I have a ton of .22 bolt action rifles but not one of these. 1948 Model 75 with Lyman Super Targetspot 15X scope. Metal, bore, and scope are in good condition. The wood needs some attention, someone slathered what looks like poly finish all over it. I will be stripping that off soon. Triggers aren't great on these and not much can be done to help. Hope it turns out to be a good shooter. That scope(15X) is amazingly clear and sharp.

Very cool rifle. Good luck with the project!

Thanks. A little good luck will help!

Used a heat gun to remove the poly finish that had been applied. Used just enough heat to soften the finish, and a Hyde scraper tool. It worked a lot better than I thought it might. Will use sand paper to finish up the removal and refinish with Tru-Oil.

Worked on the trigger today. With this style trigger where one spring does everything you're not going to get a benchrest trigger. I polished every piece that had any interaction with the trigger pull. Even polished the safety and the pin that holds it all together. Then clipped a coil off the spring and polished the hole the spring rides in. With all this the trigger pulled went from 8 lbs + to 5-1/2 lbs. Not what I hoped for but from what I have read that's about all there is, short of finding a lighter spring. It's easy enough to change if I can find one.

Making some progress on the stock refinish. The first picture below is after 3 coats of mineral spirits/Tru Oil mixture has dried and been buffed with 0000 steel wool. The next one is after the first coat of Tru Oil alone has been applied. There was only one divit in the wood and that was just above the trigger guard, I chose not to repair it, after all it is 77 years old and should have some character marks.

Looking good - luvs me some Tru Oil

Me too. Hard to screw it up.

Think I'm about done with the finish.

That looks good

That looks great. Can you go over your tru oil process? I’ve only used it once or twice and that was 40 years ago. Holy crap really? I’m old

After the old finish was removed I hand sanded the stock with 150,220,320 grit sandpaper. I wiped the stock clean with a paper towel, and then wiped it with a tack rag. I then applied a 50/50 mix of mineral spirits and Tru Oil, before it dried I wet sanded it with 320 to create a slurry of sawdust and the Tru Oil mixture. Then wiped it across the grain with a micro fiber. This is to fill the wood grain. I did this 3 times letting it dry 24 hours between coats. Then I started the Tru Oil only application. I went over the surface with 0000 steel wool, you can also use white Scotchbrite pad for this. Then using light application of Tru Oil rubbed in thoroughly with my hands. Wait 24 hours and do it again. I stopped there but you could probably add a couple more coats. Plenty of variations on this procedure but that is what I did on this one.

Update with the finished product. She looks ready for another 77 years now.

The stock looks great.

Thanks, it was a fun project. Time to go shooting now.

Looks great. Nice job!

Some better pictures of the finished project. After drying I polished it with Birchwood Casey Stock Sheen and then a final coat of Ren. wax.

First shots with the Model 75 project. Not to shabby considering the 7-8 pound trigger. Since shooting this target I found a spring at Ace Hardware that got the trigger pull down to 5 lbs. Not ideal. Shot at 25 yards with Lapua ammo 8 rounds and yes I did pull that one to the left. The bullseye is 1/2" for reference.

Update on the Model 75. I think this rifle had the wrong bolt in it when I bought it. The trigger pull was incredibly heavy and it would not reliably extract a spent round. I found a known 75 bolt and purchased it. When I looked it over I immediately saw the firing pin area that interfaces with the sear was totally different and the extractors were not the same either. So I installed the new bolt and right away the trigger pull dropped by over 2 pounds. Today I took it out to shoot it and had no extraction problems. The trigger is much better and the old rifle groups pretty well. Now time to do some fine tuning.