Durable finish for an old 870

[scorpion_tyr]

I recently aquired a used Remington 870 Express Super Magnum in 12g. The gun has not seen much use, but has seen a lot of time and some bad environments. My plan is to turn it into a home defense gun. I'm not going to go all out, but it will be slightly "tactical" since I may have an occupational use for a tactical shotgun in the near future.

I don't know anything about finishes at all. I'm guessing this gun was blued, but a lot of it has been worn or rusted off. It also has a few thick rust spots on it.

I'd like to get rid of all the rust and re-coat or re-finish it. Preferrably with something black to match the black synthetic stock and forend I plan on attaching. Above all I want it to be very durable and look as new as possible. Do I have to blue it again or are there other options? I would love something that I can do at home without any machinery. I'd like to do that just so I can have a lot of pride in the gun.

Also what's the best method for removing thick rust?

 

[Al Thompson]

The various spray-on finishes seem to work pretty good and can be done at home. Lots of good threads on here talking about the various coatings.

Thick rust would (IMHO) be best attacked with a copper scraper and some oil. I have soaked lightly but completely rusted handguns in ATF and it worked fine. Try applying ATF and gently scraping at the rust spot with something brass or copper - like a cartridge case with the mouth flattened to form a scraper.

 

[Spur0701]

See here: http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161878

I did this back in 05 with an old 870 action I picked up for cheap.....the pics aren't recent but were right after I built it, but it's held up really really well. I used Brownell's baking laquer. Surface prep is important, if I remember correctly I only needed to use emery cloth and steel wool to get rid of the rust spots and there wasn't any real pitting....sounds like you may have more rust....but it needs to be oil free so clean with acetone, heat in the oven to drive oil out and clean with acetone again before painting.

I've also done a lot of AK builds and have used a lot of different products to include Alumahyde II among others....but have had really good luck with rustoleum flat textured, I just buy it at Lowes, I think the code number is 7220....that's what's on the AK in the last pic........

 

[scorpion_tyr]

Thanks for the advise, the coat you put on the slug gun was exactly what I had in mind. I'm going to take the gun to my local gunsmith today so he can get a good look at it and see what he thinks, but at least now I can walk in there with something already in mind. Thanks again!

 

[scorpion_tyr]

The finished product!

Thank you both very much for the advise, experience and knowledge! Here's how my first project came out.

I bought the gun for $179, tried to talk them down some, but they wouldn't budge. I went right from the store to the range. I put 8 rounds through her to make sure she fired and ejected, and she worked flawlessly.

I wish I had taken a before picture, but I was in a hurry to get started. After I broke it down for a good cleaning I realized that the action itself had seen a lot of use. The barrel was obviously added later, and shows no sign of use. That barrel was a ribbed and had obviously had a few inches cut off and someone had done a poor job at it. There was no bead added. I'm guessing it was so the previous owner could fire 3.5" magnum shells out of an 18" barrel. The wooden stock had a small crack running down both sides and the forend wasn't in much better shape. The finish was in really poor shape. Only about 50% of the original blueing left with light rust over about 30% of it with three small pathes of thick rust on the action and a couple on the barrel.

I took her to the gunsmith and had him even out the end of the barrel. That only ran me $25. I thought about buying a new barrel, but this one is practically unused and the sights I got fit great on the rib, so I just used it.

I got rid of 95% of the rust with steel wool and oil.

I refinished it with Brownell's Baking Laquer in Glossy Black. $7 for the can.

I added a Remington Shurshot black synthetic stock and forend. About $75 after S&H.

I threw on a set of 3 dot fiber optic "low light" clip on sights. Since I wanted something simple and similar to my handguns these work great. Around $15.

Not pictured, but I also have a black elastic 6 shell holder that goes nicely over the stock for my slugs. That was about $5.

Also not pictured I have a +2 shot magazine tube extension I'll be adding in the morning. The only reason I haven't done it now is because I need to grind down the bumps inside the magazine tube, and it'll wake up the wife. The extension was about $25.

Total cost of the project was approximately $331. That's not inlcuding the $75 I paid for the Dremel tool to grind down the bumps. I figure that'll come in handy for plenty of other stuff. I didn't save that much money doing it myself maybe, but it sure was a lot of fun and I learned a whole lot. The best part is that now I have my perfect custom built HD shotgun.

Still wish I had a before picture. Sorry Thanks again so much for the advice guys!

 

[Spur0701]

Looks great! I like that stock especially the handguard..............