Is it Worth Restoring Milsurps? Recovering a Chilean Model 1912 Short rifle

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/ garandguy2553

[@Toolness1]

To help it match better you could beat up that handguard a bit while it's on the rifle to help the wear look similar. Hit it with various objects (chain, tools, etc) to make some dings and scratches and use something real dark to duplicate the oil soaked areas on the stock. Then heat it up with a hairdryer or heat gun (gently) and wipe some toilet seal wax all over it to help it match the 100+ years of oil sheen the stock has. Mark Novak has vids on how to do that and it turns out great. Nice work. It's definitely a labor of love to bring one of these back but who else is gonna do it? The RTI cache has definitely put a massive dent in available spare parts from all the people trying to bring those goat barn guns back to life.

[@GarandGuy2553]

Definitely! One observation I didn’t mention but after putting about 50 rounds through this thing, the handguard got nice and hot. The stain being exposed to that heat started to darken up just a tad but I need to put something much darker on it. Good idea with the toilet seat wax!

[@rakumprojects]

It's certainly a labor of love and nothing more. You will almost never save money piecing together rifles part by part. Great job with the rifle though! Four years is a long time to spend on a project

[@GarandGuy2553]

Thanks! A labor of love is no joke but glad to have gotten it altogether.

[@slowhand1198]

Been down a similar road a few times. Most were sporterized victims, picked up in package deals, so not too bad price -wise. Still, as you found, some parts hunts went on for years. Certainly, one must understand from the get go that that in the end you always are going to wind up with a cobble job rather than something truly "collectable". On the other hand, you do have an example. It is fun to work on such stuff , and it sure beats the hell out of collecting pokeman cards.

[@GarandGuy2553]

Haha I totally agree with that last part! Like I said, it’s okay if it’s not totally a collectible but it shoots great and learned a few things.

[@usna98]

Great video. I picked up one in that 2019 batch as well...got lucky as the only thing I had to fix other than cleaning it up was a missing handguard.

[@GarandGuy2553]

Ahh nice! Did you end up finding one that worked?

[@usna98]

@@GarandGuy2553 yes - it's been a while so I don't remember where I got one from.

[@christopherhubert1938]

Found a Winchester 1917 with cut down stock, but original barrel and receiver untouched, for 130. 800 bucks in all Winchester wood and parts later, I have an “almost” all Winchester rifle! Some small parts were changed out for Remington over the years, so still on the hunt. Still less than complete rifle, but that 500 dollar stock almost killed me.

[@GarandGuy2553]

Damn! That much for a stock???

[@christopherhubert1938]

@@GarandGuy2553 for a really nice Winchester marked stock, that was the best I could find after looking online for almost a year! Could have picked up an Eddystone etc for less.

[@steven9370]

I got mine in 2018 and luckily I haven't run into issues like that!

[@GarandGuy2553]

Did you get one of the carbines?

[@charlene2400]

the short 1912, is rather uncommon, and one still in 7mm, is even more rare. Most were converted to 7.62 nato in 1961

[@GarandGuy2553]

Certainly not common but they’re still not super expensive. Although, Chilean Mausers (almost all of them) have really jumped in price over the last 2 years. Not sure why but people have probably realized they’re solid rifles.

[@TheRedneckPreppy]

I embarked on a not too dissimilar attempted restoration with a 1917 SMLE Lee Enfield some years back. I learned my lesson on that one :-)

[@GarandGuy2553]

It might be worth it if you’re trying to learn a new skill or enjoy it but it tends to be more expensive than just buying the complete gun. I’d venture to say Enfields aren’t particularly expensive up north?

[@TheRedneckPreppy]

@@GarandGuy2553 At the time, no. So it made little financial sense to try and restore it. That and LE's weren't *that* hard to come by. A lot has changed in recent years though. Even up here they command $500-600 for bog standard models. Presuming that you can find the parts cheap enough, it's actually not out of the realm of possibility that you could restore a rifle and even make a small profit if you sold it. Like you said though, it's probably more useful as a learning project -- that's why I embarked on it.

[@kevinblair5708]

YES IT IS WORTH IT.

[@GarandGuy2553]

It just depends on how much money you want to put into it. My point is that you can usually find unaltered milsurps for less than it takes to restore them.

[@kevinblair5708]

@@GarandGuy2553 that’s your opinion and opinions are like assholes. Everybody’s got one. Have a nice day.🤣👍

[@GarandGuy2553]

@@kevinblair5708 I didn’t say it wasn’t worth it per se but it is, in most cases, objectively more expensive. You just have to work with that trade off in mind.

[@kevinblair5708]

@@GarandGuy2553 Very true, I bought a Lee Enfield Canadian Long Branch from Century Arms. The receiver was very worn where the bolt slides back into the notch are where you flip the extractor into the 12 o’clock position to remove the bolt for cleaning. I paid $500 for it. Then put another $$400 into it. I feel great knowing I saved it. Knowing that Lee Enfield is becoming harder and harder to find.

[@kevinblair5708]

GarandGuy, I did make videos of the step by step process I went through to restore the Canadian long branch. If there’s someway you can send me your contact info, I would love to send you the videos I made. You will really appreciate it. Seeing you are a brother of the restoration faith as I am as well.