AusVarmint

Having some success refinishing a scrap stock I recently got the courage to try it out on a complete rifle. The subject is an old Sportco Model 83 Bolt Action Shotgun.

You've seen the poor quality pic before, but here's the "BEFORE" photo (top rifle). Note it's basically brown stain, factory varnished, and sometime later badly varnished EVERYWHERE again. I stripped the stock, removed the old finish, then steamed and sanded. After a few coats of Tru-Oilr, without any sanding in-between, and we start to get this. Note the original colour near the mag well versus the new colour This is the finished product. Top is a Model 81 Sportco low serial number and all original. Bottom is my Model 83 refinished. Please don't complain about the poorly fitting recoil pad, I've just ordered a new one from Keith... Close ups I must say I'm happy with the result!

OK, it's a blurry pic but I figured someone will want to see how the back of the stock came out. Once again, ignore the poor fitting Mossberg recoil pad.

Very nice Raven!

Mate thats come up bloody well

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the positive comments even though it's only my first real attempt (and far from perfect). Certainly, our experts here could put me to shame.

Without wanting to bite off more than I can chew, I'm tempted to buy a few scrap Lithgows from the LGS and give them a quick restoration so they can be put back in use by others.

Good on ya for having a crack Raven. I reckon you should be pretty happy with your efforts.

Well done Raven, looks good!

How did you clean up the checkering?

curan wrote:Well done Raven, looks good!

How did you clean up the checkering?

The checkering is of the stamped variety and quite shallow. Surprisingly, it stripped well and didn't need any specific cleaning out.

Before the Tru-Oil was applied the checkering was masked off (pic 2). If this wasn't done the checkering would have quickly filled up each coat of oil and looked a mess (a common issue).

When I got to the very last coat of Tru-Oil the tape was removed. I then made a 'wash' of heavily diluted acrylic model paint (one drop of black to around 10-15ml of water). The wash was then lightly applied to the checkering so that it sucked down into the cuts. This adds a little highlight to the otherwise bland checkering. Obviously you want to keep the wash thin or it will look too dark and obvious. I barely applied any colour with my wash.

After the wash dried, the final coat of Tru-Oil was applied. It only took a light wipe to cover the checkering.