Can it be saved?

B

blacktalon

Inactive
Hello everyone hope you can help me out. While cleaning out my Grandfather’s workshop after he died I found his Win. 94 in 30-30. It’s in really bad shape, well at least the outside condition. He kept the internals pack in what I think is Cosmoline, but the outer finish has taken a beaten. Do you think the rifle can be saved? Any help would be much appreciated.
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Please define 'saved'. If the interals have been packed with cosmoline it should shoot fine when you remove the cosmoline . If you're looking for value I think it's at the point where the gun has to be refinished .You could repolish and it looks like most of the receiver woild clean up though some of the barrel pits might remain. If it's for nostalgia I'd have it polished and blued and use it to reming me of grandpa !!
 
What a shame. Yes it can be saved, at least from the pics. The unfortunate part is unless you are very good at stoning and polishing the metal, it will be very expensive to have done, possibly( read that ,, probably) more than the value of the gun. I have seen some guns like this and I have fixed some guns like this, but it is very labor intensive if you want to preserve the looks and not round over parts. The "engraving" although fairly deep, might be comprimised. The worst case seneiro would be to stop the pitting and live with the damage. I hate to see guns like this, but they happen.
 
Certainly it can be saved.

The wood can be stripped and refinished

While it won't be possible to return it to factory new, a good refinisher can polish it and reblue to look very good.

It may have some pitting that can't be polished out, but you'd be surprised what a good pro refinisher can do.

Here's some top places to talk to about a refinish:

http://www.fordsguns.com/ (Highly recommended).

http://www.apwcogan.com/Greetings.htm (Ditto).
 
Sorry should have been clearer. I want to just stop what is happening to it. I'm guessing it's going to cost me more then going out and buying a new Marlin. It's just going to be something Granddad owned. I don't expect the finish to come back to stock but just get rid of the rust then some finish put back. I thank you guys for the help. I had done a search on removing rust and I think this might be beyond what I can do so I will look up those gun smiths listed and see what it's going to take. Thanks again I'll post new pic's when it's done.
 
I undertook a refinishing project for a friend once. What I had to do was to completely disassemble the gun, have it beadblasted, then reblue and refinish. You have engraving there, and this will hurt it, no doubt.
 

Take it appart and have at it with a scotch brite pad and a bunch of WD-40 or Break-free. See how deep the pits go.... Should be serviceable witha little work.



-tINY

 
Color Case Hardened?

Cleaning up the surface rust should prove not so difficult using ultra-fine steel wool and a lot of elbow grease. A good smith can redo the bluing without breaking the bank. The receiver looks like it may be color case hardened. If this is true the steel wool will remove the rust from the receiver but also the surface color. I don't know how hard it is to get the color case hardening redone.
 
Refer to Dfariswheel’s post for the wood work. http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=231310

Personally I have used the steel wool I think a 00 or 000 and a No. 9 with a combo of breakfree on a Star .40 and a S&W 9mm it took all surface rust off and did leave a few pitting areas. I am able to live with the finish on both of these as they were free… just keep the gun oiled to prevent further rust.

I just got a new Dremil I wonder if on a low RPM setting with a plastic disc/brush if that would work???
 
That rifle looks like a perfect subject for a Duracoat type finish. It would be fairly cheap and put granpa's shootin' iron back in service. The original finish is toast so there's nothing to hurt.
 
Saved?

Certainly. Made to look new? Probably not. As to stopping the rust, clean it thoroughly, then oil. Naval Jelly works well for removing rust on lots of things, and fine (000 or 0000) steel wool will take care of quite a bit.

Then you can evaluate how you want to go about refinishing it.
 
A friend has recently brought me a coupla of her grandfathers/fathers guns to "restore" (An 1892 Winchester .22 and a 20's Crescent arms shotgun--she really doesn't want to fire, just preserve as "hand-me-downs"/wall hangers---probably not safe to shoot anyway). They were in very similar condition to what you've shown, and of little value even if "mint".

