Budget Scout Rifle Build

This post is the first in a series of posts to build a budget scout rifle. This project has a few constraints - it has to be inexpensive, for starters. It also has to be useful in survival situations, etc. I would have loved to build a .22LR scout rifle, and may sometime in the future, but for now these weapons are selling for a pretty ridiculous premium. The basic weapon I will be using as my platform is the Chinese type 53.

This weapon is a version of the Mosin Nagant carbine, and includes a folding bayonet which is totally cool. It is chambered in 7.72x54R, which is a very powerful round. There aren't too many animals on the North American continent that would survive this round. It is probably too hot for go-to survival weapon, but makes an excellent scout rifle that has the power to penetrate ballistic vests and most automobiles. The gun cost $119, and came packed with about 4 lbs. of cosmoline.

Step one with these weapons is to remove the cosmoline. I accomplished this by breaking the weapon down, and heating the individual parts in the oven on a low temperature.

There are some good videos on YouTube explaining how to break this rifle down, so I won't post those details here. The cosmoline melted off, and after a quick wipe-down with an old cotton shirt, it was clean. Not too difficult, but very time consuming. The next step is to strip the varnish. I used Citristrip because it is not very harsh. Let it soak, then scrub it off with a scotch-brite pad.

That's all I've gotten done so far; I'll keep you posted.

AR-15 Lower Receiver Build