Finale for the Hakim

Pictures of the finished Hakim!

A closeup of the new finish and cleaned up action. The Hakims originally came with a rubber shell deflector on the charging handle, but finding any in original condition is impossible. 

I wrapped the charging handle in some double sided foam tape and then wrapped it tightly in electrical tape, turned out great until I need to remove it to reblue the cover on the action; surface rust has developed for some arcane reason and I won't stand for it. 

Hakim pt.2

Posting up the next batch of pictures here, these detail my work of stripping the stock and refinishing the damn thing. The finish is apparently easy to chip but remarkably resistant to stripping, something that might pose a problem when I attempt to redo the damned thing, but we shall see.

The stock removed from the action, ready to begin the process. 

The first round of stripping did remarkably little to the finish, I began to worry that the project would drag on far longer than I intended. 

The wood was making progress, but you can see how the finish wasn't coming off evenly, a problem I wasn't able to solve entirely.

Very noticeable patches of finish that wouldn't come off...I think this was the third or fourth scrubbing by now.

For whatever reason, the finish just wouldn't come out of this area. My best guess is that oil from the maintenance of the action seeped into the stock over the years, as is the tendency of the tang area of the Mosins; this makes evening out the color of a stock quite difficult. 

Final stage of the stock before I began staining it. In hindsight, I should've hit it with more Denatured Alcohol to coax the last of the finish out, maybe even lightly bleached the wood to lighten it up, but I was well over the project by this point, it was in its third week, far longer than I like.

Pics of the (for the moment) finished rifle up next!

Pics for the Hakim project (finally)

Work has sucked of late, so haven't been able to do anything with the site, finally uploading the pics of my projects to date.


Pre-work shots of the rifle:

That 191 painted onto the stock took me three hours to remove by scrubbing with Denatured Alcohol.

The finish was beat to hell on the rifle, reminded me of most of the Mosins I get.

Wasn't sure if this was a cartouche or a dent; figured I'd leave it alone either way as it would be impossible to steam out.

Yet another damned number painted onto the stock. Note the huge gouges in the wood, when I redo this rifle again I'm going to try and steam them out as much as possible. 

More of the damage to the finish and wood, the rifle looked like it'd been used as a boat anchor. There was some sort of grease in the entire gas system, but piston won't turn to screw out of the gas tap so I can't actually remove it at this point.


Shots of the refinishing process to come. Apparently reached the end of the allowable post. 

First Project; the Hakim.

    Taking advantage of a few days off after a crippling back injury, I intend to start refinishing my Egyptian Hakim rifle that I bought last month. As is typical with that type, the stock is beat to hell and the nasty shellac-looking finish is scarred and blotchy...reminds me of the finish you find on surplus Mosins, except this is even darker and is hiding what appears to be wonderful wood.


     I'm hoping that stripping the stock will reveal excellent wood that can be steamed and sanded, that I might get rid of some (not all, I prefer my rifles to have a little character) of the more egregious damage to the rifle. At first glance there don't appear to be any cartouches at all, but there are likely some hiding under the dark finish and I'll have to decide if they're worth keeping or not; we aren't talking a byf Mauser here.


Pics coming soon.

Up and Running.

Hello! Allow me to preface all subsequent posts by thanking, in advance, those who visit the site and can appreciate the work I do. I welcome most commentary, but I wish to make clear I have no tolerance for any unnecessary or tasteless negativity or harassment. It's my intent that everyone can enjoy this site and my work,hopefully take away something positive from my projects and the history I present.

With all that said, I intend to update this site as often as I can, but working second shift does wonders for one's schedule, so in the interest of maintaining interest in this site, I intend to update the site at least two nights a week with bits of firearms and related military/engineering/social history, and posts detailing my ongoing projects as time permits.

Thanks once again for giving this blog a look! Enjoy your stay.