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A Restoration To Remember


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Hey guys,

Well where do I start? First off this is not completely air gun related, however being as though this is only the real forum that i stick in, and the majority of the people I talk to on here are avid airgun fans I thought it would be right.

A few months back I put a post up with some pictures of a very neglected single barrel shotgun asking for help with restoring. The story starts with a bad days shooting, where once again the pheasants had got the better of me, learning the new ways of shooting them with an air rifle, with me walking back to my car, as always on my permission the land lady pokes her head out to see if I have been successful. She is a great family friend and the land they give me to shoot on is amazing, especially being a small island, land permission is very sought after and kept within niches. Anyway I can't remember the exact conversation, but it came onto me explaining about the rough shooting I used to do while I was in the armed forces, and how much more of a tie I could get around the pheasants if I could use a shotgun while walking as they launch up. Anyway the lady scurried away into her house and came out with her deceased husbands shotgun. It hadn't seen the light of day for 16 years, she was actually in the process of taking it to the police to get it destroyed however it would break her heart. I had a look over the shotgun and boy it was bad. I explained to her first of all I would have to apply for a sgc as I only have my air rifles on my FAC and that I would make a call to my friend in my local gunshop and see if we can store it there until I got it.

When it all cleared after a few weeks I went down to see it again after the owner of my LGS checked the barrel to see if it was salvageable,the bire had a few pits but if i did a good job on the exterior he reakons it wiuld last the rest of my life. On picking it up and taking it home this is what I was left with......

A nightmare... The actual forehand was taped to the front of the gun to keep the action on...wow I was thinking... I need to do this properly.

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After posting on here with the pictures I looked at starting slow, with the stock. Before I begin this topic of the restoration I want you to know, that I do not count myself as an engineer, or a woodworker or anything, I am a simple person who has been in the armed forces for a number of years, I know my way around a rifle, but not the depth of what I have done here, I a complete amateur at this. With little money to spend.

Moxy (who didn't want to take any praise at all but I just have to) who has been an absolute star in helping me, kindly when he found the dilemma I was in gave me a ring, in his own time, and talked me through the process of repairing the stock. I began by sanding it down, both sides were cracked at the grip, and the forehand needed the action to fit it to the stock repairing. I sanded both of them down, and epoxied both the sides and left them to dry overnight and had a look at the forehand.
Unfortunatly the stock was too thin to put a dowel in but after the morning was up they were absolutely solid.
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The forehand, was quite simple. Which was a good place for me to start, to build my confidence up for the build...a nice little goal for me to accomplish.... The old wood where the action screwed into was brittle and mouldy, so I simply chiseled that away and made some blocks of wood to fill its place, this allowed me to screw the action back in making it flush.

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The finished forehand,, which was a massive accomplishment for me, and a big step forward.
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Back to the stock, which once completely dry, I used wood filler to fill and sanded it down so the grain showed through..

One of the sides before sanding
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Once the stock and forehand were done, I oiled..... This was all done over the week, sanding lightly and re oiling until everything was lovely and shiny.....I have opted against staining the wood as I actually prefer this natural look.

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Now onto the metal work....which i must admit was quite daunting....over the next few days I spent most of my time researching the Internet, looking at ways to repair the rusting...I settled on getting Birchwood Caseys gun finishing...I was lucky to get a pack of six bottles off ebay for 20 quid, which included the oil for the stock and all the perma blue and degreasing which allowed me to get the rust off.


At this time just before i started on the metal work....Thursdog on here had just started his build....I messaged him and for the following process him and moxy were an absolutely godsend.

I started with the barrel, completely degreasing it and then applying birchwoods own rust and blue remover.... Moving down the the sand papers all the way to 320.... Note for anyone who uses the rust remover, don't put it on and keep putting it on as it leaves a residue which needs to be sanded off, it's better just to put it on once and then continue with the sandpaper..... The first day I ended up with this...
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The next day after work I got to it again and finished it off, polishing it until my hands almost fell off.....at the end of the day I put the barrel on and it's the first time you see the whole gun coming together.
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Once this was done, the day came to blueing......this was the part I was worried about the most....it was the most tense five minutes of me and my wife shouting......"ready?...ready, ok blue on....have you started the stop watch???... Ok how longs left?....turn it turn it turn it.... Ok ok ready rinse.....!!!!!!!

The perma blue can only stay on the shotgun for no more than a minute, I used the liquid stuff, and at the start wanted to try and do as much as possible due to me thinking the blending would be difficult, I actually found doing 10cm bits and covering it well worked better.....what the intructions don't tell you, is that the perma blue is like waxing your car....the residue has to come off first with wire wool then the finish is displayed...which I'm glad as the barrel looked a state after being just wiped dry with a cloth.

At the end of the day I left it cure and the barrel was done....
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These numbers and serials were not even visable with the layer of rust on at the start

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The next day after work I oiled it and the barrel looked amazing!.....the action was next and I spent the next couple of days sanding down and getting as much off.

I also dismantled the springs in the action and greased them and the fireing pin.

Once blued it ended up all clean and done...what everyone must realise is I couldn't get all the pits out its a 20 or 30 year old shotgun and I will never get it perfect although I tried as damn hard as I could to get it near.

This is what I ended up with
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When I had put it all together for a dry fit, one thing I did realise was that the stock where the action met each other had a slight gap, this I presume is where the rifle has been standing for so many years, the wood has twisted with age......moxy came to my rescue again and I sized up the hardwood needed being as tho jersey only really has places like b n q which would not have the wood I required. He sent me it down and I filled the gap and sanded, unfortunately the stock still sticks out a bit where the wood has sweated with age. But this is what I managed to do. I didn't want to take too much off due to this being the weakest part of the shotgun.

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There was one final stage to this tale, which I had been planning for quite a while while the build was going on.....due to the shotgun belonging to the land lady's husband before he passed away, I thought it would be a nice gesture, to get the shotgun engraved with his name, so that in a way when I am using it on her land, her husband would live through this shotgun and be shooting on his/her land again.

I picked it up from the engravers yesterday and I was amazed at how it looks. It was a nail biting time due to the engraver not knowing how the diamond would cut and whether it would look right.

I will let you make the decision.(sorry it's upside down)
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I took it to the land lady today and she broke down in tears....I didn't really know what to say, but in some ways i knew what it meant to her. I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed it, and when I have a bit of money I might look at doing something like this again.

Once again thank you to moxy and thurs for the advice they gave me, I wouldn't have been able to do it without them

Hope you enjoyed the read.....if there are any detail parts anyone once to know I will gladly tell them how I did it...it goes in tomorrow for its final check to my mate at the gunshop and I aim to shoot it for the first time tomorrow......

You'll be at home soon joe :)

All the best

Craig

P.s apologies for the bad spelling I'm on my iPad

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  • Like 9
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That's a great write up Craig and an outstanding result and tribute.

 

Thanks but I can't take any credit it's you that has done the hard graft.

 

Now get some gear shot.

 

Atb

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Brilliant restoration and write up mate.

I defo can't take any credit, you did it yourself pal.

You should be very proud that was a brilliant gesture to that lady and a superb effort.

I had a lump in my throat after reading the woman burst into tears.

Your a star mate!!

 

All the very best

 

Chris.

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