My neighbor asked me if I could fix his two .22 rifles he uses to shoot rats, coons, and wood chucks. Just like my property, these varmints get a free pass if they just don't undermine things, eat chickens, and stay out of the garden. Anyway, these two sorry specimens, (an old 10-22 and a Remington Model 33), received exactly the same loving care as a claw hammer or a crow bar. I stripped, cleaned, and mounted a scope on the 10-22, (he mentioned he just can't see the sights anymore), at got it zeroed and chewed out a dime size group at 25 yards and returned that one the same day.
The Model 33 needed more attention. I wish now I had saved every bit of lead and crud out of it and put that on my digital scale. Apparently the grand father he inherited it from used bird shot in the barn to kill "sputzies" and I never saw so much lead in a .22. The ring ahead of the chamber had to be squeezing a solid bullet down to about .215". No wonder he told me he couldn't hit the hill across the road with it. Eventually I got it cleaned to bare metal. Cleaned up the action, (more crud), and bolt, put it in the stock, tightened the stock bolt and.....it would not cock. What???? I finally realized the trigger was hitting the trigger guard and preventing it from cocking. I never did determine what the reason for that was, but the solution was to grind enough off the tip of the trigger to clear the guard. I drifted the front sight to get windage correct as the rear was already off center and once zeroed, gnawed the 10 ring right out of a pistol target at 25 yards. When I returned the rifle yesterday my neighbor said it wouldn't cock for years if you tightened the stock bolt!
There was some Bondo as a stock repair where at one time their may have been a peep sight installed. The elevator is missing but since it hits 2" high at 25 yards already an elevator was not going to help. He is just tickled and I enjoyed the experience too. I gave him the scope, mount, and a 525 pack of Federal 36 gr. hollow points that I used for zeroing. He keeps us in eggs and refuses to take a dime for using his dumpster, saving us a considerable monthly bill. They live about 600 yards away and don't mind my shooting in the slightest. His wife is a County Board member and they are just plain good neighbors!
It has finally stopped raining and I have a good sized dead red elm down along one of my field roads. In the process of dropping it I screwed up my Husquavarna 350. I need to get my Stihl 036 sharpened up and go block that up, split it, and add that to next Winter's wood pile today. Boy, does sunshine ever look good. The sucker run is just getting started, and I have a request for a cooler full from an elderly farmer who like to pickle a couple dozen every Spring. It is going to be a couple days for the mud to drop in the river though.
Now that I have the Kidd rifle up and running, it is time to start doing some serious ammo testing. No boredom here at Thorn Hollow.