The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Hide > The Art of the Rifle: General

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 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!
GunXpatriot is offline  
Old November 13, 2012, 12:32 AM   #2
Creeper
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 9, 2008
Location: Woooooshington
Posts: 1,797
If it were mine, I'd give the metal a light buffing with 0000 steel wool and oil until all the rust is gone, wipe it down again with a soft clean cloth and a good protectant oil... and call it done. A nice, soft metal/brown patina on an "classic" rifle is a good thing.
__________________
Shoulder Drive Nicholson Club
Creeper is offline  
Old November 13, 2012, 09:20 AM   #3
PetahW
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 19, 2008
Posts: 4,678
AFAIK, the old Stevens single-shot receivers were all CCH, and not blued.

Steel wool, even OOOO under oil, will destroy any that's left.


If you must "clean it up", consider trying Frontier 45 metal cleaner (google), which will not damage any underlying finish.


.
PetahW is offline  
Old November 13, 2012, 05:22 PM   #4
GunXpatriot
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 28, 2011
Location: New York
Posts: 393
Eh, Thanks a lot PW, but... What exactly does CCH mean? haha
GunXpatriot is offline  
Old November 13, 2012, 05:33 PM   #5
Jim Watson
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 25, 2001
Location: Alabama
Posts: 18,486
Color Case Hardened

I'd just scrub it with oil and a coarse cloth.

There are getting to be a lot of threads on the gunboards about DIY rust bluing which calls for little equipment but a lot of patience.

You can bend a trigger guard out of strap iron. There was a piece on the approach to making it look nice in a back issue of Rifle Magazine.
Jim Watson is offline  
Old November 14, 2012, 10:11 PM   #6
stu925
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 20, 2010
Location: New York
Posts: 953
I'm with the guys that said clean it but don't blue it. You've got slim chance of reproducing those color case hardened colors yourself. That's a job best left to someone who knows what they are doing. You can also try gunparts corp for the trigger guard.

Stu
stu925 is offline  
Old November 16, 2012, 11:13 PM   #7
GunXpatriot
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 28, 2011
Location: New York
Posts: 393
Thanks Stu, and the rest of your guys! You have actually convinced me to not blue it, in fact, I think it looks (a lot) better in it's current form

Thanks again!
GunXpatriot is offline  
Reply

Tags
model , scout , stevens

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:56 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.05525 seconds with 10 queries