I have had a sporterized 1909 Mauser rechambered in 30.06 for about 20 years. I picked it up for about 50 bucks and used it for deer hunting for several years. It is a servicable rifle but not a beauty by any means. the question is should i do anything with it to make it look better or just keep it clean and trot it out to the range once in a while.
1909 Argentine Mauser project
- Thread starter mdevlin53
- Start date
Goatwhiskers
New member
A very servicable old rifle, wouldn't mind owning it myself. Looks like you're missing one of the scope mount blocks. Not "collectible" so I would say do whatever you want with it as far as refinishing, hunt with it, and pass it on to your kids. Goat
I removed the front scope mount to see the emblem on the receiver. I need to give this gun a good cleaning anyway. It has never been out of the stock since i got it so now might be a good time. I was looking at replacement stocks but i have not seen one with great reviews yet.
I decided to clean up the stock and refinish it then keep it as a backup deer rifle. I removed the old finish but there are several places where the wood is almost black. I assume this is form oil as it is mostly where the metal was close to the wood. also where the end grain is like on the end of the comb and forend. I used some fine sandpaper to remove the finish and some furniture refinisher to remove the stain. I am not pleased with the wood underneath as it is faily bland with not much figure. When done i will post some pictures,
getting to the bare wood
I just spent another hour sanding this stock. The paper is still getting gummed up so that means i am still removing finish and stain or so i beleive. The fellow who did the original sporterization must have used 80 grit and a file because there are a lot of deep sanding scratches in the wood. It is looking better but in the end the wood is nothing special. I understand that these guns were mass produced and were not meant to be pretty so if i can get it to look uniform without any real dark spots i will be happy. The stain. its not like i have another peice of wood to test it out on,
I just spent another hour sanding this stock. The paper is still getting gummed up so that means i am still removing finish and stain or so i beleive. The fellow who did the original sporterization must have used 80 grit and a file because there are a lot of deep sanding scratches in the wood. It is looking better but in the end the wood is nothing special. I understand that these guns were mass produced and were not meant to be pretty so if i can get it to look uniform without any real dark spots i will be happy. The stain. its not like i have another peice of wood to test it out on,
Harry Bonar
New member
stock
Sir;
You really don't have to remove ALL the finish if you use potassium permanganate on it (saturated solution)! Your Doc. will give you a prescription!
Harry B.
Sir;
You really don't have to remove ALL the finish if you use potassium permanganate on it (saturated solution)! Your Doc. will give you a prescription!
Harry B.