Delightful pre war mod.d no.3 bore straight stock!

Refurb completed! (more pics and findings).

Hi Guys,

I finished a couple of days ago and have been plinking in the yard with much success. With a slight modification to the repro sights I got I have sorted the shooting high problem. She's now sporting a new seal and twin oval springs. The previous seal bolt setup had been smacking against the tap air inlet so that was all puckered inwards, I have bent this back out and with the new bolt in place, the firing noice is much reduced, as is recoil.

Had mixed results getting the shelac off the stock, but am happy with the outcome, have preserved the etchings at the expense of leaving a thin layer around the details. Oiled with natural wood oils rubbed in for a long long time to try and bring the age out, it's quite a deep finish, and hopefully the sheen will dim after a few weeks use.

Unfortunatly not pictured in close-up is the new tap cover, the old one had a stress crack from an incorrect spring, I had to grind a coil off it and temper the end while pinching in foreceps the blunt the ends back in the get it to fit. Action is now greatly improved.

FOY! or any other guesses to the name I uncovered are welcome! this one needs rotating, sorry!

Close of one of the etched ducks near the trigger guard. Also, you can see two of the screws I re-shaped and re-blacked.

One old refurbed screw and one new one fresh from the shop.

Getting the old sights out was a nightmare, but not as bad as getting the new ones in. when I studied the new ones against the ones fitted, the lowest hight on the new one matched the current set hight of the iron doves (which fired 5 inches high @ 10 meters). Sure enough, when tested, the new one did also, so I had to file down the sighting plate a good few mm, until it was flush with the sight plate guides, and re filed the dove. It's bang on the money now, can't wait to find the max range now i've got adjustables.

The only original metal work I have refinished is the foresight, as this will be a working gun, a brown sighting pin isn't much use, so i rubbed it down with 600, 1200, 2000 then used a buffing wheel to make it bright. Still a bit pitted, but to take more off would ruin the shape.

To conclude, from using the gun before and after, the original parts and a good seal have made all the difference, I would not like to hazard a guess at the poundage, but needless to say it's punching through my make shift trap made from a steel BBQ, and still burrying into the wood behind @ 10 meters!

I hope what I've done to it is in keeping with how it should be treated, and my cleaning hasn't been to radical, I myself am chuffed with the end results 😀

Thanks for reading and looking forward to you comments (need another gun to do up now

PS, sorry about the spelling, is late & can't be bothered to run it through word.

Nifton

Nifton,

I congratulate you on a superb job getting your No.3 Bore back into full, accurate working order. Finding a .25 Improved Model D for a serious BSA collector is on the same level as finding a Military Pattern.Both are rare things

.25's are really rare guns, so you have done well just to own one.To put it into context, out of 80,000 or so pre WW1 bsa air rifles, less than 2000 were ever made in the elusive .25 cal, and possibly 75% went abroad - so 90 years on how many examples survive in the UK??? NOT MANY......

As for shooting,I think at the longer ranges you will find the loopy trajectory a bit challenging, however sub 30 yds, the 6.35mm pallet packs quite a punch.

One of the sexiest things about the .25 cal, is the sheer size of the loading port, compared to the .22 cal. Here is a comparison shot of my .25 Improved Model D, next to a .22 Improved D of the same age

Utterly superb things in every way, and quite rightly iconic guns in BSA collecting circles.

All the best shooting your classic......... Enjoy!!

Lakey