Romanian contract VZ24 Cleanup

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GunnyUSMC

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Over the years I’ve picked up a few VZ24 Mausers, I have seven of them now.
Romanian contract VZ24’s have a two letter prefix at the beginning of the SN#. The first letter is a block number. There were 25,000 guns per block. The second letter is an R, which stands for Romania.
Romania adopted the VZ24 in the 1920’s . The first two years of production the rifles had the royal crest for the king of Romania. This rifle was most likely made in the second year of production. It has a scrubbed royal crest.
This rifle has been sitting in my attic since the floor of 2016. I took in down the other day because, I have a plan for it, but it’s just a little to dirty so, it will get a little clean up.
It’s a little rough, but the plan is to just clean and make any repairs that are needed.
B26543C7-8916-479D-BE3B-CAF67FEB2BCD.jpeg B2F7C160-BC15-4474-A6B9-733DEAC9B4E9.jpeg

The handguard has a few cracks at the rear.
0C334715-4B82-427E-B2D6-6A73F2181BA0.jpeg 78C9F915-7BB5-4793-A177-02FDD2988C36.jpeg

If you look close you can see small shiny dots. Those are bumps of dried cosmoline on the surface of the stock.
C5D1907F-89C4-4F98-B0ED-35FFFA6F4D12.jpeg 7CFD8D46-992E-4302-B580-92F836CF39A4.jpeg 1C881922-D238-4F6C-82D8-0F82C3EA70F8.jpeg E7053329-216A-4E05-A745-84F4CA99B158.jpeg C6943A64-CD59-411A-B747-2A8360320140.jpeg

The stock will be scrubbed clean of the dirt and some of the soaked in cosmoline will be removed.
No sanding will be done. I’ll Bone the stock after it is cleaned.
 
Very cool...... That one looks like it has the potential to look a lot nicer. Are you gonna post some of that process? A little bit of TLC could go a long way on that old VZ.
 
Over the years I’ve picked up a few VZ24 Mausers, I have seven of them now.
Romanian contract VZ24’s have a two letter prefix at the beginning of the SN#. The first letter is a block number. There were 25,000 guns per block. The second letter is an R, which stands for Romania.
Romania adopted the VZ24 in the 1920’s . The first two years of production the rifles had the royal crest for the king of Romania. This rifle was most likely made in the second year of production. It has a scrubbed royal crest.
This rifle has been sitting in my attic since the floor of 2016. I took in down the other day because, I have a plan for it, but it’s just a little to dirty so, it will get a little clean up.
It’s a little rough, but the plan is to just clean and make any repairs that are needed.
View attachment 840091 View attachment 840092

The handguard has a few cracks at the rear.
View attachment 840093 View attachment 840094

If you look close you can see small shiny dots. Those are bumps of dried cosmoline on the surface of the stock.
View attachment 840095 View attachment 840096 View attachment 840097 View attachment 840098 View attachment 840099

The stock will be scrubbed clean of the dirt and some of the soaked in cosmoline will be removed.
No sanding will be done. I’ll Bone the stock after it is cleaned.


Nice score!
 
Very cool...... That one looks like it has the potential to look a lot nicer. Are you gonna post some of that process? A little bit of TLC could go a long way on that old VZ.
Yes. I have some more pics and will post some tomorrow.
Here is a link to the two M1 Garands I cleaned up last year. It covers everything from cleaning to step by step instructions on applying BLO.
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/a-little-road-trip-to-the-cmp-south-store.835226/
 
Sometimes you can’t really tell how dirty a gun is until you start to take it apart. In these pics you can see the dirt coming loose as the screws are removed.
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As you can see, the inside of the stock wasn’t all that bad except where the cleaning rod channel is.
9AC7558E-9473-475B-9847-B25FC81EEFA1.jpeg

