Natural geographical areas of these species are the Balkans and Southwest and Central Asia, where it grows up to slopes of the Himalayas. The trees here grow under difficult conditions and due to the low humidity are not prone to rotting and live up to 400 years. Already in ancient times man began to spread the royal walnut to other parts of the world. During the existence of the Roman Empire this tree geographically reached Northern and Western Europe and in 17th century settlers brought it to America.

Among prominent producers of walnut are ranked France, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, further it is California in North America and Chile in South America. In Central Europe, the first representatives of this kind ever appeared in the Bronze Age, the more intensive spread in walnut-tree growing dates back to the early Middle Ages.

The royal walnut (Juglans regia) is a large deciduous tree of the walnut family which grows to a height reaching up to 45 metres. The character of its crown and trunk is dependent on whether it is a cultivar or the original hardy variety and also the environment in which it grows.

The hardy varieties generally tend to have tall, slender crown and long trunk, while domesticated cultivars have a short trunk and broad crown – spherical up to expanded. Slenderness and height of trunk is promoted by the competition with other trees for acquiring light and space. Contrariwise the trees growing as solitaires are having their crowns more spread. The royal walnut is one of the most grown woody species in the world. The tree is grown for its nuts, as amenity and shielding tree, melliferous plant, or for its high quality and relatively fast-growing wood. The royal walnut root system together with several meters of trunk can over the centuries develop into gigantic proportions weighing over 10 tons.

As a manufacturer of firearms the most relevant for us is the age of the tree because this closely relates to the wood density and figure, and from this part particularly the root system. Generally speaking, the higher the age of the tree, the greater the likelihood that when the wood is cut the more pronounced figure and grain appears. It is a work of art created by nature, the quality of which is subject to beholder evaluation.

The figure is produced by the capillary rise of water through root fibres up to the crown. In the course of growth the fibres twist and after decades they gradually turn black. In these places we often see rotten wood, cracks, splits and scores of knots. For these reasons it is difficult to obtain from these places defect-free stock blank intended for rifles. Consequently, attained stock blank could cost 1000 and even more Euros.

Highly valued is stock blank with effect called birds eye, which is hidden in the tumours of hundreds years old trees.

The tumours are intergrown with scores of small knots, the appearance of stock made from such a stock blank is absolutely unique.

The trees roots often contain stones and pieces of foreign material which have to be extricated before cutting begins.
After cross-cutting of logs of the trees which are older than 100 years we see dark heartwood having distinctive colourful structure and high density of wood. Here it is possible to find a quality wood as are Colored 1,5 and 2, Dark 2,5 and higher quality as is Dark+. Relation of coloured and white wood in trees exceeding 100 years of age is 60/40. As a general rule it can be said the nearer to the roots the wood becomes more dense and heavier.

Attaching and drawing profile templates on the board requires a great experience. Insufficient skill means a bad piece, inattention in a cutwork made on a band sawing machine will be quickly reflected on hands of workers..

Stock blanks are on its ends faces dipped into hot wax, placed on the palettes and subjected to steam in the steam boxes. Steaming serves first of all as treating against insects, but also to unify the colour of stock blanks. The wood is then left outside under covered sheds for the natural dry up.

For the sake of receipt the stock blanks are planed from both sides so as to allow evaluating each piece separately in terms of figure, moisture and grain direction. The precision of cut-out shape according to profile template, thickness of the stock blank its straightness and quality are all checked.

Through applying a consistent receipt procedure we have managed to reduce a quantity of non-conforming pieces up to 2.5 %. Achieving a zero percentage is a distant goal, but due to the existence of hidden defects which cannot be detected through the most comprehensive receipt procedure this is the ideal target.

We buy walnut wood predominantly from Asia, from where we transport them in trucks, but also from North America where the walnut has a distinct quality that is demanded especially by customers of that region.

We are also often approached by inhabitants from the Czech Republic, who want to sell to us the walnut tree grown in their gardens, but these types of single purchases are not representing for us any optimum procedure and for this reason we do not realize them.

