Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles stock stripping/refinishing question?

I have an older, mid seventies, Remington 700 BDL walnut stock that has the shinny lacquer finish. I want to remove the lacquer finish and apply a satin or hand rubbed oil finish. I have no experience with this whatsoever.

I have done numerous Google searches and the opinions are mixed on use of chemical stripping agents, or fine grit sandpaper and steel wool, and no chemicals.

Looking for your opinions and experiences. Thanks for your response.

Gregg

This may be more than you ever wanted to know. TC1 (Terry) here did a very detailed tutorial a couple years back. I condensed the thread to only include the instructional material and pictures. You can find the links to photobucket condenced version pics and slideshow:
HERE

Or the original thread here:
TC1 thread




I also have this saved as jpeg or word. If you'd like to have a copy emailed pm your address.

PM Redneck. I struggled with a Remington Mountain Rifle stock for quite a while before sending it off to a company near you that he recommended that strips finishes from furniture. They were quick and inexpensive. Unfortunately, I have misplaced their invoice and the PM is long gone from my PMs.

Now that sounds like the right deal there. The older I get the less I enjoy home projects that are nasty.

Yep, have it dip stripped if there is a furniture refinishing business near you.
Money well spent.
I did a Rem stock from that same era several years ago and it was a pain.
FYI, that high gloss finish isn't lacquer, it is urethane which is much harder to remove.

This thread a couple weeks back might interest you.
High gloss stock refinish.

This is great information, thanks!

I haven't done a lot of stock refinishing but never found it particularly hard or distasteful. And I have been proud of the results.
One or 2 applications of Jasco paint remover while wearing rubber gloves using a stiff brush removes the finish. Use a toothbrush on the checkering.
A light sanding with 320 grit will smooth the finish.
Use the finish of your choice. I have had good luck with rattle can Satin Verathane. Although some would say it doesn't seal completely, the rifles I have used it on don't get hunted in harsh conditions. I have syn stocked rifle for that.
Here is a M70 FWT I did recently.
Before

After

Words of wisdom. Stripping is the hateful part. Finishing is time consuming, but not hard.

Blacktailer, 1Nut, very nice looking stocks. I can only hope mine turns out like this. I appreciate the input. This rifle was a high school graduation gift from my parents and I'm apprehensive as I don't want to ruin it, but it needs something. Thanks again.

If your only issue is that you just want to knock down the shine, I wouldn't be stripping and re-finishing it.

You could rub it down to whatever level of shine that you desired.

The trouble with those thick epoxy looking finishes is that every time the stock gets dinged it cracks the finish and they look ugly in short order. Plus the bare wood is exposed in each of those dings because once cracked the finish will often slough off in that area.

I have refinished 2 rifles because the poly finish was chipping and bubbling off.One was a Marlin 336 I sanded the finish off and ended up removing too much wood in the process.
The second was a Rem 742. I bought Brownells gunstock finish remover. I slathered it all over the wood let it work for the recommended time then washed the finish off with a garden hose and scrubbed it with a plastic scrub brush. I let the stocks dry and did it again the next day and all the finish was off. I let the wood dry for a couple of weeks then made a paste of Methanol and calcium carbonate powder and brushed it on the stocks. This removed the oil from the wood. I did this a couple of times also.and just brushed it off the wood.
This whole process took some time but the actual cost and labor was minimal. I refinished with tung oil and lots of rubbing and steel wooling.

Not to hijack, but is there something that strips well regarding painted synthetic stocks?

Yup, that is a fact.

That is not the case with the 700 finishes in my experience. That is a mighty tough finish.

Thanks for all the feed back. DakotaDeer that is something I am definitely considering. The rifle has been in cheap synthetic stock for years. I just don't care for the finish on the factory wood stock.

What Dakota & Sitka said. Just nock the shine down with a scotch brite pad and wax it with a good carnuba wax. No need to take the finish off. Unless it has chips that breaks the surface.

Absolutely! The current finish is probably more moisture resistant than you'll end up with anyway. If this doesn't work or the result is not to your liking, then proceed to plan B.

A 0000 steel wool, lightly rubbing, will remove the shine as well. Another possible option...

fishnpbr... I admit that I scrolled thru most of the posts.
Strip the lacquer finish, however... sand the wood down to at least 220 grit sand paper. Apply Tung Oil as the finish. Use Tung Oil that has been cut with a suitable product to thin it down so that it penetrates the pores of the wood (Homer Fornsby product). That will be the first coat. Then use pure Tung Oil for 3-4 coats. This is the hardest oil known to man. I reccomend the satin finish. When you start to see wear on the stock simply re-apply the oil... sooo simple and you will love the look and durability.

Larry