The action area was pretty dirty and oily.
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There was dirt between the edges of the buttplate and the stock
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I applied the cleaner and lightly scrubbed the stock. You can see what looks almost like mud. Well, it is mud. This is the dirt that was on the stock. Some people like to call it patina, but it’s just dirt.
47365470-B29D-41B7-8FB0-BB77AAA9FCBA.jpeg B2B52B52-50BD-4D9C-A62A-8E71587FEB10.jpeg 79C9336C-303E-43AA-B406-6B5D949F999F.jpeg

After lightly scrubbing the stock I washed it down with water and then dried it with a towel. It was then placed in the shop to dry.
Here it is after the first cleaning.
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As you can see in this pic, there is some finish left on the stock
C92A6E9A-C2BA-46A8-91AA-A3222480365E.jpeg

You can also see the SN number a little better.
BA38149E-7550-4D2F-A8E8-6F35BEFF302D.jpeg
 
-Reminds me of a Turkish 1888/05 I picked up a while back. It looked like it had been rolled in sawdust after being dipped in BLO. That cleaned up pretty well, but if you tipped the barrel up and down it sounded like a rain stick. Once I got the barrel sleeve off I found out why - there was about a quarter-pound of sand in there.
I wonder if it had been in there since Gallipoli... .
 
I have the handguard cleaned and you can see the damage much better.
2152445D-1AF8-4E2D-9661-32F365346150.jpeg B61484F6-B520-4F8C-AF4D-1972D37F28CF.jpeg

I soaked the end of the handguard in denatured alcohol because it was oil soaked. With the oil removed the epoxy will stick to the wood. I’m going to try and finish the repair tonight. I’m going to try and get it done in two steps. Fix the cracks and then reinforce the repair.
I’ll take some pics of the work.
C9567426-2847-4F9B-A247-093135EC3F5E.jpeg EC51E40A-F0E3-4B04-A4A7-F52999841390.jpeg
 
Here’s what will be done to repair the handguard.
Due to the curved top and flat bottom, it’s hard to clamp a handguard and close the cracks. An old Gunsmith taught me how to use a piece of wood and wax coated string to clamp and close the crack.
E5D4ACFD-8018-441C-B815-E73A62874C7D.jpeg

Wax paper is used to cover the piece of wood and it’s placed on the bottom of the handguard.
C6FC3C0C-2C3F-4D5F-B296-AFD0AA1035D3.jpeg

The waxed string is wrapped in a figure eight. This will pull down and squeeze the sides together at the same time.
77C5D2C1-8E76-411B-8ED8-1ED6B4EA80FA.jpeg
 
Do you try to separate the wood as much as possible to allow glue to soak in before wrapping with the string? I have a Mauser that has some cracked wood and was wondering. Thank you for the denatured alcohol trick, do you soak it or just apply liberally?
 
Here’s what will be done to repair the handguard.
Due to the curved top and flat bottom, it’s hard to clamp a handguard and close the cracks. An old Gunsmith taught me how to use a piece of wood and wax coated string to clamp and close the crack.
View attachment 840352

Wax paper is used to cover the piece of wood and it’s placed on the bottom of the handguard.
View attachment 840354

The waxed string is wrapped in a figure eight. This will pull down and squeeze the sides together at the same time.
View attachment 840355
Any reason that you don't use surgical tubing?
 
Do you try to separate the wood as much as possible to allow glue to soak in before wrapping with the string? I have a Mauser that has some cracked wood and was wondering. Thank you for the denatured alcohol trick, do you soak it or just apply liberally?
I flex the crack to get the epoxy to work it's way into the crack. There are times when it's best to just finish the break.
I have some more pics of the repair that I'll post when I get home today.
Any reason that you don't use surgical tubing?
I do use surgical tubing at times, but sometimes its a little to thick and the thin wax coated string lets you see your work better.
 
I prefer Acraglas, but I’m out . Devcon clear 2 Ton epoxy with the 30 minute set time is my second choice. You don’t want something 5hat cures faster because, you won’t have much time to work with it and it needs a little time to soak into the wood.

