Glad to see more people trying to make these like they once were in their glory. Ive done everything up to the rust bluing. Have to make my setup. Turned out beautiful sir
Awesome restoration! It's an interesting situation with these RTI rifles where you can save money but not time. It's definitely a process that's better suited to being done DIY by the gun owner. There's so much labour involved that paying someone else to restore it to this extent would end up costing just as much as buying an existing mint example. Have you tried steaming the dents in the stock where the fibres aren't compromised?
Very labor intensive without question, but one of the most satisfying hobbies out there. As far as steaming the dents, I have tried this and do it sometimes for bigger dents, but honestly haven't had that much success. I use my steaming Iron, a damp rag and steam it for about 20-30 seconds. I'll go over the dent 2 or 3 times and it helps a little bit but never where it's flush with the surrounding surface. Maybe something that I'm doing wrong, not sure.
@@ryanjames170 not really, only the ones I actually end up keeping. I sell all of my restos and another chunk of the ones I restore are client guns. But the ones I have shot have all faired well. I shot a no4 mk1 I restored a while back and there is a bit of a break in period with the bolt being freshly blued but after 40 rounds it was butter.
Asking as an Aussie with no experience of royal tiger imports, why are all thier rifles looking so tired and ready for scrap? I collect surplus here and rarely see such poor condition rifles. I think our people pull the bad ones apart for spares.
most of them come from Ethiopia: they usually ended up there after being in service with other armies (British, French, Italian, Turkish and even German). They were already obsolete weapons when they were shipped to Ethiopia, probably already worn albeit still functional. Then, Ethiopians are unable to take care of these weapons they way they should and they inevitably decay into this terrible state. RTI started importing them a few years back, buying them by the tons and simply reselling them onto the US market. IMHO, they are not worth the price they are charging, despite it being much cheaper that usual, but most of these guns are worn to the point that bullets are regularly keyholing, sights are missing, wood is destroyed, bluing is almost totally absent, there is mold all over the place... I live in Italy and for the price RTI charges I can get a Lee-Enfield that is considered "not the best" (approx. 400€) and it still has over 90% bluing, good bore and wood (maybe sanded but not too bad)... Same for the Carcano, which are usually in 350/450€ range, with the exception of some odd-balls here and there with specific markings and/or factory conversions which usually are worth more (up to 1200 € for a very rare example)...
I am trying to do this. But I am in severe financial hardship and unable to, so all I get to do is watch others live out their hobbies and enjoy their time. I won't be in financial hardship forever. I will eventually get out of it, and when I am finally able to begin acquiring items to restore and enjoy, all I am going to see everywhere is "out of stock". I really like this subject matter, but I am not going to lie to you, it's very hard for me to watch.