The separate chapter is denoted by the wood which is well known to all of us, i.e. beech wood. We buy it from traditional regions in Slovakia, Czech Republic, but also in Italy. It is known that for the rifle stocks designed for the Guard of Prague Castle we have used hornbeam, but we have experimented also with cherry wood and looked for colourful wood in various parts of the world such as USA, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, France, Spain, Vietnam. We as well purchase and use exotic types of wood, rosewood, palisander, ebony, and also coloury, laminated wood, the layers of which are made from birch, which is painted and wood compressed under high pressure.

High quality materials, careful receipt procedure plus experience and craftsmanship of our workers in manufacturing processes make together a first-class quality stocks used for the CZ brand of firearms such as CZ 550, CZ 527, CZ 512, CZ 452 and many others.

Ing. Stanislav ŠTEPÁNÍK,
Head of Purchase Dept.

Looking Into The Grooves Of The Rifle Barrel. Barrel Made By Owen Guns.

Part 14

Eye Balling, The Barrel Inspection

62. Check for rust pits, oil rings, hornet nests, stuck patches, stuck pull-throughs, copper fouling, lead fouling, little fury animals, lumps of copper from gilding material, or lumps of plastic from shotgun wads or just plain dirt.
Hold the firearm or barrel with the breech end near a light source sunlight or a fluoro-light holding the muzzle six inches or so from your eye, move the barrel backwards and forwards, nearer and further from your eye so that you get a good picture of the surface of the inside of the barrel. Do not just see the bright light through it and consider that its good enough, looking through the barrel is easy you have to look into the barrel, look into the walls of the barrel, try and look into the pores of the barrel, look at the rifling grooves, look to see if the edges are sharp, look to see if the bottom of the grooves are clean and look to see the machine marks in the bottom of the groves. If you cannot see machine marks, maybe your barrel was not machined at all maybe it was born in steel (look for Shepherds and a large Star in the Sky), or more likely they have been worn away, or are full of copper plating from the high velocity jacket bullets you have been sending up there.

63. Oh, the inside looks like an unlit mine tunnel, yes? Well that’s rust pitting and the barrel has to be replaced, or it is a wall hanger.
Cast a shadow up and along the inside of the barrel, is your barrel straight, make a comparison because the shadow will always be straight. Move the barrel backwards and forwards while you are looking into the barrel, now you should be able to look and focus into different sections of the barrel, look for pits or holes in the surface or places wear what should be sharp edges are smooth.

Get The Crown On The Angle And The Light Will Expose Lead or Copper Fouling.

64. Does it still look clean, well take it down, take it outside into the sunlight hold the muzzle just up from your waist and away from your body, make the sun shine into the crown of the muzzle, when that light is streaking into the barrel, look into the sides of the barrel, more than likely you will see streaks of copper or silver gilding metal or in a firearm that uses lead bullets streaks of thin lead. Or you may see Pit holes. Turn the barrel in a clock wise direction so that you can see in all sides as the light will only expose one side.

65. If your really convinced that your barrel is perfect and sinless, and you want to prove it, take the final bullet between the teeth, saw of the last inch of the muzzle re-crown the barrel, take that one inch of barrel and cut it in half long ways open the two halves of the barrel, look into each side now, under the light. The perfect looking barrel, as you used to look through it, now looks like you could have planted potatoes in the pit holes. Except for new barrels of course.

66. Now lets have a look at the breech end if you can remove the bolt or barrel, hold the Muzzle up to the light, hold the breech end about six inches from your best eye, move it backwards and forwards in the same as before looking into the barrel not just through it, when you have the knack of examining the inside of a barrel, then begin to rotate the barrel or rifle as you are still looking in to it, it’s a bit of a knack or a learned process but as it is rotating you will come across other area’s that you had not seen before and you can give them the eagle eye too.

67. If it still looks great, well you do have a rare piece, more than likely you will see shadows or streaks of fouling or the occasional little pin hole. If you think you can remove more fouling repeat all cleaning process, brushing out with solvent and removing the crud with dry patches.

