The New Haven 250C Project part 1

This is part one of the complete restoration of a New Haven 250C .22 Rifle (Mossberg 350KA). If you missed my write up of this model, see it here.

Here is what the gun looked like when my Brother brought it to me:

The stock has some small cracks, I will see what I can do to seal them up

The trigger guard screws are rusty, the take down screw and magazine guide plate look similar to the barrel

Rusty and pitted, but I think I can save it

unfortunately this is not the original Mossberg C-Lect-Power scope, this one is a Tasco

You can barely read the roll marks

While this gun will shoot shorts and longs, this magazine is labeled .22 LR only. Mossberg did make a special "Magic Magazine" that could shoot all three, but they are like hen's teeth now-a-days.

The magazine will be taken apart, polished and reblued

The butt plate is not fitted to the stock

When I refinish the stock, I'll fit the butt plate to the wood

The wood has some stains on it

First step is disassembly and cleaning

The firing pin is broken, we will need to find one.

Before refinishing any gun, I try to fix any mechanical issues first. This way if I cannot find a solution or part to make the gun operate, I can change directions or decide not to refinish the weapon.


I found a NOS firing pin on ebay and ordered it up, I thought that would be the end of it, but it was not so easy...

 
 Thanks to Rimfire Central I learned that the change in firing pin design, also required a different bolt extension/hammer. the photo below shows the old style (left) and new style (right)

The broken firing pin is apparently a problem with the early guns. The good news is that I can identify the year the gun was made: 1958

So I contacted the folks at Havlin Sales....THE go-to people when it comes to all things Mossberg. 

They provided me with the correct replacement firing pin
 

The broken one and the new replacement

 
Stay tuned as we restore the finish on this one.