Amateur Gunsmith

Hey guys. I am an amateur gunsmith (more like a gun mechanic) and have done a few restorations in the past.

I did some work on my three Marlins

A model 60 that I got for cheap at a gun show

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2014/05/project-night-prowler.html
http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2015/07/marlin-model-81-dl-project-part-2.html

A model 81 DL .22

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2015/07/marlin-model-81-dl-project-part-1.html

A model 1895 Guide Gun in 45-70

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2014/03/marlin-1895-mods.html


One of my next projects is a model 1893 that needs a complete restoration

 

here are some of my other restoration projects:

I have way too many shotguns and definitely wasn't looking for another one, but what can I say?

My Father in law picked this project up for me at a yard sale for $40.

It is a Remington model 58 12 gauge semi-auto, made in 1956, the walnut looks pretty good but the metal has pink rust spots.

anyway, here is what it looked like when he brought it to me:

 

a couple more:

 

Dis-assembly, the trigger group is removed just like any other Remington 870/1100, just push out the two pins.

The stock had two holes, one for the bolt and the other for???




In this picture you can see the action bar where it attaches to the piston (which is mounted in the front portion of the magazine, which is why the magazine only holds two rounds.





The trigger housing is aluminum and the finish looks horrible, since I have not tried anodizing yet and a polished housing would look good on this gun, I decided to strip and polish it

 

OK now what? I guess I need to take this mess of parts and make a working trigger mechanism out of them



While I was at it I polished some of the other parts



I also polished the bearing surfaces of the hammer

 

After much cursing, dis-assembly and reassembly I finally have a working trigger mechanism




now on to the steel

The next step was to remove the rust and old bluing using naval jelly



I then remove the remaining bluing along with the acid "etching" with the wire wheel on my grinder

 

Then we start removing the pits, starting with 120 grit emory cloth, then moving to 220 grit sand paper



I kept moving up on the grit until I got to 2000 grit (wet/dry) sand paper, the metal is almost ready for bluing




I then went to work on the barrel, there was a large rust pit on the magazine ring, I used a file to get it smooth again



then I sanded the barrel to 600 grit and used the buffer to make it shine, the black stuff on the metal is buffing compound

 

When I blue a gun, I do more than one, more economical that way





Done! I also jeweled the bolt and nitre blued the pins and charging handle

 

more

 

Before & After







you can see the whole story here: http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2014/10/another-shotgun-project-remington-model_10.html

 

not a product, I mixed my own bluing salts using 1 part Sodium Nitrate to 2 parts Sodium Hydroxide along with distilled water

 

no, the barrel looked good, I used a brass brush hooked to my drill to get it cleaned up.

I have found that often the guns that get rusty due to neglect also have leaded barrels.... also do to neglect....kind of a blessing in disguise

 

Here is my model 60 that I fixed up for shooting vermin at my family's property in the sticks



http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2014/05/project-night-prowler.html

 

and a Model 81DL that I repaired/refinished the stock, swapped out the scope and added a flip flop recoil pad



http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2015/07/marlin-model-81-dl-project-part-1.html

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2015/07/marlin-model-81-dl-project-part-2.html

 

Finished another one, this one is a Western Field 740 (Marlin 336).....I had to blue it three times to get it right, but that happens sometimes....

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2017/04/western-field-740-emn-reblue-x3-part-1.html

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2017/04/western-field-740-emn-reblue-x3-part-2.html

Before and after pics: