Meanwhile back in Finland...

[krieger]

That water looks wonderful. We will trade you our Texas 41.7c for you 30c.
We are now into our 5th of hot. Last time we had this was 2011.

[Texasproud]

I’m drinking about a gallon of ice tea a day. The next ten days in Dallas are predicted to be>41 C. I would prefer the cool Finnish summer. AK teach the newer troops how to keep their head on a swivel, watch their six and pay attention to situational awareness.

[AK-Gunner]

The weather here has been lately the normal 'rain, warm, sunshine, humid, some more rain and thunderstorm, sunny and warm...' i.e. just another Finnish summer.


About the Sako P54 .22 LR rifle I'm working on: some development has happened. First a little bit of a background of this rimfire Sako model.


About the model number P54, the letter 'P' stands for 'Pienoiskivääri' which is literally translated in English 'Miniature Rifle' and 54 the first year of production.

Sako has been notoriously liberal with using serial numbers crisscrossing between different variations of the same models, not really caring when a particular component was manufactured or even serialised so what ever they took from the shelf could be brand new or machined two years ago, i.e. dating older Sakos is blurry at best.

The 'accepted' dating of these rifles (I'd take even this with a pinch of salt) : the year of manufacturing and the first serial number for the year:


P54


- August 12th 1954, 20001
- 1955, 22500
- 1956, 27000
- 1957-1958, 29000
- 1959, 30500
- 1960, 32500
- 1972, 44052


P54T ('T' for Target, a heavy barrel version with slightly heavier stock which was wider at its front)


- 1958, 29000
- 1959, 30500
- 1960, 32500
- 1961, 34000
- 1962-1964, 36000
- 1970, 41300
-1972, 44048


According to the list this particular rifle serial number 21421 was build in 1954. It was bought new by a young gentleman from Kuhmoinen, Finland from whom my late friend got the rifle a few years ago as gift and after his suicide I bought it from his estate with a more than a fair price for a P54 in this condition, 150€. The correct price point should've been between 90 to 120€ but as the trusted man for the estate I didn't want anyone think I was profiteering from their trust.

The rifle the way I got it after wiping the most of the surface rust away with an oily rag: metal parts rusty and pitted, parts missing from the peep sight, the stock in very bad shape hence I will store it as it is and replace it with a one I bought for 30€ with all parts included.




No adjustment screws nor spring on the peep sight, the stock has lost almost all of its lacquer and is soaked with Anti Corrol gun oil, the classic old-fashioned Finnish petroleum based oil with which lots of stocks have traditionally been ruined in Finland.



The only 'problem' with the rifle is... not the rifle itself, but my old eyes: I couldn't see almost anything through the peep sight for the lack of light entering my eye, hence I drilled the peep hole to 2.7 mm size...


So... To work, first remove the soldered on its place rear sight with a propane torch.


Sorry for the out of focus picture, taking pics with a phone while working on stuff is sometimes challenging...



After scraping the remaining soldering tin away, removing pitting from the receiver and barrel with sanding paper and polishing the whole shebang I sent the rifle to a professional for classic bluing. When I told him the background of this process he promised to treat this rifle with all the respect and care it deserves. In for a penny, in for a bankruptcy...




Now as the metal parts were being taken care off, I could concentrate on the replacement stock I bought. It is from the same mid 1950's era, but in very good condition... Regardless, I sanded all lacquer off...



...and reshaped the stock to fit my hands and aesthetics. Looks cruel but as one fictional character used to say just before something bad happened 'Trust me, I know what I'm doing!'


The stock in its new shape, blond and naked. All the first versions of P54 and even later all domestic ones had stocks made of birch, usually with some natural flame pattern in their structure. As a very light coloured wood it's more pleasing to the eye to dye it darker with tinted lacquer as per the original method, or with coloured oil which is my preferred approach.

The stock soaked with pore filler just about to sanded once more and then the same again and again, and...



The front end of the stock has got a new shape on it, more like classic Mauser look.



As a guitar player my fleshy palm needs some extra room on the stock, hence the cut...



And another out of focus picture: the first stages of finishing the stock.




Took another picture the next morning after applying another layer of stock oil. This will be repeated for a couple of days (now already a week actually), after which there will be several steps to take and depending on my willingness to go full bananas the whole process may take up to two weeks after which I'll have to wait for another two weeks before I can rub a layer of wax to protect and give some extra sheen to the surface. But it should be worth it.




A near mint condition peep sight to replace the rusty and incomplete original, 25€ delivered from another Finnish Sako aficionado. Now I've got two eye pieces, the one I drilled larger and this original if someone with younger eyes wishes to put this little rifle to a test. Aim small, hit small... If you can see it





The pro-guy sent me a picture of progress, he had cleaned up the bolt and blued the handle and the bolt sleeve. I hadn't yet dismantled the bolt and I do believe this was the first time these parts have been apart since the original assembly back in 1954. He told 'if it's up to him, the bolt should remain in one piece the next 68 years too' since the pin which keeps the whole thing apart had to be drilled out, and it's made of very hard steel. He fabricated the new pin from a 2 mm drill bit, should be hard enough.


I already got the rifle back from bluing (oh boy, it is gorgeous), but I'll hold the rest of the pictures until I've managed to complete the finish on the stock...


Later

[DaavG]

AK, your time and effort in posting all and sundry is superb, thank you. Your "blog" is always an interesting read and provides great insight and perspective.

[krieger]

What a great restore!

I like your knife. I have one exactly like it. It was a hunting season gift from my Finnish school friend many years back. I use it every season. Something magically classic about it.

