Neophyte needs wisdom re: 25 pounder gun refurb

[Dan Johnston]

OK, update.

In service, the 25 pr gun had an unpainted breech ring/breech block/firing apparatus. The whole arse end of the gun was left in the white. You'll note ours isn't.

So that green crap's gotta come off. Enter the first really nice evening here in Edmonton in a while and a big ol' jug of gel paint stripper. Let's slop it on the horrifically-heavy breech ring and the muzzle brake (several outfits operating the 25 as a ceremonial gun have polished their muzzle brakes to a high gleam. Looks flash, if not authentic, but we can always repaint.)

Early success reveals that paint stripper is colour-sensitive. It hates green paint...



...but is entirely powerless against red primer sprayed over a sandblasted finish. The wee bit of bare metal you see on the right is from light sanding with 1200 grit paper.



Hand sanding will be laborious and possibly only marginally effective against paint down in tiny pits. I reckon some sort of bead blasting/soda blasting/dry ice business will be called for. We retire to consider our options.

In the meanwhile, a package arrives from England, courtesy of Mr. Rob Nixon.



It's a replacement for the long-lost cocking handle, packaged in January of '45 and readied for somewhere warm and humid. The envelope is heavily waxed and made of horsehair or something.





Upon careful opening, we find a wee package of wax paper. What could be inside?



It's the promised cocking piece!



Last touched by humans seventy two years ago. The cotter pin attached by a length of wire wound on there by someone likely long since gone west.



Many strange numbers and markings.



She needs a ride through the solvent tank to get the remains of the Tropic Proofing off her, but I did a quick test fit and she threads straight onto the firing pin. I am very pleased indeed.

Progress is slow, which is fine. We've made up a list of priorities and intentions and if we can find what we need we can be firing our first blank in no time.

Cheers,

Dan

[tankbarrell]

Breech rings were not always bare metal. Period pics of all Q.F. artillery seem to show painted and unpainted in roughly equal measure. The manuals state that everything is painted except the working surfaces, this suggests that the outside of the ring should be painted.

[Dan Johnston]

Necrothread arise!

Duly noted re paint/no point on the breech ring. We're hoping to go forward with a naked breech ring almost purely because we think it looks flash.

We've entered into the project wholeheartedly and have taken on a second gun, this one from a sister battery in Red Deer, AB. She is largely non-restorable, but we're learning a lot about the breed and will return her to her plinth in much better cosmetic condition than we found her. We also hope to weatherproof her as best we can.

Pics as they come available.

Dan

[James P]

Dan
Glad to see you are still on this project and posting again. Try, try, try to keep your gun indoors or someone 20-30 years down the road will be following in your footsteps and working to "undo" the ravages of mother nature.

[Dan Johnston]

Hey, James.

With any luck the lads in Red Deer can establish some sort of covering for the poor old girl. Weather is profoundly unkind to these things.

The rust we're finding is heartbreaking.