This story continues... Fred & I met up at the Kansas City show in July. He discovered the stock didn't fit his father's rifles, so he offered it to me. With the stock in my actual hands, my desire was overwhelming and I gladly paid the asking price without hesitancy. I was determined to see this stock restored to full glory. After speaking with a couple very knowledgeable 52 collectors, I knew what rifle was needed... a late pre-A or unmarked A. The "cut out" by the bolt is actually for a Lyman 48T sight that mounts on the right side... they are super scarce. Called my gunsmith to ask if he had a 48T in his inventory... he did. I obviously bought the sight. Thus began the searching, bidding and losing out on several online 52 auctions. A month later, I finally located a pre-A 52 at a show... the donor rifle's stock was molested but the barreled action was in nice condition, matching the custom stock, plus it had a 48J sight that I thought would help recoup some of my investment, but actually would need for the G&H 52 project in my other thread here. To make it a screaming deal, the same seller had an original 1929 Springfield 1903 factory Sporter too (SRS hit)... both totaled $1,500.! Everything was coming together... I gave the stock & donor 52 to my gunsmith to mount the 48T, swap other pieces and do a little tlc on the stock (steam out dents, clean the checkering, etc.). He also had a nicer Steyr buttplate to replace the existing one. The gun will not be "refinished"... just "conserved" (if that makes sense). This week, my gunsmith informed me that It is ready (along with the G&H 52- 48J sight installation & drilling bolt channel of receiver for a mounting screw since the front barrel band was removed). The G&H received a barreled action transplant that's mentioned in G&H 22 thread here in the forum. I will pick them both up next week... I can't wait.
This was such an amazing project and it all started with an email from Fred back in May... I was so thankful he was willing to part with the stock I recently sent him something to sweeten the deal for him.
I'll post pics of the completed rifles next week... here are a couple pics to clarify.
here's the donor stock...
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/D88Cxhk.jpg)
Donor barreled action that will go into the custom stock I got from Fred & a very nice 48J that will go on the G&H 52.
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/RrI2q6S.jpg)
Original G&H action & 48J sight (finish is poor...)
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/HZNIjSR.jpg)
Original G&H action showing the mounting screw hole in bolt channel...
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/OyuP2B1.jpg)