Armory Sponsor
Posted: 8/19/2025 10:10:40 PM EDT
|
Picked up a BL-22 standard to convert into a take down version. Having a steel frame lever gun makes the project easier to modify and the Browning is a great , solid little rifle. My BL-22 has more surface wear & tear than actual firing use.  After looking around there is little info on taking the barrel off a BL-22 but since it went together it has to come apart. The receiver is thin walled and I milled a support block and pressed it inside the receiver then clamped my action wrench to the receiver sides. Barrel was clamped in my milling machine vise. The barrel is a tight fit and I would guess between 50~100 Ft. Lbs. breaking it lose. I soaked it in Kroil for a couple days and decided to give it a try and it came out with the action wrench without issue. Barrel thread is 5/8-18 threads with a close mating fit.     I used a standard size 5/8-18 tap to chase the threads so the barrel and receiver screw together by hand.  Now that the barrel screws into the receiver by hand its clocked a few degrees off center from the lack of torquing it tight and on center. I need to remove material from the receiver face or the barrel shoulder until they clock inline with each other. Looking at the barrel face the bolt was making contact on the RH side of the barrel breech face , it might have been slightly out of perfect alignment but I will fix that. You can see it hand tight and slightly past 12 O'clock , it need to be on center.  |
|
Getting the hand tight barrel alignment correct: Minimal metal removal required and use of hand tools. A quality hand file and bench stone. Using a protractor I needed to rotate the barrel ( hand tight ) about 4 degrees or rotation.  The barrel thread is 18 pitch that translates to .055" per full turn ( 1 divided by 18 = .0555" ) 360 degrees in a full circle so 360/ .0555 = .00015 " per degree movement. 4 degrees x .00015 = .0006" or about a half thousands. This means cleaning up the receiver face with a flat file and then on a bench stone to make sure its flat. Receiver face looks like a surface ground finish , cleaned up and no tool marks.  Barrel threads were deburred on a 3M Beartex wheel and the burr from the bolt contact was removed.  Factory machining on the receiver is actually rough and I will clean it up later. Barrel now locks up hand tight in proper rotation.   |
|
Had to make a decision on how to make the magazine tube secure but with the ability to slide forward to clear the frame and attach or break down the rifle. The mag tube will pass thru my added plate that goes on the barrel. The loading slot on the bottom needs to index correctly. After some thought I bored out the barrel / mag tube clamp and threaded it 1/2-28. I will turn a new mating part with a male thread that goes on the mag tube so it screws in.     |
|
Had the day off and decided to start stripping the beat up wood on my BL-22. The damage to the wood is mostly in the heavy clear on the wood. Stripping it is like melting plastic, scrape it off & repeat. Using my favorite chemical weapon stripper it bubbles it pretty easy. The buttstock is a nice piece of walnut. Forearm is some kind of stained wood, not walnut. It will have to be re-stained then finished. Not sure what I will use for a final finish but lots of time to decide.  You can see the natural wood in the unstained channel.  Made some progress on the key part of the take down conversion : The adapter block that gets fitted to the barrel and indexes to the receiver. The mag tube centerline and barrel centerline has to be correct for fit and function. Did some layout work on the receiver to determine the hole spacing and diameters and started machine a block of 0-1 tool steel. The barrel hole is bored in my milling machine and a mating diameter will be turned on the barrel with the length equal to the block thickness to index and lock up correctly.   Mag tube passed thru ~   Adapter block needs to be bolted and pinned to the receiver so I can contour the square outside edges to the same radius and form as the receiver. Milling machine and hand file work ahead.     |
Needed to make a threaded bolt and spacer to clamp my take down adapter block tightly to the receiver to contour and match the two pieces for a seamless fit. Gauge pin in the bottom hole and clamped in the barrel threaded hole.  Turned barrel shank to press fit the adapter / take down block. Barrel shoulder is turned down for a .001" press fit and the length equal to the block thickness. This will move the forearm forward by the block thickness so I will also move the front handguard pin location forward by the same amount. Barrel and block were aligned and ready to press fit together after a little never seize added.~    You want an even & tight fit with no gaps ~  The threaded mag tube retainer I made needed permanently silver brazed to the magazine tube in the correct place. The threaded body needs to screw in and stop with the mag tube in the correct position , not too short , not to deep and indexed the same before the rifle was taken apart. If its not right you are changing the feed geometry and if its not an issue don't change it. Threaded part with a slip fit ID that just fits over the mag tube OD. Heavy chamfer on top where the silver braze wire will flow.  Brazed on and cleaned the flux off~  Test fit after brazing , tube retainer was moved back on the barrel slightly to accommodate my threaded locking piece.  Everything lines up correctly, need to machine a new retainer notch in the barrel for the tube clamp position and moving the rear handguard retainer forward by the thickness of the take down bloc or 1/2". When you unscrew the brazed on threaded piece it pulls the magazine tube forward and out of the receiver then you can break down the rifle. Reverse for putting it together. Open the action , lever screw the barrel section in place then slide the mag tube into the receiver and turn by the knurled piece to seat it and lock them together. 
|
Lower receiver frame locating pin originally protruded into the forearm to secure it. Since this has to be shortened to allow the barrel assembly to rotate on or off it needs shortened. Mine required about .140" cut down to clear the block I added to the barrel. Wood forearm will have a pin added to the existing hole that mates with the hole in the barrel block.  |
|
Getting parts ready for the parkerizing tank. Added brass pin to forearm wood to fit the added take down block. This keep it aligned along with the milled pocket in the block the wood contacts and evens any load tightening or loosening the front barrel section. One added plus of the take down mod the action and barrel can be cleaned easier. The mag tube clamp and front handguard rings are aluminum. They will be blasted and finished in black appliance epoxy then baked @450F for a flat finish. Parkerizing the steel parts should not be an issue but the take down block I added is made from 01 tool steel and it's a crap shoot how dark manganese phosphate park solution will make it.   
