A project indeed You going for a original look or a well finished gun. I think you gonna have to eliminate rust pits in the metal to make it worth the effort

 

A project indeed You going for a original look or a well finished gun. I think you gonna have to eliminate rust pits in the metal to make it worth the effort

It's not a rare, or particularly valuable gun, but I would like to make it as close to original as I can. I've been trying to remove the rust and pitting, even hitting it with copious amounts of CLP, and a brass brush, but it's not really making a dent in it. I was going to take the barrel down to the gunshop tomorrow, and see what they advise me to do, but I was hoping somebody on here would have some advice.

 

My dad has one of those exact same guns. Yours is only the second one I've seen. Get this, He won his(brand new) when he was in high school by selling tickets for the high school. He even got to bring it home one the school bus after he got it. Could you imagine that in todays society????? Anyways , good luck on getting your gun back in shape. I hope it works out because their a really fun gun to shoot. Pease post pics after you get finished.

 

I'm guessing you will have to use 400/600 wet or dry or 000 steel wool on the whole barrel. That will change the factory surface. I would go easy over the lettering and be careful not to sand a flat spot on the barrel. As you say it's a project and a shooter. If you rattle can it with paint it will help you see the blems and help you visualize what a blueing will look like and wipe paint off with thinner. Have fun

 

My dad has one of those exact same guns. Yours is only the second one I've seen. Get this, He won his(brand new) when he was in high school by selling tickets for the high school. He even got to bring it home one the school bus after he got it. Could you imagine that in todays society????? Anyways , good luck on getting your gun back in shape. I hope it works out because their a really fun gun to shoot. Pease post pics after you get finished.

Yeah, you know, it's funny. Last time I went shooting with my uncle, he was telling me how they would go shooting/hunting before and after school. And that he even did a presentation on how to clean a rifle...with a live rifle handy. I felt that was absolutely incredible, and from me going to school, I couldn't imagine that. Though for my senior year, I was 18, and the School Resource Officer (A local PD officer assigned to the school to help stop trouble, and hopefully someone ready to on a shooting or killing spree) and I used to discuss firearms, even his sidearm!

I'm guessing you will have to use 400/600 wet or dry or 000 steel wool on the whole barrel. That will change the factory surface. I would go easy over the lettering and be careful not to sand a flat spot on the barrel. As you say it's a project and a shooter. If you rattle can it with paint it will help you see the blems and help you visualize what a blueing will look like and wipe paint off with thinner. Have fun Smiley

Thanks, I'll have to see if I have any of that handy. I'm guessing I should wetsand it, or use oil?

 

A32Limited, Not trying to steal your thread here. Let just say I'm over 40, but when I was in high school, My junior and senior year I got to drive to school. Me and my best friend would go hunting before and after school. I drove a jacked up 4x4 77 Chevy Silverado that had a gun rack in the back window. While we were in school both of our rifles hung on the gun racks in the truck all day. No one messed with them or even said anything about them, everyone knew we hunted and thats all they were there for. I wouldn't leave my guns in the truck on gun racks for nothin in the world now, much less park it on school property. They would either get stolen or You'd be in jail before you know it. Things sure have changed in the last 27or so years.

 

A32Limited, Not trying to steal your thread here. Let just say I'm over 40, but when I was in high school, My junior and senior year I got to drive to school. Me and my best friend would go hunting before and after school. I drove a jacked up 4x4 77 Chevy Silverado that had a gun rack in the back window. While we were in school both of our rifles hung on the gun racks in the truck all day. No one messed with them or even said anything about them, everyone knew we hunted and thats all they were there for. I wouldn't leave my guns in the truck on gun racks for nothin in the world now, much less park it on school property. They would either get stolen or You'd be in jail before you know it. Things sure have changed in the last 27or so years.

I don't consider it thread jacking, I always enjoy reading stories like this, makes me wish I grew up in that kind of world! Ah well.


Little update: I picked up some steel wool today, didn't have much of an affect on the pitting on the barrel, but I think I salvaged the receiver, so I'm happy about that. Tomorrow after work, I'm going to pick up some 400-800 grit paper, see if I can work those imperfections out.

 

More to update, I'm feeling real confident with this project now! I got some sand paper today, and went in and got the barrel all smoothed out, so it's real nice now. Though I was wondering how the left over "speckling" would affect the bluing, if at all? Since it's completely smooth, I can run my finger nail across it in either direction and not feel any bumps, or get caught.

And than to make this thread interesting, and to thread jack my own thread, some 336 porn! Thanks to Nevr-Dull (awesome product, BTW.)

 

Yep... #3 or #4 steel wool should clean that up good...Your 90% there I'm thinking The letter stamping looks good.

 

Looking good so far. Keep us posted.

 

Took the barrel and receiver in to be hot blued. The local shop contracts out, so it'll be two to three weeks, which gives me plenty of time to work on the stock. On that note, I have a splash of Tru-oil on it, I've run some thinner over the whole thing, and rubbed it down with some steel wool. If it doesn't take, at least I have plenty of time to strip it, and try again!

EDIT: Well, the wood took the oil, tomorrow I'll do the otherside, than over the course of the next week or so, I'll keep adding layers on.

 

+1 wood is going very good.

 

Alright! I got my parts back from the smith the other day. They're not perfect, but they gave me a discount since I guess they weren't able to get rid of all the defects. Though in my opinion, it's still worth it. I was going to clean up, and re-use the Mossberg M4D scope that came with it, but then I remembered I had a Bushnell 3-9X zoom that didn't work on my 795 (Mine is one of the ones with the rail defect, it was cut too thin) so I tried it on this one, and it fit, and looks right at home on it.