[oafpatroll]

Great work. Love seeing this sort of stuff. Guns that you have put your hands on are more rewarding. Did a similar exercise on a '56 Brno Model 2 that I bought for my daughter. COVID lockdowns ensured that I had more than enough time to rabbit hole the project to death.

[oafpatroll]

My daughter's little Model 2 just before reassembly. I did the wood and rust bluing over an extended period of covid lockdowns.

[AK-Gunner]

Thank you gentlemen for your adjuvant feedback

Oh yes, the traditional Finnish Puukko I'm using as the utility knife it is: bought it a few decades ago while pacing at some street market from one of the hundreds or thousands of our Puukko-forging blacksmiths, P. Kivimäki seems to read on the side of the blade.

Fun fact: if you don't want the smith's signature on the Puukko, it costs you extra.

The blade is traditionally of high carbon contents so it's easy to keep sharp and it cuts wood easy, always sharpened all the way to the handle for ease of carving and the sides are usually left black from forging with oak charcoal.


Puukko, a very Finnish item. For work, hunting, tinkering and troubleshooting.



Nice work with the Brno Mr. Patrolman!


Just yesterday as I went through my flasks of magic potions I spied with my eye a large vial of Selenic Acid, an oxoacid of Selenium which has some mystical powers vested in its constitution: it makes iron go blue. And since for some equally mystical reason I didn't bring my front sight with the rest of the P54 to the Wizard of the Deepest Blue, I thought to myself I should give this cold-blue potion a go.

Took a drinking glass I was 'bout to throw away, dropped the hastely polished and degreased front sight parts in the glass, poured in two parts of water and one part of diluted to about 10% H2SeO4 to cover them parts and let them change colour for twenty...ish minutes. Or maybe half an hour, after which I rinsed them well with water, then put them in a plastic container and soaked them with the cheapest gun oil I've got stored for this kind of situations (my neighbour is working at a spray can manufacturing plant and he brings me sometimes cans of various oils and barrel cleaning foams with cosmetic failures), don't want to use premium oils for this kind of tasks.


They turned out quite nice methinks.





From Tapio's Culture Corner, a Finnish laboratory-rhyme to help remember in which way you should mix acid and water:

Ensin vesi, sitten happo, muuten tulee käteen rakko!

First the water, then the acid, or you will get a blister on your hand!

If you have acid on a vial and pour water on it, the mixture may boil violently and get sprayed on your hand thus burning your skin.

[Tayls]

Turkey is no longer in the way: Stoltenberg will ask Finland and Sweden to join NATO tomorrow.


So it begins.

Have been watching your thread with interest (given recent developments) and look forward to hearing all about what is going on in Finland in due course (as and when you have time to post an update). Good luck also to your nation with its application to join NATO.

... and thank you for your diligence with giving us Africans a proper insight into life in your lovely country.

[AK-Gunner]

Good luck also to your nation with its application to join NATO.

Thank you and yes, I will keep you guys up to date as I'll come up with information which I'm able to share.


But meanwhile as I'm still slowly processing the P54 stock, a dear friend for way over 40 years invited himself to come to my house and told me "Since I haven't used these things for several years I will sell you my RCBS Ammomaster, die sets, powder, primers, whatever reloading kit I find... And oh, also my Colt 1911 .38 Super pistol and its ammo."

I'm like but told him "Aaaalllrighty, bring all you want and let's see what happens."



And of course I said "I'll buy the lot" before he even told me the price...



In our shooting club, established some 30 years ago, we do what we call 'gun whoring' i.e. we sell guns to each other, like I am the thirds owner of a Colt Match Target HB AR-15 which was originally bought new by our club member, he sold it to another who traded it with me to a Sako M92S AK which he still has and cherishes. The guns with real financial value are being sold outside the club, like a mint condition 19th century Colt peacemaker and a Colt Gold Cup National Match this particular friend of mine sold a few years ago with a good profit, but these more peculiar than valuable specimens tend to stay within our brotherhood.

So, after I hastily went through the pile of goodies I urged him to just name his price I will accept with no further negotiation. He came up with a figure and the deal was done and done, thus I am a happy owner number three (after I get my license sorted out of course, but there should be no trouble after 30-some guns already in my safes) of a 1990 Colt Series 80 Government Model MK IV .38 Super pistol. And a whole lot of other stuff, a few thousand of .38 Super brass and bullets, factory and handloaded ammo, 1000 small pistol primers, Vihtavuori powder and the RCBS reloading kit with dies all together well worth three times my friend wanted me to pay. But this is how we operate and treat each other.


Who keeps the original packaging for over 30 years? Not me, but maybe I'm now duty bound to take care of this particular box and paperwork...






Really guys? It's all still there...



The pistol has gone through some changes, like the beavertail and I do believe the Novak sights weren't an original factory option, nor the oversized safety switch. The firing pin safety has been removed and the grip safety is disabled, the usual GamesMan-modifications. The hammer seems to be an STI product and there's a full length recoil spring guide rod. Needs a bit work if I wish to IDPA the crap out of this pistol.





Even after 32 years of use the Colt bluing is still soothing to an eye of a gun aficionado.




There was five magazines, two competition dual magazine pouches and some naughty WMD-class ammunition: back in the day you had to buy expensive SD ammo if you wanted to have .38 Super brass for reloading since there was no practise ammo available. The ammo is a bit hard to find in Finland because nobody in their right minds shoots .38 Super anymore... except for some weirdos who do most peculiar things just for the fun of it. I did already buy one store empty by buying their whole stock of 700 rounds of 130 grain FMJ ammo, so with reloading capability I should be set for some time.





But... why? Just because