|
|
Funny how things throw you a curve at times. Set up my parkerizing tank in the garage to park my parts Saturday morning. Put hanging wire on my parts so they don't touch the bottom of the tank. Filled up the tank and lit the burners. Set up my wash tank with hot water. Put my parts in the blasting cabinet and my 60 gallon compressor (the pressure switch) decided to die. As soon as I turned on my blast gun it would run for about 10 seconds then the compressor kicks on. The unloader was not working and the belts were squeal starting under load. Ended up turning the switch off, blast until I hit 90 psi then turn the switch on to let it top office and repeat to blast my parts. It sucked. Got thru it and managed to get everything done. Parts came out uniform in color including the tool steel take down piece. $110 switch.  Dark oily parts.  Aluminum parts blasted (with new compressor switch), sprayed with black appliance epoxy and will bake them in the oven this week for a matte finish.   |
|
Painted and baked the aluminum parts that are done and ready to populate the barrel. Put the receiver back together without too much of a fight. The only tricky part was / is the sear , sear spring and hammer assembly. The sear spring drops in and the sear swings up and rides on the hammer that retains it. If you put the hammer in full cock the sear and spring are locked in. Unfortunately the coil hammer spring is close to impossible to compress and insert into its proper place. For me O partially dropped the hammer slightly to give me more room to compress and seat the spring and it snapped in. Ejector and spring was not much drama , you just need to line everything up and slide it together. Lubed the sear and moving surfaces with Mobil-1 oil. I did take a stone and true up my sear and hammer surfaces which were very clean and sharp. My bolt had a LOT of burrs on it from the factory along with the inside of the receiver. Everything was deburred , stoned and burr free before blasting and parkerizing. Skinner sight needed minor fitting for a tight mounting attachment. Need to populate the barrel , the factory flip rear sight spring was damaged so I need to make one or fix it ( not going to use it) then populate the barrel. Need to make a brass thread protector / cleaning rod guide for the barrel. Pretty happy thus far. The scratched up factory epoxy finish is gone and the walnut has several coats of tung oil and hit with 00 steel wool until the grain was filled then a coat of paste wax.   Sooooo close to done....  
|
|
Sometimes when you get an idea (that works ) its good to share and maybe others can add to it. I figured I was going to have a cool BL-22 or a spare parts set for one to replace it. I had a Winchester 9422 when they 1st came out and loved that rifle. Its one I should have not traded away but the BL-22 makes up for that mistake. |
|
Absolutely fantastic work and true skill and talent! I have a dozen or so rimfire levers, the 9422 is my favorite, followed by the 39a then the BL-22….but most people don’t know it’s the nicest rimfire 22 lever you can still buy today. Too bad the 9422 uses a pressed barrel to reciever…..I’ve taken apart many Winchesters but never been brave enough to try the 9422. But with your skill it looks like with you’re skill you could thread the barrel and reciever and make it a takedown too! |
|
Originally Posted By azscooby: Absolutely fantastic work and true skill and talent! I have a dozen or so rimfire levers, the 9422 is my favorite, followed by the 39a then the BL-22….but most people don’t know it’s the nicest rimfire 22 lever you can still buy today. Too bad the 9422 uses a pressed barrel to reciever…..I’ve taken apart many Winchesters but never been brave enough to try the 9422. But with your skill it looks like with you’re skill you could thread the barrel and reciever and make it a takedown too! It's possible on the 9422 but the base rifles are stupid expensive. If I had a beater I would not feel bad about converting it. My BL-22 is a made in Japan rifle that had some surface wear and tear. I don't think I could do it to a mint Belgium rifle. I had a 50's era 39a and it was smooth but just did not scratch that itch for me. I had a few different 357 rifles like the Rossi / Puma /Taurus when they were way less cost than today and would like to pick something up and consider doing a take down conversion. Prices on most lever guns now is stupid expensive and that takes the fun out of projects. I will keep my eyes open for a used 357 rifle. |
|
Originally Posted By azscooby: Absolutely fantastic work and true skill and talent! I have a dozen or so rimfire levers, the 9422 is my favorite, followed by the 39a then the BL-22 .but most people don't know it's the nicest rimfire 22 lever you can still buy today. Too bad the 9422 uses a pressed barrel to reciever ..I've taken apart many Winchesters but never been brave enough to try the 9422. But with your skill it looks like with you're skill you could thread the barrel and reciever and make it a takedown too!  Nice work OP! What I really need is having a Model 94 .30-30 shortened. It is on my list of things that I will probably never get to. |
Preferred pronoun: MARINE
|
Originally Posted By wildearp: The 9422 came in take down models, not sure if they all were? I have two. I also have a couple Marlin 39TDS and a Marlin 1897CB rimfire. The only one I have that doesn't take down is my BL22. Nice work OP! What I really need is having a Model 94 .30-30 shortened. It is on my list of things that I will probably never get to. Never knew the 9422 was made in a take down version , pretty cool. A lot of the new or redesigned lever guns are using a monoblock style frame with a receiver cover , there is little receiver meat to work with. I still like the Rossi lever guns , they are far from smooth from the factory but can be slicked up to run nice , their wood is really the bummer on them. Its so-so at best IMHO. I was excited when Ruger purchased the Marlin line...but the prices are pretty steep. I really thought with Ruger's manufacturing expertise they would make a nice rifle at a decent price. The only one I am on the fence is the blued laminated 357 around $800. The Rossi models have gone up as well. |
Armory Sponsor