Sneak peek at that G41...New Photos

[petersen43]

This rifle was posted here a few weeks back by a curious owner and after a brief negotiation, some grainy photos and nail biting anticipation it's finally made it home safely. I postponed a trip to Virginia by a day so I could pick this up from my ffl before we left.
Just had enough time to snap a few photos before locking it up in the safe for the next week. This will give me some time to stomach the fresh wrench marks on the nose cone.
The op/po thoroughly disassembled the rifle and ended up shipping it with the dust cover loose as he couldn't figure out how to reinstall it. I'm thankful he did, rather than potentially damage anything trying to force it. It's now safely back in the action.
Aside from the unnecessary damage however I'm happy with the rifle. Stock is unsanded and numbers matching with just minor damage here and there. The bore is nice with bright lands and grooves. I'll follow up with a thread when I desolder the strip of metal on the lower band and solder removal on the front one unless someone has a compelling reason why I shouldn't.
I expect the soldered areas will clean up with some boiling & carding and have the bands back to normal.
I've been collecting for 25 years and this admittedly is my first G41. The milled action cover is un-numbered which surprised me. Is that typical of Walther '41s?

 

[CRH113]

If you can, can you get a closeup of the cartouches and other stock markings. Those markings on the nose cone hurt to see, did he just force it off and not bother pushing the button and rotate??

 

[petersen43]

If you can, can you get a closeup of the cartouches and other stock markings. Those markings on the nose cone hurt to see, did he just force it off and not bother pushing the button and rotate??

Not sure what happened...I'll be nice and chalk the marks up to impatience, I suspect the button wasnt noticed at first.
I have these shots of the stock markings in the phone, I'll do a better shoot when I get back. It would be nice if we could post larger photos here.

 

[mdarnell19]

Glad it worked out for you. I wasn’t willing to risk it.

 

[petersen43]

Removing the brass strip soldered to the lower band and the solder from the upper band was uneventful, but it is done. I used a scrap Mauser forend to support the bands while I worked on them.
The biggest part of restoring the surface wasn't the solder removal but the rust that had blistered up around these areas. I scraped, boiled and carded the rust until the surface texture was consistent around the bands. Any light file marks visible were left there during surface prep whenever the strips were originally soldered to the bands. I didn't make any attempt to remove the file marks yet, they're not overly offensive.
I also didn't attempt to blue the bright areas left beneath the solder, just boiled the bands and carded them on the wheel. I don't mind how they look now. Overall the rifle cleaned up nicely and aside from the careless marks left on the muzzle cone and triggerguard, is in very nice condition with subtle brown highlights.