Bought a Traditions Crockett

I was going to spend some serious money for a T/C Seneca but decided that the cheaper Traditions would work just as good for small game and paper. I got it for some money and some trade so it worked out well.

Has anyone defarbed one of these? The markings are absolutely terrible. I wasn't looking for work (I could have bought a kit) but I don't know if I can live with the crap on the barrel.

John from MD said:

I was going to spend some serious money for a T/C Seneca but decided that the cheaper Traditions would work just as good for small game and paper. I got it for some money and some trade so it worked out well.

Has anyone defarbed one of these? The markings are absolutely terrible. I wasn't looking for work (I could have bought a kit) but I don't know if I can live with the crap on the barrel.

Click to expand...

John
I know at least a couple of us have Traditions Crockett's. I got mine new and like it a lot.

Pics of yours would help so we can see what you're dealing with...

I removed letters and unnecessary characters from a Spanish made CVA barrel I used to build a flinter one time. Just the old swiss pattern left hand cut file and then a stone.
The thing that was going was they were near the breech plug, so it was easy to blend. I think that barrel was 13/16 across the flats. They were also opposite the lock which people tend to focus on, but it was still able to be done so that only a very discerning eye could tell if at all.

The other thing is they were stamped and not shot on with a laser. Either way you may be able to peen them some and then stone or file to make them go away so you don't have to extend the taper very far. Barrel steel is pretty soft unlike case hardened parts so it may be a little more patience than effort. And a good magnifying lens.

When I was younger, I made several rifles using Spanish Jukar barrels. They were easy to defarb due to the soft steel. They also has a hell of a lot less markings than guns being made today.

I will put some pics up when I get a chance to borrow my nephews camera.

you can draw file it down like I did my Lyman Great plains but your going to have to strip the entire blue job down and reblue. I will not look the same alright.
I agree the billboard is hideous but the way mine shoots, its awesome.

Do you have a mold for it? If not, let me know if you want to borrow my .311 Lee Mold.

I really didn't want a project but I can't stand the writing. I will probably strip it, file it and brown it. Thirty years ago I did some pretty nice rust browning jobs. I'm too old to wait for that kind of job so I will probably do a BC Plum Brown job with a torch. If you put a few coats on, the BC stuff looks pretty good.

Thanks for the offer of the mold but I have a few boxes of Hornady .310 balls I picked up at a flea market somewhere in the past. I kept them " 'cause someday they might come in handy".

Awesome , looking forward to seeing the project progress


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I'm going to shoot it a while first. It will keep the anticipation in check and I'll do a better job. One thing I am planning to do is to try shooting 5 grain loads at my .22 bullet trap in the woods. If it is accurate enough, I can do that when I don't go to the range. I shoot center fire periodically into cut down logs but I like to recover my soft lead as I can't get much out of the berm at the club as most shoot hard lead. If I can get a decent group at say 35 yards, that would be great.

I'll have to remember to spray down the ground I shoot over so I don't start a forest fire.

I got a chance to teardown and shot the Crockett. As far as shooting goes, I have been shooting in the side yard offhand at 35 yards and it is extremely accurate with 10gns of 3F, .015 patch w/ NAPA oil and water and a .310 Hornady ball.

Now, as for the teardown. Traditions factory work is really piss poor. I compared this to my 1970's CVA (Jukar) build and the Traditions can't hold a candle to it. I will give them credit for a really nice bluing job but the dot matrix sign boards ruin the whole thing. A blind man could have done a better job of inletting the trigger and trigger guard. Whoever did it, made the cut too deep and compensated, get this, with putting a wood screw in the front and a glued in piece of dowel in the back part of the trigger well. Then he went on to cut the rear trigger guard mortise off center.

That said, the rest of the gun is fine and the wood finish is not bad. It may even be an oil finish. If it is, I can do some easy work on it with some alcohol stain and Tung Oil. The triggers needed some work as they are roughly made. I was surprised that they hardened the forward trigger where it contacts the sear on the lock. I polished the trigger areas and shimmed them so they didn't flop around and now have a 1.5 pound set and about the same unset. Unset the trigger is two stage, so you just bring it back to the stop and then press and she is off.

The lock surprised me as it is not bad for a relatively cheap gun. I did have to Dremel down the mainspring stop as the hammer wouldn't always fire off a cap. I suspect that is why I got it so cheap. The former owner thought it was a lemon. Only if you are not handy.

I plan to leave it alone and shoot it for a while as it is a nice light fun gun that I can shoot at my .22 bullet stop and still get my lead back.

I suggest that if you buy one, buy the kit and not the factory made.

Nice report, wanna look mine over ?

After my Chiappa/Traditions Enfield Kit, I may be done with Traditions kits for a while.

I still need to shoot mine offhand as that is the whole reason why I got it.

BTW, I did buy a CVA Rear adjustable site for it I got on ebay, but I will have to get a taller front sight for it to work out well.

I hope you get your Enfield dialed in before winter sets in.