Redfield and Buffalo Nickel changes have been made to "Gunsmithing"

Redfield sight came in today, and installed without a hitch. Instructions in the "Gunsmithing" section. No wood needed to be removed, and the sight didn't need to be reshaped. I also bought some 6-48 receiver plug screws from castbullet.com, and they fit perfectly. I bought the "positive stop" version (about $2 each) and they fit nice and flush.

I did a crude boresighting with a speck of light that was coming in through a crack in my front door. Can't wait to get the rifle out to the range, and see how it fires! If it's anything like the M54s I've shot before, it should be a tack driver, which is a lot to say for a 75 year old rifle.

I'll be filling in the rear sight dovetail with a filed-down Buffalo nickel ($1 on ebay.) Pictures, etc, to come when the nickel arrives in the mail.

A parts catalogue is now available in the "technical information" section.

Just bought a NOS Redfield peep sight on eBay. Got a really good deal on it. Surprised that nobody else jumped on it. I guess they are all after the Lyman 48 WJS. We'll see if it fits right away. If not, maybe this will give me an excuse to buy a fat coarse file to make it fit.

The "Complete Bolt Disassembly" section on the Gunsmithing page has been updated to reflect my actual experience, and not my educated guesses.

I got a new safety lever today, to replace the Buehler low-style safety lever that came with my M54. It will go on as soon as I can get access to a bench vice. (see Bolt Disassembly on the Gunsmithing page).

The first thing I did (after making sure that the gun was unloaded) was take off the Weaver scope mounts. For me, they're unnecessary for this rifle. (Not to brag, but to kinda brag) when I have better than 20/20 vision (w/in 6 mo. of a trip to the optometrist) I can consistently shoot sub-2 MOA with peep sights. I'll be using this rifle for deer and pigs in coastal California, where shots are usually over 80 yards and under 200. I'd rather risk scaring away a deer by sneaking up on it than get bulldozed by a pig that I couldn't find in a scope. I'm also an eccentric, and a bit of a luddite.

Under the scope mounts was some caked on dirt, which has been stubborn to Hoppes No.9, but it's coming off. The bore was dirty, which scared me at first. The seller said that the bore was perfectly clean. I guess he didn't give it a swipe after test-firing it, but everything came off with the boresnake (boresnake is the best thing ever). The rifle is a bit short (something like 13 3/4 LOP) for me, but all rifles are short for me (6'3").

I bought my Model 54 on gunbroker.com. I did a lot of research, and called the seller enough times to annoy him. It was really scary to buy my first big-boy rifle sight-unseen (actually, I guess I've bought all my rifles sight-unseen), but I had a three day inspection period, and only had to pay for shipping and Federal Firearm License fees if I didn't like it. I liked it.

I'm surprised that this is the first Winchester 54 blog, or website dedicated to the M54. It's a great rifle. Maybe it's just a generational thing.

The purpose of this is mostly informational. I want one unified place for all the hard-to-find information that I collect about my rifle, and Winchester 54s in general, and want a one-stop collection of M54 info for other researchers and fans, something I don't have.

A lot of info may come in links, partially to avoid copyright problems, mostly because I am lazy. If one of the links breaks, please let me know by placing a comment on the comment page.

Most of the info will be put in the "pages" rather than as a blog entry, but anytime I make a significant change to a page I'll probably make a new blog entry noting the change.