I can't wait to get this thing to a range, and try it out. Everything seems to work perfectly.

 

Very nice! nothing like an old rifle with a new life and modern optics on it. 8) 8) I look forward to a range report. 8) 8) ;D

 

Very nice! nothing like an old rifle with a new life and modern optics on it. 8) 8) I look forward to a range report. 8) 8) ;D

Thanks, Janott! After getting my 336, I've really been interested in the old wood and steel rifles, at least more so than I was before getting it. I had great fun restoring this, and I just like looking at it, though if it shoots 100 yards like my 795 shoots at 50, I'll be happy as a clam!

I'll be sure to get some pictures of it's performance on the range once I get the fine sighting in done.

 

Great, I have worked on a number of rifles over the years but noting that look nearly as bad as your Mossberg 351K did before being restored. You did a very good job and should be proud of the final product.

 

Great, I have worked on a number of rifles over the years but noting that look nearly as bad as your Mossberg 351K did before being restored. You did a very good job and should be proud of the final product.

Yeah, when I first looked at it, it was dark, since all I had was a flashlight in my shop, but once I dug into it, I really started to feel overwhelmed by the whole thing, and not having a single clue about the products, or techniques for firearm restoration. This is the first arms related site I've ever joined, and I have to say that so far it's been worth it's weight in...bullets. This is the first gun I've ever done, so I figure, like most of the endeavors I've done like this, if you're gonna start somewhere, why not start big? LOL...Now I'm on the lookout for another clunker, that needs some love, hopefully an older Marlin .357 carbine...that would be awesome! I've wanted one for sometime now.

I am very proud of it, but I'll be far prouder if it's a good shooter though.

 

WOW! That rifle rework looks beautiful! I have the equivialnt of the single shot bolt model. Bought for $20. Best gun deal EVER and also most accurate 22 I ever owned! Bbl is basically brown but not rusted so leaving it that way.

Butter yet, I have a Savage 99 project that I want to do exactly as you did with the Mossberg. I am going to refer to the things you did to rework my gun. Hopefully mine turns out close to what yours did. If it does, I will be VERY happy. Thanx

 

Butter yet, I have a Savage 99 project that I want to do exactly as you did with the Mossberg. I am going to refer to the things you did to rework my gun. Hopefully mine turns out close to what yours did. If it does, I will be VERY happy. Thanx

Thanks for the compliments! And that $20 gun sounds cool. I'm not a fan of single shots, but for that price, I'd be all over it myself!

I look forward to seeing your project, as well, Oscarflytyer. This restoration wasn't as hard as it was nerve racking, since I was really flying blind with the products. All it really took me though, was steel wool ("extra fine" which was probably 00 or 000 wool,) Tru-oil, some papertowels, CLP, and I went to an autoparts store and bought an assortment pack of sandpaper, which has 320 grit, up to 800, so I could smooth parts of the stock, and polish the barrel with it before sending it to the smith for the bluing.

 

Great job! The rifle looks great...

 

GREAT JOB! Thanks for keeping us updated, Makes me want to get my dads from him and redo it! That probably wont happen. Congrats again.

 

I'm very happy with how this gun turned out. I did go to the range, but I wasn't able to shoot it due to circumstances beyond my control. I was on my way to the range, when a cop car flew past me on the main road through Issaquah, and shut his sirens off as he pulled into the nearest parking lot, where there were other cop cars, from different cities. I didn't think much about it, or the Sheriff that came at me heading onto the road I had turned on. I was almost at the range, when I noticed, in a driveway near the school (which is right next to the range...the range was made first) a patrol car, with two officers outside of it, holding what looked like M16s, or M4s. I new something was different at that point, but proceeded to the range. I got in, got my guns lined up, and was ready to hang a target, but the police department called the range, and requested that we stop firing. So they did, and a few minutes later, we heard the first shots, some pretty loud booms, followed by the crackling of automatic weapons. The incursion lasted about 45 seconds, before it was quiet. Over the next hour and a half, all of the people at the range anxiously waited, as they searched for what they believed was an accomplice. There wasn't a second guy, but that area is still pretty well locked down, since 12:15 when the first shots were fired.

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/130501638.html

The range closed for the remainder of the day, and I got my money back, but I'll go tomorrow if the weather isn't too cruddy (they say it's supposed to be) and I'll have the range reports tomorrow! I gotta say, I was really anxious, because I thought it might have been gang related, and was wondering if the second guy would come up to the range, or if he did exist, that he'd have friends, and drag us into a gunfight. Thankfully, that never happened, and there was only one casualty, I'm guessing he was out to commit suicide by police. Anyway, that's my story, pretty crazy stuff...

 

I ain't been keeping up on the progress. the barrel stampings look very good
We could do without the clown with the assault rifle screwing up the range report...saw that on the news tonight.
But on the Positive note You made a new gun out of that thing

 

I ain't been keeping up on the progress. the barrel stampings look very good
We could do without the clown with the assault rifle screwing up the range report...saw that on the news tonight.
But on the Positive note You made a new gun out of that thing

Heh, not much to keep up with really. It started bad, ended awesome looking! The range was closed today, out of respect to the community over the shooting. Next week there's a festival in Issaquah, that I'm going to be at for the morning. So I think I'll take the firearms with me, and get that range report for everyone after that (unless I get tempted to take it sometime this week. Lol) Thanks for watching, Me.

 

What a nice job.

You showed that persistence and elbow grease intelligently applied can salvage a gun that looked pretty far gone.

Many happy shots with it.