68. Some barrels are harder to clean than others, some, with any brand of ammunition put though them, some are only difficult when certain combinations of manufactures components are used. I have owned and had satisfactory use out of rifles which I have had to scrub and “swab out” five times or more before I have had a clean patch come out of the barrel.

69. Some barrels even though they look perfect and clean easily, still will not shoot accurately, the man who made it might have been having a bad day. Others that look pitted and are always difficult to clean will win you prizes but they are the rare ones. When you put a tight patch up the barrel on the rod and the patch exists the muzzle with symmetrical cuts from the rifling, you know you have a new barrel and the man that made it was attentive to his profession.

This 230 year old Ferguson Rifle still shows a sharp professional finish.

Click on Firearm Safety Information

Look After Your Muzzle And Your Muzzle Will Look After You.

Part 13

Guarding the Muzzle

57. If the firearm has a fixed barrel and a bolt that cannot easily be removed the barrel has to be cleaned from the muzzle. Cleaning from the muzzle can be a problem if damage is done to the “crown” of the barrel as it will severely affect accuracy. So protecting the crown is a priority. A hard or dirty cleaning rod, rubbing on the inside of the barrel wears the critical edges where the bullet leaves the barrel. Any wear on these leading edges ruins any hope of accuracy. So to prevent this a Muzzle guard can be simply made, anything which can be a tight fit on the outside of the barrel, as an example like an empty 12 gauge cartridge case with the primer drilled out to accept the cleaning rod is a good example for a heavy barrel, the crux is finding something which centrally fits snugly on the barrel, it may be a head of a .303 case. When you have yours ready just slip it onto the rod before you screw the brush or Jag on then attach it to the muzzle and it will keep the Rod in a central position in the centre of the bore and not allow the sides of the rod to damage the crown of the barrel any wear on this important section of rifling will ruin the accuracy potential of the barrel.

Cleaning the Chamber

58. It might be the best time now to discuss what to do with all the crud, mud and residue that gets washed into the rifles chamber. Now I know you all have not got one of these, they are not available at your local gun shop and you do not use that calibre anyway but they are the most elaborate I have ever seen for the job. The Swedish Government made a chamber cleaner for the M42 b Ljungman it was brass the shape of the 6.5x 55 chamber with a thread covering its exterior. It had a brass cup hook at the end and cotton waste wound around the thread, the item could be inserted into the chamber at the breech end and circulated in a clockwise motion with a straight multi-tool which had a hole in one end that encompassed the cup hook, the rotating motion either way you turned it rotated the brass chamber cleaner.

Swedish Chamber Cleaner

59. Most shooters use a larger bronze or wire brush with some powder solvent, then wrap some cotton flannel around the brush and push in and out of the chamber until the chamber is clean. Of course if you cannot remove the bolt easily you have to introduce the rod through the muzzle (with the Muzzle guard on), pass it through to the open action, then screw on the larger chamber brush. Then pull it in and out of the chamber.

A Chamber Cleaning Brush.

Swabbing out the Barrel and Removing the Fouling.

60. After leaving the solvent in the bore for at least ten minutes, wipe the rod clean, screw on the brass jag of the suitable diameter for your bore, cut a suitable length of cotton flannel and wind it around the Jag. Enter the rod and flannel filled jag into the breech of the barrel, supporting the rod centrally with the fingers then push the rod through the barrel it should be a tight moving fit, when it gets so the patch is just poking out of the barrel stop and pull it all the way back on the first pass it may be prudent to change the flannel patch for a clean dry one as it may be very dirty. Wipe the rod clean with a dry piece of flannel.

61. Repeat the process, as the patches come out cleaner it is possible to pass the same patch up and down the barrel four or five times before changing, all this time keep your fingers near the action supporting and centralising the rod. When you finally get a dry clean patch to go up and down a few times and if it comes out fairly clean, With no green/ blue copper stains on it, it indicates that the bore is clean. With certain types of ammunition and powder there is a certain quantity of graphite mixed with the powder so no matter how many times you re-clean with solvent and dry with a flannel patch it always comes out with a gray shadow, do not be perturbed about this.

