Old Remington 870 refinishing complete!

[OfcrFek 21]

Well, on June 10th I started researching and planning how to refinish and restore an old Remington 870 to its previous glory.  10 days later, I'm finally finished! Now I'm by no means a professional, and this was the first time I've ever tried to do this kind of work on a firearm, but I think it turned out ok... 

 

I used Birchwood Casey's Cold Bluing Kit to strip all the rust and old splochy bluing off the barrel, receiver, and mag tube. Reblued it all with the same kit, doing a lot of work with some steel wool in between coats, and using my girl's shower set to the hottest it would go to rinse all the compounds off after the allotted times.

 

This is pre and post re-blue of the barrel:

 

 

The stock was a little more difficult. I used some stripper agents to remove the old finish on the stock set. Then used a wet rag and iron to make the more serious dents pop back out. Then I took a sanding block to remove what finish was still there, and even the stock out over all (220 grain). Afterwards, I wiped the whole stock set down with some denatured alcohol a few times to clean it, and let it air dry. After I was sure it was dry and clean, I started applying the layers of stain (I used Gunstock 231 by Miniwax). Applied 3 layers of stain over about a 16 hour period, then let it completely dry for another 16 hours.  After that, I applied a spray on Clear Semi-Gloss Polyurethane sealant (3 thin coats over about 6 hours), then gave it about 20 hours to completely dry. And bam, done.

 

 

 

This is the overall firearm:

 

Yes, that is duct tape holding the receiver together in the before pictures. Lol.

 

A special thanks goes out to Cowboy6373, Old School, usnmars, siderman, and Hare Trigger for all their instructions and advice on how to go about doing it!        

[BrianN 0]

nice job. looks way better but still has some character, love it.

[silverado427 10,717]

Looks great.

[jermz1987 243]

wow that came out amazing. How did you fix the reciver?

[OfcrFek 21]

Looking at how I worded that, I'm realizing it sounds like the receiver was broken. That wasn't the case. The duct tape was there to keep the trigger pins from falling out, as for some reason, they were ever so slightly smaller than the pin holes. Side saddle bolts fixed that. Sorry bout the confusion!

[Vicious 138]

Nice job. It looks very well done. Want to do a stock for me? Lol

[W2MC 1,699]

VERY nicely done!

[Parker 213]

Nice.

 

All you need now is a new rear sight and slide for the ramp base.

 

 

[Hare Trigger 0]

Very sweet! Congrats! No feeling better than doing it yourself and the feeling of accomplishment!!!

 

You know what else might look cool is a "Breacher Choke" (tactical choke). They can be found at midway for around $30.

[1563621 388]

Nicely Done!

[Sigman 41]

That came out great!  The Rem 870 is an awesome gun.  I have one over 30 yrs old that functions and looks close to new.

[jm1827 284]

That came out great!  The Rem 870 is an awesome gun.  I have one over 30 yrs old that functions and looks close to new.

 +1- mine is close to 50 years old and still functions perfectly.

[BierGut 0]

Fantastic... all those older shotguns need to be restored and kept around!  Nice job!

[Hare Trigger 0]

I have an Ithica 37 Featherweight that I bought recently that needs a bluing job and possibly a little stock work. I'm planning to make that a winter project for those cold days when I'm not plowing snow.