Sealing the stock mortises

[paulvallandigham]

10 years ago, I acquired a Swedish Mauser made in 1900, and finally sold here as war surplus. When I began to take the stock off, I found that the barrel mortise, both under the barrel the length of the forestock, and under the wooden handguard, was coated with a grease that resembles " Water Pump Grease"- not cosmoline! The original Royal Blue finish on the barrel still exists wherever that barrel was greased!

The outside of the stock looks like it was dragged over the mountains from Sweden to Norway and back a few times, so my First concern about the "Grease" was whether it had soaked into the wood and softened the wood to the point it would be dangerous to fire the gun. I rubbed off a bit of the grease and found that sometime in the past, the wood in the barrel mortise had been treated with some kind of oil finish. It might have been BLO. I can't tell, and it really doesn't matter- beyond assuring me that I didn't have to worry about the strength of this 100 year old walnut stock!

We get questions here quite frequent, under one thread or another, from new shooters wanting to know how to protect their MLers from rusting in the field when caught out in rain, or other wet weather.

My suggestion has always been to first put a good stock finish on the stock in the barrel and tang mortises.

Then, put a coat of good wax on the surfaces to give a better "water seal".

Finally, coat the bottom flats of the barrel, and pack the mortise with WATER PUMP GREASE to protect the barrel from any contact with moisture, be it condensation, rain, snow, or even water when you clean the gun.

This is particular useful for gun builders to know, when they are completing a gun that has the barrel pinned to the forestock, and removing the barrel frequently is NOT recommended.

Yesterday, with the help of my learned brother, Peter- the Professional Mechanical Engineer-- we looked up information about Water Pump Grease on the internet. I wanted to know if I had to worry about the grease " Melting" if the gun was used in hot climates, or on hot sunny days. ( The Scandinavian Countries are not known for the Hot weather they experience. )

The Good news is that Water pump grease has a "Drip Temperature" of 90 Degrees C., or 194 degrees F. That means it does not melt down to the point of dripping off in the form of oil until its way too hot to be holding even the stock bare-handed!

Its rated for normal use in water pumps(think automobiles) from 0 degrees C.( .32 degrees F.) to 75 degrees C( 167 degrees F.)

Now, water ( as in what is in a Water pump) freezes at 32 degrees F.( 0 degrees C.) If a pump freezes, it can no longer function.

So, the "rating" that stops at 32 degrees F. is a bit misleading: The grease stay "greasy" to far colder temperatures, but you also don't have to worry about condensation or "wet" conditions when its below freezing, either. :hmm:

There is actually a National Lubricating Grease Institute that rates Greases, for industrial purposes. I didn't know that. WP grease has a rating of 4 out of a maximum of 6. Not bad. But, you are not using it to lubricate moving parts.

Instead, you are only using it to seal water away from your barrel and tang, so you don't find lots of rust down there if and when you ever remove the stock pins to remove the barrel from the stock.

I am also sure that there are other greases- a lot of new synthetic grease products seem to come on the market every year-- that can also work to do this kind of "water-proofing". Check products sold in the building industry used to seal exterior windows, siding, shingles, etc. Use what you have.

I have a can of Water pump grease I bought to use to grease the seals on a new "Pitcher pump" my club installed in an old well on a farmstead we rented for the club's range years ago. The water was used for washing and cleaning, but not drinking. The well was contaminated with lots of Ammonium nitrate fertilizers from the adjoining farm fields, and was unfit to drink. It wouldn't kill an adult, but it might give you a mean case of the trots! :shocked2:

I have enough grease in the can to do a dozen or 2 dozen rifles, so I need to find people to share this stuff with, so I can use it up in my lifetime. :grin:

Paul

 

[Capt. Fred]

My father learned about using grease as a rust inhibitor in the merchant marine in WW II. We lived on the coast and always had various boats and trailers that were in and out of the salt water all the time. Grease smeared all over the nuts and bolts kept them looking like hell but rust free.

My father's captain was Norwegian and was a mean old SOB. He didn't like rust on anything, so anything that would hold paint was painted frequently and everything else was greased. :thumbsup:

 

[ohio ramrod]

Old time farmers ( and many modern ones as well ) have always made it a practice to smear grease over any nut and bolt assembly to prevent the nuts from rusting on. I have removed nuts from bolts that had been exposed to the weather for years to the point that all threads outside the nut were rusted off. Yet the nuuts removed with no problems.My wife always complains when I assemble any thing I grease the nuts either with grease or antiseize. :hmm:

 

[paulvallandigham]

Thanks for the reminder, OR.

I am not claiming to come up with a NEW idea. What I wanted folks here to know was that you can actually find out if a grease will break down and run out, or "drip", and as easily as it is to do a search on the internet.

I didn't know there was such a thing as " Drip Point", until Peter and I did our research on Water Pump grease.

Packing the barrel channel with SOMETHING is nothing new. You find all kinds of stuff in the original rifle stocks. But, that doesn't tell new gunsmiths, and gun builders what is available today to use, or if its going to cause more problems using it than its worth. No one wants to solve one problem and create another. :idunno: :blah:

MY Swedish Mauser is so accurate, for such an old gun- and it really does look as bad as I attempted to describe-- that I have been intrigued with the use of water pump grease ever since I got the gun. I just didn't know how well it would stand up to HOT weather, if at all. This kind of grease( It has soap in it to make it stand up to hot water) is available in hardware stores, and auto supply stores.

