Before you begin refinishing your firearm

Trying your hand at minor refinishing of a favoriteof the amateur is Brownells' 444-page mail order
firearm, or sprucing up a newly purchased used gun,catalog of tools, parts, refinishing supplies and
or even doing a bit of restoration oninstructional books and materials. The items selected
great-granddad's muzzleloader can be a very relaxingfor inclusion in this massive reference are proven
and rewarding pastime. In fact, refinishing gun metalprofessional products that work. Brownells is the
or wood is an ideal introduction into the broader fieldone-stop shopping spot for all your refinishing and
of home gunsmithing.gunsmithing needs.
It teaches one the essentials of the disassembly,Another source of mail order refinishing supplies is
functioning, and reassembly of a variety of firearms.Midway, which recently grouped many of its products
It requires a minimum of tools, and given today'swithin the pages of a new, specialized gunsmithing
chemical miracles, the process has never been easiercatalog. It's another great source.
to accomplish.And when it comes to instructional videos, the
The Amateur's AdvantageAmerican Gunsmithing Institute offers a variety of
One of the advantages an amateur has over theexcellent step-by-step tapes that illustrate and lead
professional gunsmith is time. A full time gunsmithone through various refinishing processes.
must complete a job within a certain time frame orSome Basic Choices
else he'll be looking for a new occupation. TheProbably the easiest entry into the world of
amateur can putter at bit.refinishing is to buy a bluing kit and a stock finishing
For example, when it comes to polishing metal, thekit. Birchwood-Casey offers both, and they are well
professional places a premium on the use of beltthought out, reasonably priced and readily available.
sanders, buffing wheels, abrasive compounds of allThe Birchwood-Casey kits contain all the necessary
types, and with great skill, turns out a first class job.chemicals, application supplies and instructions.
On the other hand, an amateur can accomplish theJust as an example, their bluing kit contains bottles of
same end with only his hands, using nothing morea blue and rust remover, cleaner-degreaser, and
than files, stones, abrasive papers, possibly a Dremelbluing solution plus steel wool, wet/dry sandpaper,
tool, and time.sponge, bluing daubers, service cloth, Sheath (a fine
Even professionals will readily agree that polishingpreservative) and an instructional guide. The stock
parts by hand is the most positive way to insure thatfinishing kit is similarly complete. Birchwood-Casey's
corners remain square and sharp, lettering crisp andinstructional guides are detailed, clear, well illustrated
legible, and screw holes clean and not dished out.and easy to follow.
When you see custom rifles costing thousands andAs complete as these kits are, I would recommend
possibly tens of thousands of dollars, you can betsupplementing them with a few items that have
the professionals who crafted them spent countlessproven invaluable over the years.
hours at the bench polishing parts by hand, and theirOne of the lessons you quickly learn when using cold
time is reflected in the quality and cost of theirblues is that all steels are not the same and react
product.quite differently to various formulas of cold blue.
What has revolutionized the realm of refinishing isSimilarly, when you are retouching worn spots on
modern chemistry. No longer do we have to dealareas like floor plates, frames or barrels, the color of
with hot bluing or boiled linseed oil. Cold blues havethe original bluing can vary greatly.
improved to the degree that they can be used toTo handle these variations, I would recommend
blend imperceptibly into existing finishes or even blueadding three great bluing solutions from Brownells to
a complete firearm. There are now hard, durable,your basic kit. They are 44-40, Oxpho-Blue and
epoxy and teflon/moly metal finishes that can beDicropan T-4. Solution 44-40 has been around for
sprayed on and bake hardened in the kitchen oven.decades and was originally sold by Numrich Arms. It
Off-the-shelf stock finishes now range from fasthas the reputation of being the most aggressive cold
drying linseed oil based products to spray-on epoxies.blue on the market. It will blue steels other solutions
There are even ready-formulated oil finishes thatwon't touch.
duplicate the warm red-brown hues found on pre-'64Most of the bluing you will be doing is by nature
Winchester Model 70 stocks. If you can imagine it,"touch-up" work, and having an assortment of
you can find it.solutions ready at hand will eliminate frustration and
Sources Of Materials And Instructioninsure a quality outcome.
The bible of the gunsmithing trade and the wish-book