Canadian Airgun Forum

I finally got around to working on an old USSR Baikal 38 (ij or izh) that I rescued from a bad owner. It was neglected/abused for 30+ years - left in a room with a collapsed roof, exposed to the elements, and the guy dry fired it when showing bit to me...he said he dry fired it all the time. I don't want to think of how many times he did it in the 35+ years he owned it :/

I stripped it down, cleaned it up as best I could, and re-lubed everything and put it back together just to try it out. It is really accurate for an old beater. I got dime sized grouping at 8 yards isn't bad with iron sights..I'm really impressed and want to have this gun looking as good as it shoots.

What's the best way to clean the mold out of the inside of the stock?

I'm looking for a pistol seal. As you can see by the pic, it's pretty bad (dry firing chewed it up maybe) i can't believe it still has good compression. If anyone has one, or knows where I can get one, it would be a huge help.

This is my first restoration so any help would be greatly appreciated...

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Wow! Over the years I've often heard the expression "moldy oldie" but I'd never actually seen one before.

(Sorry. Couldn't resist. We return this thread now to it's regular content...)

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A mask is not a political statement. It is an IQ test.

The seal appears to be leather - which was common back in the 60's with the Russian and Czechoslovakian guns.

Saddle Skirting leather, but if you can find #'s as in sizing of modern seals, maybe they could be subbed. I am surprised

the spring didn't break from dry firing.

My dad made a new seal for my bro's little pellet gun, back in the 60's. He used saddle skirting leather, from Tandy's in

London, I think. He also used motor oil to get a good seal. It only dieseled a bit and went of for years after that. We switched to

crossman's pel-gun oil after a while for lubing the seal. A good polish inside & appropriate modern seal might be a good idea.

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Best Wishes
Daryl

Leather piston seals for that rifle are available on Ebay or from TWChambers, or if you can provide the comp. cylinder diameter I'm sure I can make one for you. As for the mold, some years ago I used a product that eats the mold on wood, just don't remember the name of the product, but I bought it in a hardware store. Or you could just scrape the mold off and use the product in the picture, it's called Concrobium and is very effective at killing and preventing mold, and it's also available in hardware stores. Anyway, nice find, this rifle is well worth restoring, just too bad the previous owner didn't take better care of it!

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If everything's so lovely yeah, then why don't I, why don't I, why don't I, why don't I feel lovely?

Thanks for the help...I will check out TSChambers...and I will pick up some of the mold cleaner you posted...
How much would you want to make me a seal, in the off chance that I can't get one on eBay?

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I've used this stuff for mold on my window ledges. Works best if the mold isn't too heavy or you scrape off the excess first. I bought it at Home Hardware. It was on sale and I wasn't expecting much, but was surprised how well it worked.

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A mask is not a political statement. It is an IQ test.

I tried the Mikes Homes and CLR mold remover ( joys of a 70 year old house with old wood windows and 7 fish tanks )

They are so many other methods of cleaning mold.

https://moldpedia.com/mold-removal

PM sent.

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If everything's so lovely yeah, then why don't I, why don't I, why don't I, why don't I feel lovely?

Leather seals are easy to make. Google for full details.

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"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson.

For the stock interior, will be good to use first a rough sand paper, grain 60 will be enough (taking care) to not go too deep and change the internal dimensions, just scratch, will see how easy its the mold coming out and helping a bit to the chemical (any mold control, go into the wood) let it dry minimum 1 day, dont force the drying with heaters or anything like that, you'll feel it just with the reverse of your hand, them sand it again with a thinner sand paper, may be grain 120 or 150 (as higher its the grain number thiner its the sand paper) or just with the same 60 grain sand it with other piece of 60 grain and will turn thiner as you want it and rehidratate with any kind of wood hidratating oil or diesel, for the outside or visible stock be a bit more careful, use a block with the sand paper wherever you can and apply ,first sanding from 100 or 120 grain them sanded again go thiner and if you see its not smooth enough again with a thiner sand paper, may you can finish it with 180 or 220 grain, you'll see, has to be super smooth, hidratate with oxygenated water, dont be shy and let it dry. If still got some scratches, two options: sand or fill,i prefer sand cause filling it with wax, putty pencil or wood filler will see the marks, if you decide to stain it a bit darker will be not too bad, make fist some samples in a close color of wood or particular board (not in the stock) and let it dry, if the stock after the oxygenated water turns like grey dont worry the color will back after the ret of the process,, (if is the case) apply a coat of stain (water base its easy to apply than oil based)and clean it up right away with a cotton reg (dont let it dry)and old t-shirt will work, just stain a spot and clean it up them next if you wanted darker, after dry, same process again, with a brush aply wood conditioner, this one dries pretty fast, 1 hour maximum and with a very smooth sand paper do a very fast and uniform light sand, clean up. if you can hang the stock with a kind o hook or something like that, better, try to dont touch (look for the way)take a piece of cotton reg, put a "ball" of cotton in the centre of the reg, drop varnish on top like the cotton its wet and twist slowly the reg till the varnish start dropping thru, apply one coat I recommend polyurethane varnish, if needed more varnish open the reg, drop a bit more varnish in the cotton and twisted back, apply a very thin and uniform layer dont come back trying to add or quit varnish, will mess the stock, let it dry a couple or hours minimum, Ihope you can understand this directions its easiest to do it that to try to explain it, remember that the stock its a small piece of wood, dont buy big cans of product. thats what ill do if this gun was mine. Regards