuff. Then I wrapped it in a soggy White terry cloth towel and went after the dents with my banding iron. Left it to sit for a day and repeated that. The dents were up and the RKW was pretty much off and I cleaned up the staining a second time (probably would have been wise not to have steamed it up before cleaning the stains a second time) using orange degreaser in hot water then block sanded with 320 Wet n Dry staying well clear of the checkering then went in with my Fisher scrapers and magnifying hood followed by detail sanding sticks and Wet n Dry glued to the tip of popsicle sticks. Still mucked up the checkering a bit, but not bad. At some point I will fix it up using a single line checkering tool. The white line spacers cleaned up well enough and I'm fine the way they are currently. The paisley butt plate, grip and forend tip I went to 1,000 grit Wet n Dry. I went to 600 on the rest of the stock and rubbed it down with a damp rag about four times to get it to wisker. With a coat of Pro Custom the paisley accents look good to me now. The stock has a couple coats of 50/50 polyurethane/mineral spirits to seal it followed by about eight coats of Pro Custom right now.

 

Sorry about the delay in the before photos, I had to get them formatted so they would post.

 

I had a thought today. What if I were to bore a piece of 6061 square bar the same diameter as a 581 receiver then split it length wise and then machine it out for trigger and magazine and drill it for pillars for the front and rear action screws and press fit pillars into the holes. We could mill out a stock and drill holes for the pillars to go through, bolt the block to the barreled action and set the bedding block in Devcon steel and at the same time bed the rest of the action.

One piece of 6061 bar would yield two bedding blocks. I think that might be what I’ll do on my next 581 project. Put this into a Boyd’s Pro Varmint or At-One stock and it would be pretty hard to think of a more stable setup.

 

The stock is pretty much done… until I scuff it up when bedding the barreled action and have to redo it.

The checkering will clean up nicely. I has about 20 coats of Pro Custom over a couple coats of 50/50 mineral spirits/polyurethane. Knocked down with 4-0 steel wool between each coat. I’m kinda fond of how it looks. After it cures for a few more days I will put it in a gunny sock and set it aside until I get back to this project. I’ll pull it out in a few weeks and give it a rub down with rotten stone/mineral oil on a felt pad then put a half dozen coats of Ren Wax on it. Then it will be a few months at least until I have a barrel and can get back to work on it.

 

Ordered a Lilja RF 133 contour CM 1:16 and got the furniture off to the finisher today. It may happen fast once the barrel arrives. I’m contemplating building a fixture to use to cut and TIG weld Timney 788 safety levers to use on rimfires. Not that I have any issue with modified 580 series triggers. Lord knows, I’ve done plenty by moving the pivot. Sure wish I had another Canjar.

I suppose we could drill and tap the receiver for a second action screw and Leupold QRW scope bases now.

 

My file I used for cleaning up checkering had seen better days. My fault, I wrecked it. If I had just used it for that purpose…. I replaced it and glad I paid the price and went with this one. Anyone familiar with Corradi triangle riffler that Woodcraft sells?

My iPad will take a real nice close up, I’ll get a picture up. I’m pretty out of it tonight. You couldn’t ask for a better tool for that purpose. This is the first stock I used it on.

 

The stock had a pretty good dime size dent right in the checkering and the diamonds were crushed flat. Still needs work, but it’s easy to see how clean that riffler cuts.

4th photo down in in the before photos I posted gives a good idea of what the damage was.

 

The dent is still there. It steamed up some, it impresses me as resulting from a bolt knob rubbing against the stock for an extended period. I am really OK with how just restoring the checkering pattern in that area looks and feels now. Unless I am keyed in on it, it blends and is there, but not noticeable. Sometimes less is more and a guy has to not allow the pursuit of perfect become the enemy of the good. It’s hard some times, you know it’s there and it keeps calling you back. But this isn’t pheasant hunting, wherein you think it’s time to call it a day, but decide to check just one last patch of cover and then just one more and three hours later either go home in the same shape as that exercise started, or it’s show time and it puts an exclamation point on the day’s hunt.

Sometimes leaving well enough alone saves you laying awake thinking of what options are available to fix a mess that really didn’t have any reason to be there in the first place if you had just accepted that you have done the best with what you had available to work with. That is where I am on this stock. Just a little more work in the dent, clean up the rest of the patterns, get out a tooth brush and put a few coats of finish on it and it is not perfect, but chasing perfect would have resulted in going backwards from where it is.

 

Sometimes I change my mind, particularly after chatting with guys who I really respect. I got a call from Dennis Olsen today and after chatting about the pros and cons of doing a Martini in 17 Ackley Bee vs 17 Hornady Hornet, I mentioned this project. I told him I was inclined to instal the barrel with bearing and stud mount adhesive and the factory pins. Dennis said thread it, it is extremely difficult to get the pin ways exactly right so that it is tight. Thread the barrel and receiver and you don’t have to worry about it. Lilja is just up the road from Dennis, so instead of having the barrel shipped here I’m going to polish up the receiver and put it in a flat rate box with a bolt and send it to Dennis.

I’m hoping that Lilja will humor me by putting their logo on the barrel with 22 LR & 1:16

I’ve got a few NOS 541 bolts, both with and w/o the ring on the knob. I’m thinking with, but may change my mind.

So, in the interest of seeing how it’s going to come together I grabbed a receiver and the furniture and put it together

Sling swivels were ~ a $10 factory installed option. They were not factory installed on this stock. The front was not correctly place, but clo enough that I prefer it to a walnut plug. The rear, not so much. I plugged it and it almost looks like a knot. I only drill stocks for sling swivels when my mind is right… and my mind hasn’t been right lately. I’ll look up where it goes and set it up and install it when I feel like doing that job right.

