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Joined: Jan 2019
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Campfire Tracker
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OP
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I'm giving away some guns that came to me from my grandparents. My maternal granddad bought a Winchester Model 37 single barrel shotgun sometime in the 1930's, he told me he paid $12.50 for it. It was handed down to me but along the way it was really abused by family members at turkey shoots. Turkey shoots back then involved drinking and gambling and very little gun maintenance. I'm repairing it as best I can before Christmas as a gift to my oldest nephew. Doubt it will be used much if any but I'd like to get the stock solid enough so it won't just fall apart if they decide to use it some. Progress pics from a redneck gunplumber.... Both sides of the wrist were broken out. Flattened the missing areas. Drilled some cracks for dowel rod, the rod will force the glue into the cracks. Patches epoxied in. Patches/dutchman worked down. Preping for "bedding" the action. I'll post some more later if anyone is interested. Sorry I didn't get a before pic of the gun.
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 69,560
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 69,560 |
Looks like a sturdy fix.
Getting replacement stocks for the old guns isn't easy either.
Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla!
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Joined: May 2003
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 31,215 |
Brownell's Acra-Glass. Trust me. There was an Ogden gunsmith I knew who could re-assemble a pile of sticks and splinters into a beautiful gunstock with it. And did.
Later on, Brownell's Cold Blue. But there's a secret to "cold" blue -- it only means cold in comparison to hot salt bluing. You want the metal to be pretty warm when you apply it. Not glowing red, but just too hot to hold onto. Clean the bewangus out of it to get rid of ALL oils, then warm it with a torch or heat gun before you apply the bluing liquid. Apply a couple of coats, re-warming if needed. It will look awful at this stage. Until you wipe it with oil and then WOW!
Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.
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Joined: Jan 2019
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Campfire Tracker
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OP
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Didn't even try to blend with stain, the old gun has stories. Fixing it up is just adding another. Over oiling has messed up a bunch of old guns, I used a couple gallons of acetone soaking out oil best I could.
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Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 1,553
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 1,553 |
Turned out very nice. I never understood why Winchester left the wood so proud of the receiver on those things.
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Joined: Dec 2021
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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That repair looks good. It's hard to get a good match on the wood color/grain. But, your fix looks good.
Why do I have to press 1, for English?
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Joined: Jan 2016
Posts: 95,479
Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
Joined: Jan 2016
Posts: 95,479 |
Brownell's Acra-Glass. Trust me. There was an Ogden gunsmith I knew who could re-assemble a pile of sticks and splinters into a beautiful gunstock with it. And did.
Later on, Brownell's Cold Blue. But there's a secret to "cold" blue -- it only means cold in comparison to hot salt bluing. You want the metal to be pretty warm when you apply it. Not glowing red, but just too hot to hold onto. Clean the bewangus out of it to get rid of ALL oils, then warm it with a torch or heat gun before you apply the bluing liquid. Apply a couple of coats, re-warming if needed. It will look awful at this stage. Until you wipe it with oil and then WOW! Thanks. Wish I had known that as a kid.
Ecc 10:2 The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but that of a fool to the left.
A Nation which leaves God behind is soon left behind.
"The Lord never asked anyone to be a tax collector, lowyer, or Redskins fan".
I Dindo Nuffin
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Joined: Jan 2019
Posts: 3,398
Campfire Tracker
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OP
Campfire Tracker
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I'll clean up the epoxy a little more later.
The forend looks bad, big chip but that's another story so it stays like it is. Just fix the cracks.
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Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 1,553
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 1,553 |
Brownell's Acra-Glass. Trust me. There was an Ogden gunsmith I knew who could re-assemble a pile of sticks and splinters into a beautiful gunstock with it. And did.