509DD36A-1E06-419C-BFAD-09ADAD172B47.jpeg

Once the epoxy is mixed, apply it to the cracks.
66B0887D-EF7C-4B36-85F2-A74E7BE46A26.jpeg 43DDCEA9-3713-4119-A1F2-5BCC2A390DAC.jpeg

Flex the crack as much as you can to work the epoxy into the crack.
1517B965-C479-460B-9970-E5C361D8FC70.jpeg

You can see the epoxy coming out from the other side.
A10473DC-064A-4125-AB4C-6AEDEF24A4BB.jpeg

Once the epoxy has been applied I wrap it up.
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704FAF92-D759-4E26-A544-F80F23029F0F.jpeg

Here it is after a couple of hours
D9482DFE-D301-4D06-8F30-FB45A3C10D75.jpeg 4E8DE13A-1928-4F99-B20C-B75E8FC3BDD2.jpeg
 
I, also, was going to ask about the surgical tubing, but was taught a new trick with the wood and string! Thanks.... now, do you grind away any excess on the bottom with a Moto-Tool or is there room for it on the bottom?
 
I, also, was going to ask about the surgical tubing, but was taught a new trick with the wood and string! Thanks.... now, do you grind away any excess on the bottom with a Moto-Tool or is there room for it on the bottom?
I use a combination of files and a Dermal tool to clean up after the epoxy has cured.
Here’s the handguard after the cleanup.
B3E0CFA9-7B42-44D6-838F-95A7897ADC9D.jpeg BA25ABCE-8EEE-4C6A-A000-74E5853534B1.jpeg

The handguard will hold up as is, but I like to reinforce my repairs just in case.
I’m going to start on that right now and should have some more pics shortly.
 
Only seven? For shame! I have zero and I like every picture you share. Thanks. Your part of the only reason I hang out here. Mausers are smooth and cool. I am going on a work trip to Germany this year. Be about 60 miles from the CZ border. Can't wait.
 
Well I’m still waiting for the epoxy to get hard enough so that I can clean up the area. Here are pics of the reinforcement.
I cut a channel in the thin area so that I can epoxy some fiberglass thread in.
979AE7D0-8F2F-42D2-8BCF-98C62DAC9878.jpeg 55314146-9700-4EE5-B1F6-94F8893A84FC.jpeg

Epoxy resin is applied to the channel and then the fiberglass thread is pushed in.
0BF2BA8A-04A8-4C60-A4F3-5F83D10640B6.jpeg


A little more resin is placed on top and allowed to cure. This area will need to be trimmed to the original contour so that it fits on the rifle. Once the resin is hard enough, it will only take a minute or two to dress it up. 59F43229-E05F-4BBD-BDCC-7299CF03FC17.jpeg
 
I just finished the repairs to the handguard.

E9B8AEE3-FE73-441C-AAC8-FFE728621CBB.jpeg

One of the screw holes for the barrel clip needed to be drilled.
05C0CC28-A6E6-44FF-B0B3-683019A44726.jpeg

Now it’s all done. I’m going to clean the handguard a little more to even the color out. I’ll just wipe it down with denatured alcohol tonight and again tomorrow. That should be enough to even it out.
7FA00D94-644B-4A48-B41A-DBB8D153710C.jpeg
 
There's a whole world of GunnyUSMC's work, advice, and guidance that disappeared over on surplusrifleforum.com when the database went kaput. He's helped me with many stock repairs. I've done the exact repair on the handguard on my first VZ-24. And my 2nd. Maybe it's a design flaw. :D <moment of silence for the bits that went to the grand bit-bucket in the sky> :(

Matt
 
There's a whole world of GunnyUSMC's work, advice, and guidance that disappeared over on surplusrifleforum.com when the database went kaput. He's helped me with many stock repairs. I've done the exact repair on the handguard on my first VZ-24. And my 2nd. Maybe it's a design flaw. :D <moment of silence for the bits that went to the grand bit-bucket in the sky> :(

Matt
Yes, There were a lot of stickies over at SRF that were lost. I was about to have a CD made when my home computer crashed.
 
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