Henry Rifle Forums

One of these is for sale locally...pretty little thing. Is anyone here familiar with this model?

I bought it...had to, if for no other reason that it is an interesting (to me) little piece of Canadian history. Sorry in advance for the long read (my read was much longer).

C.I.L. (Canadian Industries Limited) was/is a Canadian chemical company (think DuPont) that manufactured a lot of explosives and ammunition back in the day. Ang and I have a couple of antique C.I.L. wooden Forcite crates somewhere around here from the Nobel plant. Their ammunition brands included Imperial, Dominion, Canuck, and others. Today, what remains of the company is best known for their paints.

C.I.L. did not manufacture firearms, but was part of an agreement between Savage, Anschutz, Boito, and H&R. Most of the guns sold by C.I.L. were made by Savage. At least two were made by Anschutz, and this C.I.L. model 900 is one of those guns. Anyone familiar with the Savage/Anschutz 153 might recognize it. The date code puts production somewhere in 1965.

It is built on the Anschutz 54 action, and has a pretty little Monte Carlo stock in what appears to be French? walnut. The stock could use a bit of work on the finish, but is otherwise in great shape with no cracks, dents or major gouges. There is no rust anywhere, the bluing is beautiful, and looks a mile deep. The action is smooth as greased butter, and locks up like a bank vault. It is in pieces right now while I give everything a once-over. This is my first German made gun, and I am impressed. Imagine my surprise when I pulled the action out of the stock, and found that the trigger is adjustable for both weight and sear engagement.

I'll post some pictures when I get it back together...have any of the mods/admin considered adding those "pics" stickies?

roddy wrote:I'll post some pictures when I get it back together...

We like pictures of parts too!

here's a few...

and more...

It's amazing to me how uncomplicated the internal mechanism is. Efficient design, with a few parts.

Yup, that's the German work ethic in a nutshell.

It is back together...there's no rushing linseed oil. I'll try to post some pics later today. A previous owner had stripped the original finish and coated the stock with linseed oil. Rather poorly. The checkering was plugged up, and there were runs from the corners of the checkering down past the bolt. Some had also collected where the butt pad meets the stock. The rest of it was pretty thin, which allowed some staining of the wood from handling.

This is my first attempt at "refinishing" a stock, and I could have done a better job if I had sand-filled the pores before oiling, but I didn't trust myself to get that aggressive the first time out. Aside from that, I don't mind a bit of "patina"...the gun is 53 years old and has earned it.

I used rubbing alcohol, #0000 stainless steel wool, and an extra firm toothbrush to clean the stock to the point shown in the posts above.

Great, great find. Any gun built on the 54 action is gold. The 54 has always been their best. 64 actions are a bit lighter and more rimfire in their build, but also excellent. Let us know how it shoots for you.

North Country Gal wrote:Great, great find. Any gun built on the 54 action is gold. The 54 has always been their best. 64 actions are a bit lighter and more rimfire in their build, but also excellent. Let us know how it shoots for you.

Thank you. I have been hoping this thread would catch your eye, and that you may have some input. I have heard nothing but good things about the 54 action, and the .222 Rem as far as accuracy goes. The original rear sight (buckhorn I believe) is long gone. The previous owner mounted a Williams peep sight at the back of the receiver...I'm going to experiment with that a bit at 50 yards or so before I consider mounting a small scope (maybe something like a 6x fixed or 2-7 variable).