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I was thinking on my love of C&R guns and why they were so special to me.
Truth is. These are worn old guns. With a lot of history. And often need a bunch of TLC.
But I truly enjoy cleaning them up. The uglier the better. I guess that's the hook for me.
Now I cant be the only one here looking for and buying ''Diamonds in the ruff''.
And I wonder ''How do you guys fix them up''? Any good trade secrets?
This is one I worked on. It was a $500 IBM. That came with to much ammo to let walk.
Was it worth it?
Here is some of what it took.
I first used denatured alcohol to clean years of gunk and varnish from the metal.
The flat at the top of the receiver in front of the rear sight was beaten with a hammer!
So I filed all the dents out with a diamond file. Then smoothed it further with some 600 grit sand paper.
I used a lemon juice vinegar mix to etch the metal back to a matching texture. Then used diluted bluing paste for the final finish in just that area.
Onto the stock.
For the missing chunk of wood at the heal, I cut out an area with a dermal. And superglued in a patch I made from a broken old Winchester stock with similar grain and color walnut.
I stained the patch to match and my repair almost disappeared
This was a very battle scared stock.
I usually take all the damage out when refinishing. But could not bring myself to do that on this one. It was so honest.
So I left the character and damage mostly intact. With just a surface refinish. And a lot of BLO to hydrate the wood.
So there you go.
Now how have you guys rehabilitated yours? Any good tips?
Truth is. These are worn old guns. With a lot of history. And often need a bunch of TLC.
But I truly enjoy cleaning them up. The uglier the better. I guess that's the hook for me.
Now I cant be the only one here looking for and buying ''Diamonds in the ruff''.
And I wonder ''How do you guys fix them up''? Any good trade secrets?
This is one I worked on. It was a $500 IBM. That came with to much ammo to let walk.
Was it worth it?
Here is some of what it took.
I first used denatured alcohol to clean years of gunk and varnish from the metal.
The flat at the top of the receiver in front of the rear sight was beaten with a hammer!
So I filed all the dents out with a diamond file. Then smoothed it further with some 600 grit sand paper.
I used a lemon juice vinegar mix to etch the metal back to a matching texture. Then used diluted bluing paste for the final finish in just that area.
Onto the stock.
For the missing chunk of wood at the heal, I cut out an area with a dermal. And superglued in a patch I made from a broken old Winchester stock with similar grain and color walnut.
I stained the patch to match and my repair almost disappeared
This was a very battle scared stock.
I usually take all the damage out when refinishing. But could not bring myself to do that on this one. It was so honest.
So I left the character and damage mostly intact. With just a surface refinish. And a lot of BLO to hydrate the wood.
So there you go.
Now how have you guys rehabilitated yours? Any good tips?
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