Valdemar
Well-Known Member
I though I might want to share the story of my 1954 vintage P54 .22 LR as it unwinds not waiting until the little rifle is at its final form.
The history of P54 has been discussed here several times and as we know Sako has been notoriously liberal with using serial numbers crisscrossing between different variations of the same models, not really caring when a particular component was manufactured so what ever they took from the shelf could be brand new or machined two years ago, i.e. dating Sakos is blurry at best.
As you know the letter 'P' stands for 'Pienoiskivääri' which is literally translated in English 'Miniature Rifle' or in Swedish, 'Miniatyrgevär' as you may have noticed from historic Swedish adverts on this site.
The 'accepted' dating of these rifles (I'd take even this with a pinch of salt) : the year of manufacturing and the first serial number for the year:
P54
- August 12th 1954, 20001
- 1955, 22500
- 1956, 27000
- 1957-1958, 29000
- 1959, 30500
- 1960, 32500
- 1972, 44052 (haven't been able to verify this last one from multiple sources)
P54T
- 1958, 29000
- 1959, 30500
- 1960, 32500
- 1961, 34000
- 1962-1964, 36000
- 1970, 41300
-1972, 44048
According to the list this particular rifle serial number 21421 was build in 1954 and it was bought new by a young gentleman from Kuhmoinen, Finland. My late friend got the rifle a few years ago as gift from its original owner and after his suicide I bought it from his estate with a good price for a P54 in this condition, 150€. The correct price point should've been between 90 to 120€ but as the trusted man for the estate I didn't want anyone think I was profiteering from their trust.
The rifle the way I got it after wiping the most of the surface rust away with an oily rag: metal parts rusty and pitted, parts missing from the peep sight, the stock in very bad shape hence I will store it as it is and replace it with a one I bought for 30€ with all parts included and I will modify a bit.
No adjustment screws nor spring on the peep sight, the stock has lost almost all of its lacquer and is soaked with Anti Corrol gun oil, the classic old-fashioned Finnish petroleum based oil with which lots of stocks have traditionally been ruined in Finland. As I type this the rear sight leaf, spring and pin are on an airplane over the Atlantic Ocean en route to Canada
The only 'problem' with the rifle is... not the rifle itself, but my old eyes: I couldn't see almost anything through the peep sight for the lack of light entering my eye, hence I drilled the peep hole to 2.7 mm size...
Before his passing we did discuss with my friend about refurbishing the rifle and customising it a bit by removing the leaf rear sight and repairing the stock, so when I made the decision to keep the rifle my plan was exactly what we had in mind back then. And a bit more, the original shoestring budget figured by my friend couldn't pay for professional re-bluing nor new parts, but I thought to give this one a bit more effort and funding as a tribute to those 30 years we knew each other.
So... To work, first remove the soldered on its place rear sight with a propane torch.
Sorry for the out of focus picture, taking pics with a phone while working on stuff is sometimes challenging...
After scraping the remaining soldering tin away, removing pitting from the receiver and barrel with sanding paper and polishing the whole shebang I sent the rifle to a professional for classic bluing. When I told him the background of this process he promised to treat this rifle with all the respect and care it deserves.
In for a penny, in for a bankruptcy
Now as the metal parts are being taken care off, I concentrate on the replacement stock I bought. It is from the same mid 1950's era, but in very good condition... Regardless, I sanded all lacquer off...
...and reshaped the stock to fit my hands and aesthetics. Looks cruel but as one fictional character used to say just before something bad happened 'Trust me, I know what I'm doing!'
The stock in its new shape, blond and naked. All the first versions of P54 and even later all domestic ones had stocks made of birch, usually with some natural flame pattern in their structure. As a very light coloured wood it's more pleasing to ones eye to dye it darker with tinted lacquer or with coloured oil which is my preferred approach.
The stock soaked with pore filler just about to sanded once more and then again and again, and...
The front end of the stock has got a new shape on it.
As a guitar player my fleshy palm needs some extra room on the stock, hence the cut...
And another out of focus picture: the first stages of finish the stock.
Took another picture this morning after applying another layer of stock oil. this will be repeated for a couple of days, after which there will be several steps to take and depending on my willingness to go full bananas the whole process may take up to two weeks after which I have to wait for another week or two before I can rub a layer of wax to protect and give some extra sheen to the surface.
