The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - J. Stevens Model 14-1/2 Little Scout: Restoration Project?

GunXpatriot · November 13, 2012, 12:10 AM

I just bought an old Stevens 14 1/2. It was dirt cheap and it functions fine. The stock and foregrip's wood are in decent shape as well. There is very light touches of surface rust on the barrel/reciever, not deep at all, pretty much a "dusting" of rust, which is apparently extremely easy to remove.

One problem. It seems that the bluing is completely stripped off on the entire rifle. Of course, this makes me want to re-blue it. I honestly think it looks good this way, but I'd like it more true to it's original form. The issue is that I don't know how to blue the receiver. It's less blued than the barrel. Would I just make one or two less passes of bluing? Or would I use something totally different? You can probably see I've never blued anything before...

The other thing is that it's missing a trigger guard, which I'm sure I'll be able to find somewhere, so that's no big deal.

I guess the problem here is me being a noob. This is how the rifle should normally look.

It's the top rifle if you didnt know

But yeah, looking around for a good picture of one in good condition, it would seem that a lot of these have lost their finish one way or another, despite being in damn good shape. Why do you think this is?

Thanks a lot to anyone who can help me!

November 13, 2012, 12:10 AM	#1
GunXpatriot Senior Member Join Date: November 28, 2011 Location: New York Posts: 393	J. Stevens Model 14-1/2 Little Scout: Restoration Project? I just bought an old Stevens 14 1/2. It was dirt cheap and it functions fine. The stock and foregrip's wood are in decent shape as well. There is very light touches of surface rust on the barrel/reciever, not deep at all, pretty much a "dusting" of rust, which is apparently extremely easy to remove. One problem. It seems that the bluing is completely stripped off on the entire rifle. Of course, this makes me want to re-blue it. I honestly think it looks good this way, but I'd like it more true to it's original form. The issue is that I don't know how to blue the receiver. It's less blued than the barrel. Would I just make one or two less passes of bluing? Or would I use something totally different? You can probably see I've never blued anything before... The other thing is that it's missing a trigger guard, which I'm sure I'll be able to find somewhere, so that's no big deal. I guess the problem here is me being a noob. This is how the rifle should normally look. It's the top rifle if you didnt know But yeah, looking around for a good picture of one in good condition, it would seem that a lot of these have lost their finish one way or another, despite being in damn good shape. Why do you think this is? Thanks a lot to anyone who can help me!