Click on Part 14. Understanding Firearm Cleaning and Preservation

Part 12
USING THE CLEANING EQUIPMENT

Using the Cleaning Rod

52. Clean the barrel, from the breech where ever you can remove the bolt from the rifle or removing the barrel from gun as in a break barrel shotgun. If you have no padded vice or a cleaning stand, place a little piece of pine board, about six inches square on the floor, this is to rest the muzzle on as you push the cleaning rod through the barrel. Pine is quite soft and will not damage the “crown”( that is the inside of the dangerous end of your barrel the “muzzle” is the outside of the end of the barrel). The wooden block gives you something to push against.

53. Screw on the correct sized Bronze (Brass) brush to the rod, apply the correct solvent to the brush, Rimfire, shotguns and low velocity pistols need only Powder/Lead Remover Solvent. High Velocity Centre rifles that use jacketed bullets need Copper Solvent (such as Whitworth’s Solvent). Rifles that have used ammunition with corrosive primers or corrosive powder also need to use Whitworth’s Solvent. Black Powder guns need hot soapy water or an ammonia/detergent solvent such as Whitworth’s. With any firearm that uses black powder or any corrosive powder or primers it should be cleaned immediately as these corrosive salts form sulfuric acid. The Whitworth solvent is ammonia based and is far more effective in neutralising the acid than hot soapy water. The water also has negative impact on steel and wood.

54. Enter the rod and brush into the chamber, and push the brush evenly through the bore until the tip touches the wood or protrudes through the muzzle, push the brush all the way through and then reverse the process and pull the rod and brush up through the bore until the brush enters the chamber, repeat the process four or five times.

55. So far as practical, try to run the rod centrally through the chamber so it will not unduly rub and wear either side, support the rod with fingers from the none pushing hand or use a rod guide. Leave for at least ten minutes for any chemical reaction, such as in the copper solvent where the two ammonia based chemicals which are separated while stored in the bottle in a thick detergent react together with the activation supplied by the brush.

56. Many subscribe to the theory that the solvent can be applied to the bore by swabbing with a patch and I will cover that in detail later on, but I believe that the bronze brush has to be preferred as besides its superior abilities in activating the chemicals and distributing them into the pores of the copper plating, they also, more easily separate the smeared lead or gilding copper from the inside of the barrel. Allowing the solvent to get between the fouling and the barrel.

A Bronze Brush activates the chemical reaction in the Barrel solvent.

Click on Part 13. Understanding Firearm Cleaning and Preservation

A Good Brand of Gun Grease

Part Eleven

External Storage of a Firearm.

48. Rusting cannot occur without oxygen, water has no shortage of it , dryness and coldness reduce the rusting process. Warmth melts your rust inhibitors and moisture speeds up the process. Try not to leave guns in any type of gun bag or case, whatever it is made of, all linings hold moisture which cannot escape. Most gun bags and cases are nearly air tight, when firearms are stored in them, it is almost always a death sentence, as the moisture which is always present in woodwork or the lining of the bag has no escape. When it evaporates with temperature changes it re-condenses itself on the cold steel surfaces, then it oxidises, it looks like rust it tastes like rust, believe it, it is rust.

Great for a Carry Bag, But All Gun Bags Destroy Guns If They Are Stored In Them.

49. For the best protective results use a lanolin based gun grease for long term storage, it may be wise to apply the grease in a warmed liquid state, (do not cook it and let it catch fire they are all flammable) but just left in a warm place. If the warmed lanolin had a small percentage of cleaned beeswax in its melted state mixed with it when it solidified in the barrel the wax may help to keep it in place and increase its melting temperature so that it all did not run out on a hot day. The mixture of beeswax is only a suggestion, I have not experimented in the process yet, its just one of the things I would try if I had to put a firearm away for a very long time. Keep in mind that wax products should not be applied to internal area’s, as the wax may solidify’s too hard and makes it too difficult to remove.

