That's a very nice rifle Rob, and here is the Rob. Schlegelmilch returned. Wouldn't say it was restored, or refinished, more like refurbished. There was one crack behind the tang, more of a wood stress crack than recoil caused, so I installed a dutchman with aproximate grain match. As you can see, the wood was very dark in this area.
I don't like to strip stocks but soaked this one to raise (some) dents, lightly sanded the stock, didn't try to get all of th blemishes out, some were quite deep. Finished the wood with (Herter's) French Red stock Filler and top coated with boiled linseed, which I very rarely use. Had to reinlet everything after bathtub soak and then re-cut the checkering.
It was quite a chore getting around the back of the 'bag' grip, but that's the way I like to checker my own stocks. Re-cutting the narrow borders was a bit dicy, and mostly done with a V gouge.
I cleaned all of the metalwork, re-rust blued the barrel without removing all of the dings, and heat blued many or the small parts withour complete repolishing.
The rifle has all the feaures: 25" oct/round ribbed barrel, short keyed uncheckered forend with schnable, paneled stock, checkered horn buttplate (now filled worm holes), semi unusual round knob pistol grip, color case hardened action and bottom metal with lever release (unhinged) floorplate, double set triggers and nicely shaped and proportioned cheekpiece.
The Only thing that had been 'gunsmithed' was the folding-leaf rear sight (which I think is installed backward but the matted surface in to the front this way and the witness mark aligns) The bolt may have been replaced as it's numbers don't match (all match on the bolt and all on the action, just not each other).
I built a similarly styled small ring Mauser in gunsmithing school in 7x57, and a Krag with this type of stock , but never owned an original. I'm quite pleased to own this one.
It has cast-off and toe-out in the stock and I've now got to come up with some ammo to shoot it.
It's a .318 bore, but my buddy Tim has dies, and a swage die to squeeze .323. bullets to size. It's beem a lot of fun and along with this new board, I've renewed my enthusiasm for these old sporters.
Thanks, Steve