Older gun Images!!!

[Shack]

I do not know the ages of these guns! But I have restored them and am keeping them for what ever! I have gotten them from my grandfather, great grandfather and others! I figure anyone out their, that has restored a gun could post image/pics here! Here we go!!!

Winchester Model# 94-30-30

World War II M-1 rounds, in clip!!!

Police issue from the 50's, 12ga JC Higgins Model 20

Late 1950's, Early 1960's 30-06. Remmington Woods Master Woods 742

An Old Brazil single shot (dangerous) shotgun! It is from Early 1900's!

J. Stevens Arms Company, Model #258a, 20ga Bolt action!!!!!96trigger!!!!!!!!!!!

[96trigger]

Shackbash, the guns look great. Its a great hobby. I only paid more than $100 for stevens model 58. I looked for a long time and it had to have the black paint on the stock. It took me awhile to to finish all the guns. I know some think that I am hurting the value of the guns by doing it, but it a hobby and I know that I'll get more than I paid for them if my kids decide that they don't want them. Its a relatively cheap hobby. I always do a complete breakdown of all components and clean or replace worn parts. All the guns are functional. The model 87A was in real rough shape when I got it, I had to order parts and finally have a working gun. I use these guns sparingly, I have never shot the model 58, but I do take it out and look at it quite often. I love that gun.

Winchester Model 67 single shot .22

Springfield Model 87A semiauto .22

My FAVORITE Gun, ordered it from Florida when I found it online, the Model 58 20 ga.

I haven't finished this one yet, I cleaned it up real well and it looks pretty good without refinishing. The metal has some spots on it, but for the most part is a nice gun

Stevens model 77H 12 ga Pump

[Hitman54]

I see by the photos you two gentelmen do some good work. How hard is it to do some of this restoration and what kind of products do you need and where can you get them??? I have an old Browning autoloader 12 Ga. that my grandfather gave me. He bought it new in the mid 50's I believe. It is a great gun and I still use it as my main grouse and duck gun but is has a lot of wear marks on it. I know that if it is restored it will lose value but I never plan on selling it anyway. I will pass it down to one of my four kids when the time comes. Any insight would be appreciated.

[96trigger]

Hitman, The one thing that you will need is some patience. Once you start the job, you will be so excited to see the final project that its easy to rush. The first thing I do with my guns is completely disassemble them in a clean, well lit environment. This includes removing the stock (and forearm if applicable), I clean and scrub every part on the gun. Sometimes I'll even take the trigger assembly apart, unless it is really complicated. I use gun scrubber to clean, then fine steel wool with rem gun oil to get rid of any surface rust. I always wipe the components off using a rag made of old soft sweatshirt material as it doesn't leave any lint. I then reassemble the gun without the stock and forearm.

When refinishing the stock, I get pretty careful. Remove the trigger gaurd, butpad, swivel mounts, etc, thats all you want is the wood. For the first strip I use sandpaper just course enough to remove the finish. I will use a mouse palm sander to help. After that, its finising sanding until extremely smooth. You can pick the color of stain you want. I use birchwood casey's gun oil, but it only enhances the color of the wood, I should have used the colored stain for the model 87A because the wood was very light. Apply enough coats to get the color you want, I would always steel wool the wood before the next coat went on. Once the color is achieved, go buy an outdoor, clear polyeurathane, (I used helmsmen) and give it at least 3 coats of that. My brush of choice is a foam one, you can buy multiple sizes, get a nice smooth coat and it won't leave any streaks or leave you with clean up.

Probably the hardest thing to clean is always the barrel. I like to get my barrels shiney so I scrub, rescrub, and scrub some more. I wore out a brand new brush on one barrel, but it shines like new now. If these is rust around the sight, remove the sight and clean. (you shouldn't have this problem with a shotgun)

Birchwood casey makes a lot of nice products, I use microscope screwdrives and screwdriver picks to get dirt and grease out of very small places. Sometimes it takes me a few days to completely clean a gun, especially if it came from an auction and had little care. If I have to use parts washer I will, I will also use the air compressor to help clean parts. The one thing that I do not do is reblueing. I've never liked old reblued guns, I always leave all metal original. Good luck, is your old browning an A5?

[xedge2002]

96T - what do you use to clean rust from the outside of the barrel?