Keep Oil Off

50. Remember keep oil and grease off wood work as petroleum oils turn wood black and rots it, keep oil away from white ivory sight beads, it turns them yellow, or stock inserts as it seems to turn them brown and shrink and crack them. Keep oil away from soft rubber butt pads as it breaks down rubber as well.

Before & After. Two Long Toms, Lee Efield No 1s. Oil Oozing from the Top One, Stock Blackened by Gun Oil.

Remove Oil Before Shooting (Repeated warning due to importance)

51. Remove all oil and grease from barrels before shooting, as it acts as a hydraulic obstruction, the worst that could happen is that the barrel could explode and send bits of flying steel in the direction of the operator, best thing would be that it leave a series of rings,”called oil compression rings” in your barrel, of course it would be ruined but you would have survived the experience. A dry patch on the jag and a rod will remove most of it kerosene or solvent may be needed for the thicker grease.

Nice Sling but Obstructions Kill Guns and People.

Click on Part 12. Understanding Firearm Cleaning and Preservation

Check Make Sure You Take the Storage Grease Out Before Firing.

Part Ten

Protecting the Bore, Storing, Not Boring, I Hope?

43. The barrel has to be clean and dry when its expected to be used for the competition or hunt, always clean out storage grease or any oil before going out shooting. Discharging a firearm with a coating of oil on the inside of the barrel, acts as a barrel obstruction, which causes hydrostatic compression rings inside the barrel. They are impossible to remove and as the bore diameter is greater in these areas, gas may burn through between the bullet jacket and the bore causing accuracy loss and damaging the barrel even to a greater extent.

For Short Term Storage.

44. When the internals of the firearm have been throughly cleaned, coat a clean flannel patch with a light good quality gun oil as it gets into the pores of the barrel steel, and then push it through the barrel from the chamber to the muzzle, make sure that it’s a good tight fit. This is the most efficient way to spread the oil into the grooves and over the lands squeezing the oil into the pores of the metal. Spraying down the barrel with a pressurised can is probably better than nothing at all but with that oil goes lots of air. Within seconds the light oil has run off and will have commenced to soak into your wood stock, rotting it from the inside out. Within minutes evaporation rapidly globulises and the protection is minimal.

For Long Term Storage

45. When the internals of the firearm have been throughly cleaned, coat a clean flannel patch with a light good quality gun oil. Then push it through the barrel from the chamber to the muzzle, make sure that it is a good tight fit then repeat the procedure with a good lanolin based gun grease on the same patch. Lanolin has been used for firearm storage grease for ions. Most of the Armies of the world, (China seems to be the exception and uses a grease made from peanut oil) use combinations of Lanolin and Whale Oil, non of them use mineral or petroleum based oils, Lanolin is an animal oil derived from Sheep’s wool.

46. The problems with using grease as a protective coating is that it does not adhere, or stick in all places to the metal, there are air locks (bubbles of air) which hold humidity and moisture, from the eye of the applier. It looks like a continuous coating but as the grease has no penetration qualities (into the pores of the metal), one never knows what lies beneath it. That is why we should either mix a light oil with the grease or apply a light penetrating oil to the surface first.

47. When greasing barrels prior to storage, use a patch on the jag and soak patch in a light oil. push this through the barrel. Repeat the process, except apply the grease to the patch as this is pushed through the barrel it mixes the grease and oil, distributes and spreads the lanolin into the grooves of the rifling and over the lands. Pumping it into the microscopic pores of the steel.
Spray products can never replace this technique. For storage of all internal parts lanolin based gun grease are the best, they have been used for this purpose for more than a hundred years and nothing as yet in the 21st century can compete with the oil from a sheep’s back.

You Might Not Shoot Your Pride and Joy Very Often, But It Could Be Useless If You Do Not Store It Properly.

Click on Part 11. Understanding Firearm Cleaning and Preservation

Stop Rust, Gunshirer uses a wax coating to protect from Rust.