...to be continued.
The history of P54 has been discussed here several times and as we know Sako has been notoriously liberal with using serial numbers crisscrossing between different variations of the same models, not really caring when a particular component was manufactured so what ever they took from the shelf could be brand new or machined two years ago, i.e. dating Sakos is blurry at best.
As you know the letter 'P' stands for 'Pienoiskivääri' which is literally translated in English 'Miniature Rifle' or in Swedish, 'Miniatyrgevär' as you may have noticed from historic Swedish adverts on this site.
The 'accepted' dating of these rifles (I'd take even this with a pinch of salt) : the year of manufacturing and the first serial number for the year:
P54
- August 12th 1954, 20001
- 1955, 22500
- 1956, 27000
- 1957-1958, 29000
- 1959, 30500
- 1960, 32500
- 1972, 44052 (haven't been able to verify this last one from multiple sources)
P54T
- 1958, 29000
- 1959, 30500
- 1960, 32500
- 1961, 34000
- 1962-1964, 36000
- 1970, 41300
-1972, 44048
According to the list this particular rifle serial number 21421 was build in 1954 and it was bought new by a young gentleman from Kuhmoinen, Finland. My late friend got the rifle a few years ago as gift from its original owner and after his suicide I bought it from his estate with a good price for a P54 in this condition, 150€. The correct price point should've been between 90 to 120€ but as the trusted man for the estate I didn't want anyone think I was profiteering from their trust.
The rifle the way I got it after wiping the most of the surface rust away with an oily rag: metal parts rusty and pitted, parts missing from the peep sight, the stock in very bad shape hence I will store it as it is and replace it with a one I bought for 30€ with all parts included and I will modify a bit.
No adjustment screws nor spring on the peep sight, the stock has lost almost all of its lacquer and is soaked with Anti Corrol gun oil, the classic old-fashioned Finnish petroleum based oil with which lots of stocks have traditionally been ruined in Finland. As I type this the rear sight leaf, spring and pin are on an airplane over the Atlantic Ocean en route to Canada
The only 'problem' with the rifle is... not the rifle itself, but my old eyes: I couldn't see almost anything through the peep sight for the lack of light entering my eye, hence I drilled the peep hole to 2.7 mm size...
Before his passing we did discuss with my friend about refurbishing the rifle and customising it a bit by removing the leaf rear sight and repairing the stock, so when I made the decision to keep the rifle my plan was exactly what we had in mind back then. And a bit more, the original shoestring budget figured by my friend couldn't pay for professional re-bluing nor new parts, but I thought to give this one a bit more effort and funding as a tribute to those 30 years we knew each other.
So... To work, first remove the soldered on its place rear sight with a propane torch.
Sorry for the out of focus picture, taking pics with a phone while working on stuff is sometimes challenging...
After scraping the remaining soldering tin away, removing pitting from the receiver and barrel with sanding paper and polishing the whole shebang I sent the rifle to a professional for classic bluing. When I told him the background of this process he promised to treat this rifle with all the respect and care it deserves.
In for a penny, in for a bankruptcy
Now as the metal parts are being taken care off, I concentrate on the replacement stock I bought. It is from the same mid 1950's era, but in very good condition... Regardless, I sanded all lacquer off...
...and reshaped the stock to fit my hands and aesthetics. Looks cruel but as one fictional character used to say just before something bad happened 'Trust me, I know what I'm doing!'
The stock in its new shape, blond and naked. All the first versions of P54 and even later all domestic ones had stocks made of birch, usually with some natural flame pattern in their structure. As a very light coloured wood it's more pleasing to ones eye to dye it darker with tinted lacquer or with coloured oil which is my preferred approach.
The stock soaked with pore filler just about to sanded once more and then again and again, and...
The front end of the stock has got a new shape on it.
As a guitar player my fleshy palm needs some extra room on the stock, hence the cut...
And another out of focus picture: the first stages of finish the stock.
Took another picture this morning after applying another layer of stock oil. this will be repeated for a couple of days, after which there will be several steps to take and depending on my willingness to go full bananas the whole process may take up to two weeks after which I have to wait for another week or two before I can rub a layer of wax to protect and give some extra sheen to the surface.
...to be continued.