The inletting is tight on the bottom metal. The little wood screw will be replaced by a rear action screw we will have to make up.

I went in the garage and grabbed a 580 barrel out of the bucket o’ barrels and shoved it in the action just to give me something there.

With a a hand rubbed oil finish that stock/paisley accent furniture greatly pleases my sensibilities. I was never big on RKW.

In case anyone has any curiosity about the Martini Cadet project alluded to above. I stopped by a buddy’s house to show him my action and he thought he might have a stock. After a scavenger hunt we located it and I am kind of partial to it. Sometime in the last four decades he was trying out various finishes on it, but that’s no big deal. Got a couple chips in the toe, but easy enough to hide them.

I’m pretty much decided on 17 Ackley Bee and Denis checked, he has a reamer. 1:9 so it will stabilize 25 grain plastic tip bullets.

I’ve got a 16 power Redfield 3200 that will be right at home on it.

 

Nothing going on with it right now.

I have this sling swivel to drill and a couple stocks I need to inlet Winchester Super Grade two screw sling studs in. I’m still not in the mood to do sling swivels/studs. Neither are a big deal, I just don’t feel like doing them right now.

I have been working on a couple other projects. I’ve got just a little polishing left on my Martini action before sending it and the 581 action to Montana to be barreled. There isn’t much more left to do on either once they come home.

 

WOW you are a busy guy! I also have some projects that I would like to get done, but I just haven't felt like getting after them. You have to bring your A Game when it comes to detail work or you can make a mistake and that is never fun. I have found that damaged checkering can be repaired by mixing some walnut wood dust with some instant ( Crazy Glue) then applying it to the damaged area, letting it dry, then carefully recutting the checkering with your single line cutter. It has worked in the past and makes for an invisible repair. Then maybe you can get some sleep! Good luck.

 

Has anyone ever thought of modifying the barrel tenon and drilling the 541 receiver like a CZ 455 to allow for barrel swaps?

Then you could get barrels for .22 LR and .17 Mach 2.

 

It is kind of thin for that... I think. But what do I know? That is one reason I don't really like threading them... says the guy with two 580s sitting on his bench that are threaded.

Not that I am hypocritical, it is just that it does work. Just be aware that the action screw can and does end up stripped out if it is "farmer tight." I have given some thought to perhaps sleeving the front of the receiver and sweating or bonding a sleeve to it or maybe TIG or silver solder a lug to the bottom side. Maybe when I retire I take a few stabs at trying a few ways to skin that cat. Junky receivers are not all that scarce or expensive.

Being as the locking lugs are in the rear, heat up front shouldn't be a deal breaker so long as you don't end up with warpage. I have an associate who does color case hardening and we have discussed color case hardening a Remington 58X. My understanding is the locking lug area was induction hardened, they are hard only where they need to be. Color case hardening would affect that in some way I presume. I can't imagine a color case hardened receiver being a problem though. He is confident that he can deal with warpage though, so maybe I will talk with him about trying to set one up to take a barrel that is held in with grub screws and can be switched over.

 

It is kind of thin for that... I think. But what do I know? That is one reason I don't really like threading them... says the guy with two 580s sitting on his bench that are threaded.

Not that I am hypocritical, it is just that it does work. Just be aware that the action screw can and does end up stripped out if it is "farmer tight." I have given some thought to perhaps sleeving the front of the receiver and sweating or bonding a sleeve to it or maybe TIG or silver solder a lug to the bottom side. Maybe when I retire I take a few stabs at trying a few ways to skin that cat. Junky receivers are not all that scarce or expensive.

Being as the locking lugs are in the rear, heat up front shouldn't be a deal breaker so long as you don't end up with warpage. I have an associate who does color case hardening and we have discussed color case hardening a Remington 58X. My understanding is the locking lug are was induction hardened, they are hard only where they need to be. Color case hardening would affect that in some way I presume. I can't imagine a color case hardened receiver being a problem though. He is confident that he can deal with warpage though, so maybe I will talk with him about trying to set one up to take a barrel that is held in with grub screws and can be switched over.

Maybe the secret would be to thread the outer surface of the receiver to receive the collar, fit the collar against a stop, locate the drill holes, drill slightly larger holes through the receiver, and smaller threaded holes in the collar to secure the screws that hold the barrel tenon in place.

 

Got the invoice from Lilja today. They are just outside of town and someone will drop it off with Dennis. Guess I better get a receiver out of the safe and send it that way. I've got NOS 541 bolts w and w/o ring on the knob. I better make my mind up which I want to use. Stumbled on a 541 magazine guide and catch here so will go with it instead of using a 581 set. I'll have Dennis drill and tap the receiver for second action screw and scope bases.

 

The action will probably be there tomorrow. I went with a smooth bolt handle.

 

OK, Dennis is going to silver solder a tang onto the receiver for a rear action screw and also put one of his recoil lugs between the barrel and receiver. I've got a 540X trigger for it. Dennis turns stuff around pretty quickly. It won't be long before I'm able to get this project going again.

 

Should ship back to me on Monday. Just need to inlet the lug between barrel and receiver and rear tang that Dennis silver soldered on, drill the rear action screw and pillar hole, set the pillar and bed the action. I have a nice 540X trigger that breaks at a very clean 2 pound pull that can go on it.

Getting close.