Hi All,

Well the New Year is well under way and the project has started in earnest. Due to the Christmas / New Year period, some of the components were slow to arrive but have now made it safely to our shores. Alex has been very productive and in my last post I showed the barrel having the various changes that needed to be done before the real work could start with vigor.

In this update, the Front Banded Sight has been fitted with a small amount of barrel protruding so as to allow the barrel to be re-crowned if ever it became necessary due to one-self taking a tumble (God forbid) along with the Sling Eye.

This next section shows the piece of “Raw” steel for the Quarter rib sitting on the barreled action awaiting the “Magical” hands of Alex Beer.

Like any artistic work, a lot of trial fitting is done, smoking the part to show “High” spots, more filing until the right fit is made.

Finally, the steel can be soldered onto the barrel but it is still in a semi finished condition.

Once that is complete, the Rib is then machined to it’s final shape and a Dovetail cut into it so that the rear sight can be fitted. This Dovetail is 27 Ľ” from the sight to the centre outer edge of the recoil pad. This distance or close to it is best suited for “Older” eyes and with this distance older people are supposed to be able to align the open sights more readily. The fixed sight is Zeroed to 50 yards whereas the folding leaf is Zeroed to 100yds.

Although the front sight and rib will have stippling done to them, Alex has suggested that he will do this just prior to the “Rust Bluing” which is after the stock has been completed. The next 3 photos gives a close up of the Front sight, the Rear sight and the side profile of the Rib. To date, the metal finish is done to 400 grit.

Well, in about a week the CZ 550 will leave “Lonnie” heading for the Big Smoke on the mainland (Melbourne) but will return to "Lonnie" once the stock has been finished, until then this is how it looks in the original stock which I will have refinished in oil and use as “Beater” stock. Whilst in Melbourne Ross Waghorn who is renown for his exhibition stock work will take charge and turn my wonderful blank into a work of art. Shortly, Ross Waghorn will have his own website up and running and has asked my permission to use the making of my stock in a Step by Step details for all prospective customers to see how much work is involved. One it is up and running, I will give the link for those that may be interested.

Until next time,

Cheers for now,

Jeff Gray