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Advice on Cold Bluing an old Remington 870

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So my awesome fiancee bought me an old Remington 870 for our anniversary (even though she's not all that keen on guns being in the house) for about $100 at the range I go to. I'm thinking I'm going to try my hand at restoring it a bit. The thing is in pretty rough shape visually... Was going to use a Casey Bluing/Stock Restoring Kit, and reblue the whole thing, and restore the wood stocks. ...any advice for someone who's never done this before? 

 

If I get a chance, I'll upload a pic or 2 of the gun now... It literally has duct tape on it in some places holding it together....

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Congrats on the 870 its a great shotgun. The key to metal refinish is to ensure there is absolutely no grease or oil or dirt. Soak the barrels and receiver parts to be finished in an acetone bath. Let it sit for a good long time. Rinse thoroughly and do it again!!! At this point only handle parts with gloves. I believe the Casey reblue kit contains a degreaser (this will also remove old blueing). While still wet polish the metal parts with fine steel wool as this will remove any rust and old blueing. Spray again until soaked and let it drip dry. Now you are ready to cold blue the parts (or you may need to continue to degrease, you really can't do this enough times!!). Be careful though, the receiver is most likely aluminum and Casey sells a Black finish for aluminum. Blueing may not take. The main thing you should take away from my rambling is that a good finish on metal is all about prep. The more you can ensure it is spotless, shiny and clean the better your results. And don't touch any metal parts unless you have gloves on!!

 

Stock refinish is also about prep and a lot of patience. To refinish a stock could take you more than a month. It will be minutes a day, but to add layers of finish and have them build up takes 25 or more coats. I have used Miles Gilbert Advanced Stock refinish kits with excellent results. It can be found at midwayusa.com for less than 30 bucks. It comes with a DVD with full step by step instructions, making it virtually bulletproof. I would highly recommend it as you can refer back to the DVD as many times as you need. 

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Just saw the pictures....you may want to consider duracoat for the metal parts. The prep work is the same as for reblueing, you have some pits and scratches and the duracoat would fill them in nicely and even up the overall finish. Just a thought. I have had excellent results with it and once again duracoat has plenty of videos on their site and on youtube. I do prefer cerakote, but it is a bit harder to apply and requires oven curing. The finish is indestructible.

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Two pieces of advice when cold blueing.  Degrease, Degrease, Degrease!

 

I used to do it with live steam when available.  And secondly, apply to the surface when it is VERY warm almost as hot as you can hold.

 

And of course don't hold it with your bare hand because your hand has oils on it.

 

Applying in nice even strokes helps too.

 

Tropher has done some decent cold bluing, hope he chimes in.

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First off try some penetrating oil and bronze wool on the bluing. It doesnt look that bad, just some superficial surface rust that if it hasnt been on too long it will come right off. You will be amazed what a good cleaning will do. For the stock go to home depot and get some citristrip, a stain that you like, and minwax gloss lacquer. On the ride home stop at an auto parts place and get some 600 grit wet sandpaper. Strip and refinish the stock then spray the lacquer on. Wet sand between coats and repeat. The more coats the higher gloss. I did a garand stock this way and it looks like it was dipped in glass after 143 coats :)

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Wow, thanks for the quick and in depth responses! That kind of sucks that the receiver might be aluminum, I don't know why I hadn't thought of that... That's actually the main piece I would like to get done asap, as I actually just bought a new stock for it yesterday and a new barrel a week ago...  At the moment, it's kind of my HD/range shotgun, but once it's completely restored, I'd like to put all the original parts that came with it back on.  After I remove the stock, fore end, barrel, spring, trigger assembly, and bolt, is there anything else I have to try to keep the blue/duracoat from contacting on the inside of the receiver/shell tube?

 

EDIT: Just did a little research, and apparently (at least on the 3 websites I found), Remington 870's ONLY come with steel receivers, and are currently the only type/brand of shotguns that using an all steel receiver is standard on.

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First off try some penetrating oil and bronze wool on the bluing. It doesnt look that bad, just some superficial surface rust that if it hasnt been on too long it will come right off. You will be amazed what a good cleaning will do. For the stock go to home depot and get some citristrip, a stain that you like, and minwax gloss lacquer. On the ride home stop at an auto parts place and get some 600 grit wet sandpaper. Strip and refinish the stock then spray the lacquer on. Wet sand between coats and repeat. The more coats the higher gloss. I did a garand stock this way and it looks like it was dipped in glass after 143 coats :)

And if my stock set comes in tomorrow, I'll be picking this stuff up on the way home from work so I can start this long and tedious process. lol.

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First off try some penetrating oil and bronze wool on the bluing. It doesnt look that bad, just some superficial surface rust that if it hasnt been on too long it will come right off. You will be amazed what a good cleaning will do. For the stock go to home depot and get some citristrip, a stain that you like, and minwax gloss lacquer. On the ride home stop at an auto parts place and get some 600 grit wet sandpaper. Strip and refinish the stock then spray the lacquer on. Wet sand between coats and repeat. The more coats the higher gloss. I did a garand stock this way and it looks like it was dipped in glass after 143 coats :)

 

Eric - I don't know if I like the penetrating oil...   I understand you want to kill the rust but you have to degrease it off of there again....

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I restored an old 50+ yr old very rusty (exterior) .22 brl using cold blue and it finished like glass. I plugged the chamber and muzzle wIth a wood dowel and clamped the wood onto a heavy vice and sanded it down to 600 grit using oil to wet sand. A few very good wipe downs with acetone to degrease it then dont let anything touch it except the bluing. You want the metal very warm/hot prior to applying the blue, I set a portable radiator under the brl for a while first. Also put a pc of tape over any imprinted labeling so not to sand it out and carefully work it later. And lots patience.

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One way to ensure it is a metal receiver is to slap a magnet on it....if it sticks it's metal!! For duracoat, I use painters tape to tape off any areas I don't want refinished as it can effect tolerances for fitment back together. For cold blueing, It won't effect tolerances if you get some on the inside of the receiver, but any area that you don't want blued should be taped off. Some people fill bigger areas with modelling clay (you can get that at Michaels). I always plus both ends of the barrels with either finishing product. Other than that I think you are good to go!!

 

Main thing is have fun, and enjoy the extra pride you will have with a shotgun that you refinished end to end. There really is something very special about it!!

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Here is something you all might be interested when refinishing stocks. I have done 2 this way and they both came out great, but you should practice on some spare pieces of wood first until you get used to working with it. Also, ditto with the magnets on steel receivers!

 

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=331108

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