Part Nine

Rust Inhibiting Products

40.There are many products on sale in the gun trade for resisting rust, most suffer from ambitious advertising blurbs that are proved to wash away on the first downpour at the range. Others are for external use on the firearm only. I have been looking for the ideal rust inhibitor since 1959 and still have not found it. Rust is the greatest destroyer of firearms, it even beats governments, its a relentless 24 hours a day killer of guns and once it establishes itself by making a pit hole, the steel or stainless steel, that it has eaten into can never be replaced so it is very important to resist it.

41. Twenty five years ago I had a hunting partner and everything he touched turned rusty within hours due to the salt content in his perspiration, we used to hunt regularly in the swamps or morass which were situated to the rear of the sand hills and Ocean beach in Victoria. Blood is very corrosive and it was impossible to keep it off on our guns as we slung ducks over the same shoulder the gun was on. During the years shooting those swamps I tested every known brand of preservative and cleaned my guns within minutes of getting back to camp with the concentration and diligence of one of those Tibetan monks who makes sand pictures. I still ended up with silver guns as I had to keep removing the rust with wire wool. I also had the fortune of hunting in the Victorian Mountains and sometimes used my rifle as a third leg when fording rivers and a jug, when un-slinging the rifle from my shoulder during frequent drowning’s from the heavens.

42. Again the war against rust was relentless and seemed un-winnable. Then I came across a magic product called Gunshiner which solved more than one problem, it was intended as the name would suggest as a wood polishing product that preserved wood, but it also could be used for sealing the pores of the external metal parts with a hard wax finish. Once it was rubbed on the steel, it penetrated to the bare metal, then dried, to a sticky state which allows you to polish the steel to a nice shine with a dry cloth, this thin polished coat was an excellent rust inhibitor, but if it was left in the sticky state to dry into a solid thick wax coating, for storage or hunting it was twice as good. I have had firearms stored in sub-tropical Queensland for over twenty years with this product and it has never let me down once. Its only draw back is it cannot be used on any internal or working parts of the firearm as it will gum them up. Mineral turps then has to be applied to remove it.

Gunshiner Great for Oil Finished Srocks

Click on Part 10. Understanding Firearm Cleaning and Preservation

The Good Oil Gun Oil.

Part Eight

Oils Ain’t Just Oils

Lubricating Oil

37. Take some time to chose a good lubricating oil for the moving parts of a firearms mechanism. It can also be used for a short term rust preventative in the barrel, when the firearm is being used every few days. There are many unsatisfactory oils on the market. Gun oil for lubricating should not be two thin like many of the spray on lubricants as they seem to run off very quickly or evaporate not long after they are sprayed. Petroleum based oil rots wood work and dissolves some plastics, rots rubber grips on pistols and butt pads on rifles, so stay away from all of them. Some thicker oils gum up and stick some of the moving parts together, some evaporate in hot weather leaving a gummy residue, some solidify in cold weather. In Australia we do not often incur low temperatures but if so remove all traces of oil on the moving parts and use a small amount of powdered graphite as oil congeals in freezing weather.

38. In extreme dusty conditions which can be common in central Australia again dry the firearm parts and apply a small quantity of powdered graphite it is messy and black but it is a good lubricant.
The best oil for lubricating firearms is synthetic oil as it has no negative impact on wood or plastic, it is not too thin and hangs about in the right places. Additives of Molybdenum disulfide decrease friction and helps triggers and moving parts work together so much more smoothly.

Cleaning Oils

39. Some of the thin ‘spray on de-greasing’ Wonder Oils are good for cleaning in hard to get areas as they are thin and spread and get under years of grime and crud to the metal, separate it and quickly make a junk rifle look new. This is only temporary as those pressurised oils quickly globulise, leaving dry areas that you easily cannot see. They also evaporate quickly and are easily removed, just a rub on the inside liner of a gun bag and for all the good it will do, you may as well not bothered to waste your time and money. For your pride and joy, you want an oil that needs hot water to get it off, you need an oil that gets into the pores of the metal and clings to it. This is called Gun Oil and it has a high temperature rating, working guns do get hot.

Click on Part 9. Understanding Firearm Cleaning and Preservation