I used 00 and 0000 steel wool (and in a few spots, fine emery cloth), as well a wire brush (in a dremel) to remove rust (after a COMPLETE disassembly).

Obviously, couldn't get rid of all the deep pitting, but got rid of the rust. I then touched everythig up with "cold blue" (making sure they were VERY clean first), and oiled them up inside and out. They came out pretty good, although you can see the plenty of pitting if you look closely, but from a short distance, they look quite good.

It's alot of hand work, but keeping grandpa's gun (whether shootable or not) in the family is worth the effort IMHO.

P.S. In return for me "fixing up" she gave me a Model 8 Remington in .35 Remington---kinda rough but it shoots OK. 'Course I'm not sure quite what I'll actually DO with it. AND, the other gun she brought me (in somewhat better shape) was--get this-- an L.C. Smith model A-1, 738 were produced between 1892 and 1898 (this one in 1898). Ya never know what's hiding in a closet somewhere!
 
Soak the gun in WD40. Spray it one a day for a week or two. Leave it sitting somewhere that the WD40 won't hurt when it runs off. Then try 0000 steel wool, moistened with WD 40. This should remove most of the rust. For the larger rust spots that will be left, scrape them with a copper penny until the surface rust is gone, then go back over them with WD40 and steel wool. Wipe off all the WD 40 and oil the gun. You will be amazed at how much better it will look, and this process will leave the remaining blue. Using emery cloth, Naval Jelly, or rust removers will remove the bluing.
After doing the above, if the gun is not satisfactory, I recommend contacting Marlin to see what a factory refinish will cost.
Bill
 
"...rust remover..." That will also remove the bluing.
As it's grandpa's rifle, I'd preserve it rather than restore it. Take off the stock and use a fine, brass, wire wheel in a bench grinder and a light touch to take off the rust without bothering the bluing. A fine brass wire wheel in a rotary tool will do as well, but it won't be as fast. Eye protection is required.
Once the rust is off, apply a thin coat of gun oil with a clean lint free cloth.
Refinish/clean the stock separately with the same products you would use on fine furniture.
There may be a bit of pitting, but it looks worse now than it likely is.
 
Try this:
Remove all wood and or plastic.
Place some transmission fluid put it in a metal container.
Heat the metal container over an outside heat source with the gun in it.
Heat it until it starts to bubble then turn the heat off let it set until it cools to room temp..
Do this at least 3 times. The expansion and contraction will wick some of the fluid into the crevasses and should loosen the screws and help flake off the rust.
Do not fall into the trap of steel wool it will remove bluing .Brass wool will not.
But use the Brass wool lightly.
Do not use a wire wheel except as a last resort.
 
There is little to save, it cant be made to look new, look at the wood to metal fit at the headstock. It's clear that the wood was heavily sanded in a prior refinish with no regard to preserving the hard edges and corners that would have been tight to the wood.....too bad.

I'd do the minimum take the conservative advice above, like using oil, atf, copper pennies and bronze etc to work off the worst of the rust.

Putting a lot of effort into it like polishing will just destroy the patina, necessitate a reblue and/or case color job and it will never really look that great.

So, keep it as original as possible and when you shoot it it will still look (mostly) like it did when your grandfather last held it.

Jeff
 
i think if it were me, and i had a gun i found of my grandfathers that wasnt in tip top shape, and it was a classic gun like that i would restore it. Not sure on what everything youll need to do, but i woul start by takin her apart screw for screw down to everything. Strip the blue, take the wood down with rough-light sandpaper then get all your componants and redo it. I have a win 70 i am going to restore soon. I have heard of bake-lite type finishes and i would ask other folks on here what their experiences are with this first, but still thats a good option. With something that old, i would not try to sell it. Rebuild it, redo it and keep it in the family forever. Also how does the bore look on that? try cleaning it first, then take pics or just give us a heads up on it.

Relooked at the stock, thats a no go. I would check cabelas stock kits for win 30-30's. They have nice walnut stocks.
 
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