It didn't cost me much when I bought a can of it 30 years ago. I hung onto the can, in case that pump needed to be re-greased every season. We were on that property for about 14 years, and that pump never saw any more grease. We few members who worked on installing it used to get a good laugh each Spring when we checked the pump for function at our April Work parties.

I stopped taking the can with me to the work days after a couple of years, figuring it would take all of 5 minutes to remove the pump from the pipe, and re-grease the "leathers" and seals, a job I could do the next time I was at the club.

 

[Flash Pan Dan]

That is very interesting. I bought a Enfield No. 4 Mark 1 ½ in factory wrap that had the barrel channel greased the way you described. It was grease in the barrel channel and under the handguard all the way to the front receiver ring. I am going to have to give this a try.

 

[MSW]

fascinating ... thanks for the post!

 

[paulvallandigham]

Its just a minor detail, and not something to ever find its way into books, but it can make a huge difference if you are hunting in bad weather. :thumbsup:

 

[longcruise]

I think the grease in your gun and Paul's may have been put there for arsenal storage rather than for protection during use.

One clue to the purpose would be to read through any of the soldier or arsenal manuals for the rifle in question. Do they authorize the soldier to tear the rifle down to the extent of removing the barrel from the stock? Is the unit armorer authorized to do so? Are there any instructions therein for the greasing of the barrel channel?

Determining the original purpose of the grease could tell a lot!

 

[paulvallandigham]

Nice idea, but I don't read a word of Swedish! :shocked2: :haha: :hmm: :surrender: :thumbsup:

If this was for "arsenal storage", why would not the part of the barrel exposed to air be also covered? And the bore???

The guns arrived with a bore that may have been lightly oiled prior to shipping, but that was all. We ran a cleaning patch down each barrel, before looking down them to determine the condition of the bores. There was-is-- not a hint of grease on the exposed metal of the barrel, or any of the other metal on the gun. Do you really think someone would only grease the barrel that is covered by wood, and not the bore, and the rest of the metal parts for storage?

And, is it reasonable to assume that someone took the time to remove the heavy grease from the exterior parts that show, and from the bore, before shipping the guns? :hmm:

The condition of the blue finish under the wood, and the sharp demarcation line between the end of the wood, and the end of the blue finish suggests that the grease has been protecting the barrel from the moment it left the factory. This is an old, Bolt Action rifle, with a straight handle. Mine was made in 1900, just 4 years after the model was adopted by the Swedish army. ( M-1896) The Swedes adopted a Semi-automatic rifle in the mid-late 50s, chambered for the same cartridge, and not the NATO round, to replace these old guns. My gun would have gone into storage some time after the new model gun was adopted.

Since all Swedish men are in their "HOMEGUARD" and are issued rifles to have in their homes, along with ammo, and do weekend work with their units every month, like our National Guard, This rifle may have lingered around until the 60s, or even later, before it was "retired" and replaced with the newer SA model.

 

[Mike Brooks]

Do you grease the barrel channel of your modern trap gun Paul? If not, why not?
I have taken apart 100's of old muzzleloading rifles and have never found grease in the barrel channel. :idunno:
I don't recommend any grease under the barrel channel.

 

[paulvallandigham]

My modern Trap shotgun is taken apart and cleaned after every shoot. The Barrel is blued. Its given a coat of oil before its returned to the action. Since the gun is a Pump, or "slide" action, not much of the barrel is protected by the forestock.

When I had an O/U shotgun, yes, I did coat the sections of the barrels under the forestock with oil or grease- depending on the weather. There are some fine synthetic greases out there. Again, because the forend of the O/U shotgun is so easy to remove, the gun is cleaned after every shoot, and the barrels re-oiled.

My grandfather's S x S 12 gauge shotgun showed evidence of grease being put on the underside of the barrel, and above the sliver forend. The gun is more than 100 years old. That is the only area of the barrels where there remained any hint of the original finish of those barrels.

Please don't mis-state my advice: I am not suggesting that you put grease on a BARE wooden barrel mortise. I prefaced my comments by recommending that the mortises be given a coat or more of good stock finish, followed by a coat of good furniture wax. Only then should grease be put in the stock mortise. :thumbsup:

If you could see the quality of blue that is evident on that old Mauser, where its been coated with grease for many years, you might be as excited as I am about how to preserve the undersides of MLing barrels from rusting, using this method. :hmm: :surrender: :thumbsup:

 

[longcruise]

Nice idea, but I don't read a word of Swedish!

Neither do I! Don't speak or read German either, but dedicated collectors of Swiss rifles have gone to great lengths to translate some of these manuals and have made them available for free download. The Swede collectors might have similar resources.

If this was for "arsenal storage", why would not the part of the barrel exposed to air be also covered? And the bore???

It may have been! The exporter or importer may have done a wipedown and clean up without removing the barreled action from the wood. I encoutered this with two Yugo Mausers that I purchased from an importer. They proudly advertised that the rifles had their arsenal storage grease removed completely..... until you dissassebled the bolt. It was still packed with arsenal storage grease.

And, is it reasonable to assume that someone took the time to remove the heavy grease from the exterior parts that show, and from the bore, before shipping the guns?

Yeah. coulda been! Not saying I'm right on this, just saying it coulda been.

Anyway, I won't be packing any of my barrel chanels with grease.