Yep, powder coated, in fact this time with a different color (yucky gold-fleck red that turns Longhorn orange when baked) and no gunk in the very rough bore. By "very rough" look at the photo back in the first post, the grooves are cut cleanly but the bore looks like it was done with a very dull tool run at too high of a speed. The serrations left on top of the lands have always tended to collect lube, bullet metal, and at one time in a previous owner's life, gilding metal. I'm almost sorry I cleaned all the copper out.
Years ago, when I first acquired this 1954 specimen and found it in very poor working condition, I set about correcting the problems with the metal. The lever was bent and wouldn't close, when straightened, it wouldn't mate with the detent plunger, in fact never ever had because the bluing of the plunger and detent groove was immaculate. The trigger block still doesn't work. The insides of the receiver appeared to have been carved out with a chain saw, and the outside finished with a farrier's rasp, including the bottom front receiver screw which though clearly original due to matching with the shaping scratches on the bottom of the receiver, had been selected from the side-screw bin and only held about 1.5 threads when the rifle left the factory. As a result, when the oil rotted buttstock crumbled at the wrist and likely the tang screw was over-tightened in an attempt to secure it, the short screw pulled the threads on the bottom of the receiver. I had to re-fit the bottom metal anyway since huge machining burrs hadn't allowed it to seat properly. The magazine tube had been dented and crinkled by a poor attempt to fasten and then remove a crimp-on sling swivel base. The barrel band at the forearm was so tight that the forearm had to be squeezed in a vise to get the screw through it. Also, the forearm didn't fit the receiver or the barrel so it hung too low, too far forward, and was shaped crooked (a very noticeable feature of this "perch belly" example). The front barrel band didn't have a screw because none would fit it; the thing was made too small and the barrel spread it so badly that all known reproduction screws were too short. The ejector groove in the bolt was so rough that it took a great deal of force to shuck out a shell. The only good thing I could say is the rifle was absolutely free of rust and most of the finish wear was honest carry wear, the barrel and crown were and are quite decent.
So, after sorting out the metal issues to functional if not cosmetic satisfaction, I fitted the birch buttstock that was sold to me with the rifle and bedded it with Acraglas and a steel sleeve to fully support the receiver tangs. The forearm needed much relieving and I set about preparing it for a Paco Kelly free-float and RTV silicone and bedding job, again to be functional and not in the least bit cosmetic. If you are familiar with that process, including manufacturing a recoil lug for the forearm and re-engineering the forward magazine tube mount with a strong dovetail, you'll understand why I relieved so much wood and why the forearm is so loose now. Life happened somewhere along in there and I ended up just putting the thing back together so it would shoot and haven't done much with it since. Last year I put a decent Weaver 40/44 scope on it via Leupold QD rings and base so I could still shoot it with irons. I did a few load workups and deemed it good enough for shooting a deer across the yard if necessary and left it at that, meaning to get back to it someday. Having caught the AR-15 and NFA bug shortly after that and since having recovered somewhat, the project has piqued my interest again, so here we are. Really what did it was a small and innocent comment from our none other than Glen regarding the fairly recent 358-200 addition to the Lee mould line, and as fortune would have it my MidwayUSA cart was about $20 shy of the next discount incentive, so naturally I picked one up.
