Brand-New Old-School

[plsmyk]

Very nice!! In this day and age when everyone seems to want to load down their shotguns with the latest tactical goodies, it's nice to see one kept "lean and mean".

[Mr. Beretta]

All business!

[plumbum]

Damn, took a perfectly homely (but perfectly effective) shotgun and gave it some honest to goodness class. That Tru oil finish looks great, thanks for sharing!

[JBBenson]

Very beautiful. What color stains did you use and what finish?

Matching the old forend (new ones in this style are impossible to find) and the new unfinished buttstock was tricky. I stripped the old finish off the forend and sanded to remove the old stain until I was down to bare walnut.

The new walnut buttstock needed to be fitted, so I bought a Dremel and carefully fitted the buttstock to the receiver, keeping everything flush by masking the receiver with duct tape, installing the buttplate, and finish sanding by hand. This keeps the metal and wood surfaces flush and avoids any rounded-off edges that are a giveaway of a sloppy refinish.

Then I removed the buttstock and stained both it and the forend with Old Masters Wiping Stain in Dark Walnut until they matched, then used about 5 coats of Tru Oil, sanding with 0000 steel wool between coats, and finished with the Stock Conditioner.

So, what started as an experiment took 10 days to finish (and cost more than the gun is worth) but I love the classic riot-gun look, it's just what I wanted.

First time I ever did it too. Now I need to go and shoot it. It's my first shotgun, I am hoping than 12 gauge shells are easier to find than other calibers of ammo these days.

[xtra870]

When i did my 20ga 870 all i did was strip the original finish and use a dark walnut stain to the desired darker color and then 2 coats of satin finish. It came out pretty nice except for one run that is just barely noticible.

[jyo]

Neat shotgun---needs modern recoil pad! Enjoy.