Let’s Restore a Shotgun

[CentralTXHunter]

So my Nana passed away back in October. We’ve been methodically cleaning out her house in Big Spring the past several months. Big Spring is 5 hours away for my sister, mom, and myself so the process has been slow. While cleaning out her garage back in December I found a Iver Johnson Champion single shot 16 gauge. It was in a storage cabinet behind a bunch of junk and laying next to a Winchester Model 67 .22 Short. They might not have moved in 40 years. Serial “number” is BHBB. There aren’t accurate records for these guns but that dates it to between 1939 and 1957 and most likely was my great grandfathers. They’re not worth much money at all, but I have decided to restore them so that we can pass them down and use them. I’ve never done this before, but let’s see how it goes. I’d love to knock down a few dove in September with this thing.

It was in pretty rough shape. This is what I’m starting with.








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[diamond10x]

That’ll be fun! It doesn’t seem to be in too bad of shape by the pics.

[Walker]

Doesn't look too bad. Sounds like a worthy project.

[CentralTXHunter]

I was able to get the action open (it was pretty froze up) and get it disassembled.



I then ran all the metal parts through a couple of cycles of my Sonic cleaner.



Pieces came out much cleaner as expected.



Tomorrow my plan is to take some 0000 steel wool and oil to these metal parts to remove a lot of surface rust that is still present. Then we’ll strip the finish off the wood back down to bare wood, stain it, and then give it a good coat of linseed oil. Hopefully I’ll have a functioning, restored shotgun by Sunday. I’ll update along the way as I complete steps the rest of this week.


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[bowtecmike]

In! Love these threads


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[fish4food]

Great progress! Cleaned up real nice!

[SmTx]

Oh man, please just clean it and not "restore it!!!"

[QuackHunter]

How hot does your sonic cleaner get? Consider boiling or steaming the parts and then using steel wool to remove the rust it brings out. Works great


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[Louis]

Great lookin old gun. I have one in 12 GA with 30 in full choke. Has ivory beads for sights. Has over johnson gun and bicycle works stamped on it. As stated by SmTx just clean it and don't restore it.

[Big Lee]

What a cool find!! I have a weird addiction to old Single shot shotguns. No idea why.

[CentralTXHunter]

Originally Posted by SmTx

Oh man, please just clean it and not "restore it!!!"

I understand this sentiment. If it was in great condition, it’s maybe a $200 shotgun. I’m removing the rust from the metal parts to preserve it, but have no intention of destroying the patina. As far as the stock, it didn’t show in pictures, but there’s multiple colors of paint on the stock. I’m going to strip it to bare wood and stain. I’m not going to sand the nicks or imperfections out of it. I want it to keep the character, but look like it had been cared for the last half century.


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[CentralTXHunter]

Originally Posted by QuackHunter

How hot does your sonic cleaner get? Consider boiling or steaming the parts and then using steel wool to remove the rust it brings out. Works great


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I ran the sonic cleaner without heat at the suggestion of my local gunsmith buddy. The dry west Texas weather is the reason this gun isn’t crumbling apart.


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[TxHamJello]

In for progress and finished product! Fun project!

[TacticalCowboy]

Looks good!

[Walker]

Be gentle with the steel wool on that case hardened receiver

[CentralTXHunter]

So I had a little time today between clients. I hit the metal parts with a little oil and steel wool. I made sure I used a very light touch and let the wool work on the rust without harming the finish. Everything cleaned up pretty nicely. The barrel has some areas where the bluing has gone and there’s some minor pitting, but overall I’m happy with how this part has turned out so far. My only regret is not taking before pictures of each piece.











Probably all that I’ll get to today. Plan is to strip the wood tomorrow evening. Stain and linseed Saturday. Then reassemble Sunday. If I could find a box of dang 16 gauge lead shot, it shoot it too, lol. I’ve got a couple feelers out for that so we’ll see what comes of it.


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[kruppa24]

In, looking good so far

[Leverhunter]

Looking good. Nice project.

[SmTx]

Originally Posted by CentralTXHunter

I understand this sentiment. If it was in great condition, it’s maybe a $200 shotgun. I’m removing the rust from the metal parts to preserve it, but have no intention of destroying the patina. As far as the stock, it didn’t show in pictures, but there’s multiple colors of paint on the stock. I’m going to strip it to bare wood and stain. I’m not going to sand the nicks or imperfections out of it. I want it to keep the character, but look like it had been cared for the last half century.


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Ah, understood. Looking good so far

[saintsfan]

Looks great!

[Drycreek3189]

After you strip the stock, you may find you don’t need to stain it. Back in the day American walnut was cheap and plentiful, and very few guns had beech or birch stocks that had to be stained. Hopefully you’ll just turn up some pretty walnut although it won’t be fancy. You’ve made a good start !

[Hardware]

Tagged!

[CentralTXHunter]

Originally Posted by Drycreek3189

After you strip the stock, you may find you don’t need to stain it. Back in the day American walnut was cheap and plentiful, and very few guns had beech or birch stocks that had to be stained. Hopefully you’ll just turn up some pretty walnut although it won’t be fancy. You’ve made a good start !

That would be ideal. I’m prepared either way. We’ll know after stripping tomorrow.


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[mikebyrge]

Looks great!

I think that wood will be good without any stain - just some Tru oil and it should look nice.

Restoring/refinishing guns is one of my hobbies and I always use CitriStrip and Scotch Brite pad to remove the old finish followed by light sanding.

Some cold blue on the spots with bare metal will make it look better and offer some protection.

[CentralTXHunter]

Started stripping the finish this evening. This is the stripper I’m using.



Couple of before pics.




Applied the stripper and wrapped in Saran Wrap. I’ll check on it periodically this evening, but it may need to sit overnight.




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[3ChordTruth]

Looking good, a very nice project, thanks for the detailed pics.

[Chase4556]

Looks great! Can’t wait to see the finished product.

[CentralTXHunter]

Well, this project is going to take longer than expected. This weather isn’t exactly ideal woodworking weather. I’m also using a very mild stripper. It took of a good initial layer off by this morning, but I can still see some of the paint on the stock and we are nowhere near bare wood yet. I reapplied stripper and we’ll check on it this afternoon.


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[Leverhunter]

Looking great

[Drycreek3189]

Originally Posted by CentralTXHunter

Well, this project is going to take longer than expected. This weather isn’t exactly ideal woodworking weather. I’m also using a very mild stripper. It took of a good initial layer off by this morning, but I can still see some of the paint on the stock and we are nowhere near bare wood yet. I reapplied stripper and we’ll check on it this afternoon.


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When it comes to restoration, slow is good.

[Solo7]

Looking good so far!

[CentralTXHunter]

Got the wood all stripped. Doesn’t look like stain is going to be needed as we have a beautiful piece of wood to start with. I’ll apply the first coat of linseed oil after church. I’ll probably do 3-4 coats, so we should be able to put the gun back together by the end of the week.




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[Leverhunter]

Great looking wood. Nice job on the stripping.

[Sahelian Jeep]

That’s looking good

[Chew]

What u gonna do with that wooden Texas flag? I like that.

[CentralTXHunter]

Originally Posted by Chew

What u gonna do with that wooden Texas flag? I like that.

Those are cornhole boards I built a year or two ago. There’s a thread here about it somewhere.




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[CentralTXHunter]

Got the first coat of linseed oil on the wood. Took it out into the sun to get a better pic. Really happy with it so far.



Rinse and repeat this a few times over the next few days, get it some drying time and we’ll put this bad boy back together.


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[Fajkus7]

It’s coming together really nicely

[Drycreek3189]

I thought there would be some pretty walnut under that varnish. Not fancy, but attractive nevertheless.

[CentralTXHunter]

Originally Posted by Drycreek3189

I thought there would be some pretty walnut under that varnish. Not fancy, but attractive nevertheless.

Yeah, you were right and I was thoroughly surprised. It’s not “high grade” by any means, but it’s pretty. Doesn’t show in the pics, but all the nicks in the wood from the 70-80 years it’s been around were kept. I purposely did not sand/iron those imperfections out. I wanted it preserved for future use, but to appreciate the past.


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[Nash Thornton]

Motivating, I got a few rusty ones laying around.

[Fordnandez]

Super cool man.

[3ChordTruth]

Really nice wood color, full sun shows it off well.

[Big Lee]

Looking great! I hope you take this gun on a well deserved hunt!

[CentralTXHunter]

Originally Posted by Big Lee

Looking great! I hope you take this gun on a well deserved hunt!

Thanks! I would love to kill a few dove a year with it at least. I’m not much for “safe queens”. Put the 4th coat of linseed oil on today. I’ll let it cure for a couple of days and put it all back together on Friday/Saturday.


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[CentralTXHunter]

Got it put back together today. Really happy with how it turned out. She’s ready to shoot some birds again. I’ll start doing the Winchester .22 soon and most likely do the exact same thing. Thanks for following along!










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[Chase4556]

Looks awesome! Great job.

[bowmansdad]

That turned out great! I need to try this on my dads old Remington 12 gauge.

[TacticalCowboy]

Great work!

[kruppa24]

nice work! like button