[96trigger]

A few of those guns had some surface rust, I would steel wool, then oil, then steel wool, then oil. I just used remington gun oil. This took off the surface rust very well and helped to blend in the bueing. I used a very fine steel wool so I wouldn't strip the blueing and leave a bare spot. A residual "leopard spot" would usually still be visible, but it would usually blend with the original blueing and would be unnoticable in a gun cabinet. After the wool treatment, the spots are usually very small and the gun still has an original look to it that would get lost upon reblueing.

[96trigger]

BTW, my most important tool is an old blue toothbrush with moderately stiff bristles. They work great at cleaning hard to reach places.

[Hitman54]

96 Trigger, Thanks for the info, I printed out your post and will save the information. This sounds like a good winter project while sitting in the fish house waiting for the bite! Yes my Browning is an A5.

[Shack]

96trigger,

My Stevens had the black on stock. I forgot about it. I restored this gun when I was in my teens. It was my grandmas gun and it was bought for her new by my great grandpa. All the other guns were given to me as well by grand parents and such. I will revisit putting the balck back on! Back then I did not want it on for some reason, but now would of never remembered it! Thanks for the info!

One thing I have found when sanding stock or wood (around but pad) is be careful not to sand edges too much, One can see this were things meet. Take your time. It is cool when it all comes together.

In my case, once I would get gun done, the best thing was the look on my grand parents faces. To see gun almost back to new. Good times.

In the end, its like a puzzle you take apart and put back together. The guns are worth much more than just the price tag placed on them by a gun dealer..

Good luck!!

[Scott M]

Did you guys get takedown guides for these? I suppose they don't make them for rare or old guns like that. I'm afraid if I offered a DIY attempt at restoring an old semiauto of my grandfathers or a collection of some old singleshot and bolt action .22's within the family, that I would mess something up. Maybe if I tape recorded it or wrote everything down in words and doodles. Any tips on this?

[96trigger]

For the most part it is very easy to do. You can get diagrams off the internet. Just do a search for gun diagrams. Some of them free, some can be hard to find, most of them are PDF files.

As for taking guns apart, its not too bad. For intricate parts like trigger assemblys, I lay the parts out as I take them off, and then reassemble them in that order. I won't tackle a job like that unless I have at least a couple of hours to do a thorough job. You will want a good place to work, clear of obstruction or clutter. Little springs have a tendency to fly off and you will want to be able to find them or be more PO'd than you'd think. There is nothing worse than trying to work on a perfectly good gun and not having it work when you put it together. I will also use little dishes, jars, bowls etc and place the trigger parts in one, all parts that deal with barrel in another, the bolt or firing mechanism in the next and so on. This makes it so parts don't get interchanged. I would not be afraid to tackle an A5. However, if you are concerned about messing it up. Go to an auction or a store and buy any well used cheap gun, you can find them for under $100 normally, and just try and refinish it. Ther is nothing like practice. I didn't know the first thing about any of those guns until I took them apart.

Shack, the stevens looks good for being done by a 16 year old. Revisit the black paint, I think that it makes a Stevens bolt action a bolt action. It is an extremely fun and rewarding hobby. A dealer can tell me the book value all they want, $18 on the stevens 58, but I have never seen one sell for less than $100. The value is as much as someone is willing to pay. I've seen some real junk at auctions bring a decent dollar. Good luck.

[Pikeslayer]

shackbash I have a JC Higgins model 20 just like in your post!I started useing that gun when I was about 12 years old,what a gun,depending on what choke you put in it,you could hunt just about anything!the only thing bad about the gun now is with the new plastic wads in shells they hang up on the choke!It still works good for slugs though.Does yours say its a police issue?

[Shack]

No! It was used by police and pruchased from a police action, is what I was told.

Does your have the silver tag on the stock? I figured this had something to do with police.????

I never had an issue with stuff sticking in choke, but the one thing about this gun is it is very heavy. When I did hunt with it, I was young and my arms got a good work out!

[Pikeslayer]

shackbash yes mine has the tag imbeded inthe stock,I have never seen another model 20 until I spotted yours on this post.do you have all three chokes for the gun?

[Shack]

I know I have two and I think the thrid one is in gun!

[Pikeslayer]

The picture you showed it looked like there was no choke in the gun!

[Shack]

You are correct! It does not look like it is in it! I will have to check this weekend. I know in my safe I have at least two chokes in drawer for gun, but I remember getting three from my grandpa. I will check into this.