Later on, Brownell's Cold Blue. But there's a secret to "cold" blue -- it only means cold in comparison to hot salt bluing. You want the metal to be pretty warm when you apply it. Not glowing red, but just too hot to hold onto. Clean the bewangus out of it to get rid of ALL oils, then warm it with a torch or heat gun before you apply the bluing liquid. Apply a couple of coats, re-warming if needed. It will look awful at this stage. Until you wipe it with oil and then WOW! Just a heads up as someone that does traditional hot bluing, cold blue is only meant for small touch up areas and offers little to no corrosion protection.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 131,433
Campfire Sage
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Campfire Sage
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Joined: Jan 2019
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Campfire Tracker
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OP
Campfire Tracker
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Brownell's Acra-Glass. Trust me. There was an Ogden gunsmith I knew who could re-assemble a pile of sticks and splinters into a beautiful gunstock with it. And did.
Later on, Brownell's Cold Blue. But there's a secret to "cold" blue -- it only means cold in comparison to hot salt bluing. You want the metal to be pretty warm when you apply it. Not glowing red, but just too hot to hold onto. Clean the bewangus out of it to get rid of ALL oils, then warm it with a torch or heat gun before you apply the bluing liquid. Apply a couple of coats, re-warming if needed. It will look awful at this stage. Until you wipe it with oil and then WOW! Just a heads up as someone that does traditional hot bluing, cold blue is only meant for small touch up areas and offers little to no corrosion protection. Ha, the old gun looks like its been parkerized, patina, rust and motor oil finish
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 10,354
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2003
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Model_371936 to 1963 with no serial numbers. I got one in 2016 from an FFL and there was no serial number to record.
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. -Ernest Hemingway The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything.-- Edward John Phelps
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Posts: 28,172 |
That repair looks good. It's hard to get a good match on the wood color/grain. But, your fix looks good. It does for sure. A classic way to desiccate oil from a stock is to suspend the bad areas over light bulbs a few days.
Hunt with Class and Classics
Religion: A founder of The Church of Spray and Pray
Acquit v. t. To render a judgment in a murder case in San Francisco... EQUAL, adj. As bad as something else. Ambrose Bierce “The Devil's Dictionary”
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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That repair looks good. It's hard to get a good match on the wood color/grain. But, your fix looks good. It does for sure. A classic way to desiccate oil from a stock is to suspend the bad areas over light bulbs a few days. I degreased/oiled some M1 stocks on the dash of my truck during the summer.
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Joined: Dec 2019
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Dec 2019
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Looks really good so far.
Osky
A woman's heart is the hardest rock the Almighty has put on this earth and I can find no sign on it.
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Joined: Jan 2016
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2016
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Looks like you're doing a fine job. I like the mod. 37 and have a few. Wish I had more. Those guns were cheap back in the day and were treated rough. They worked well enough. It's good to see it get some badly needed attention.
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Campfire Tracker
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OP
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That repair looks good. It's hard to get a good match on the wood color/grain. But, your fix looks good. It does for sure. A classic way to desiccate oil from a stock is to suspend the bad areas over light bulbs a few days. Used a heat gun on low a few times before dunking in acetone. Warn it up until it starts weeping and wipe with paper towels. The acetone works pretty good, I drill for the dowels first then use one to push the solvent through the crack helping to get the old oil out. Trick is drilling the hole along the crack. I have a 12 in 1/8 bit to reach the bottom of the action mortise. Repaired several Browning A5's and a Savage 720 the same way. Sometimes I'll use a bamboo skewer instead of dowel.
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Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 45,012
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 45,012 |
Didn't even try to blend with stain, the old gun has stories. Fixing it up is just adding another. Over oiling has messed up a bunch of old guns, I used a couple gallons of acetone soaking out oil best I could. Oil in a stock is a bytch to get out at time. Acetone Heat gun. Paper towel pad up oil as it weeps Repeat about a billion times. Doing some good work on that old Winchester and it's satisfying doing it yourself. 👍👍👍👍👍
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Campfire Regular
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A person who's happy will make others happy. Anne Frank
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Campfire Tracker
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OP
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Hope to work on it some more this week, gotta ride older folks back and forth to the doc.
Thanks for the good words folks. I like taking old stuff and getting them safe to shoot again.
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