Here is another gun I restored, the owner wanted it reblued and made pretty again, not back to original, but looking good without the rust.

The shotgun had been in the family for three generations and the current owners brother put a recoil pad on it in bubba fashion, so I fixed that, polish and reblued the steel, nitre blued the pins and charging handle and refinished the stock to match.

Before and after pictures








links to the blog posts

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2016/1 ... art-1.html

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2016/1 ... art-2.html

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2016/1 ... art-3.html

Looks great tincan. You did a excellent job in my opinion. Pains me to see a gun neglected and go to rack and ruin. A darn expensive one by todays standards. 1100's are my favorite and my TB grade trap 1100 looks as good today as when I bought it back in 80. Thanks for showing the results of a fine job.

Looks real good !!

Meant to comment on the wood also!!! Beautiful figure on that walnut. Hard to believe that gorgeous wood like that use to often be the standard many times. today we pay huge bucks for that quality today. 1100's seem to be a high end gun where 40 years back seems everyone was lugging one through the woods. Lookin for a 20 to complement my 12 gauge trap. Again great work!

Good job. Better than what I paid to have done to mine. Mine was never abused or neglected but since 1963 and 115,000 shells later the blue was worn off on the receiver worse than that one. She's pretty much retired now from anything but when I want to shoot clays with a 12, which I almost never do.

Thanks guys, I have a few Remingtons on my bench, some I finished a while ago, others are in process including:

Three (3) 512 Sportsmasters
One (1) 511 Scoremaster
One (1) 513 Matchmaster
One (1) 1974 vintage 870 Wingmaster (needs complete refinishing)
One (1) 1955 vintage 870 Wingmaster (will probably leave alone 70-80% finish left)

TINCANBANDIT wrote:Thanks guys, I have a few Remingtons on my bench, some I finished a while ago, others are in process including:

Three (3) 512 Sportsmasters
One (1) 511 Scoremaster
One (1) 513 Matchmaster
One (1) 1974 vintage 870 Wingmaster (needs complete refinishing)
One (1) 1955 vintage 870 Wingmaster (will probably leave alone 70-80% finish left)

Nice to hear! these Remington models are well worth restoring. Well made with walnut and high gloss bluing of the metal. Have often thought the Model 1100 was the most graceful looking shotgun produced and will always be my favorite. These days I much prefer to browse the used gun racks as these 870s, 1100s, and the 700 series from the 60s and 70s seem like "high end" arms these days.

You did a really nice job on that. You should be very proud of it.

I almost forgot about this one.

A 1956 vintage model 58 Sportsman, my FIL found it for me at a yard sale for $40. The stocks were in decent shape, but the metal was freckled with pink rust spots



before








After









blog posts showing the process

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2014/1 ... model.html

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2014/1 ... el_10.html

Again very nice job TINCAN! I think you should be refinishing and rebluing every crappy Express models that are out there. How I miss the days when walnut and high polish blue was the norm! Many offerings today look more like unfinished hardware.

agreed, I am trying to save as many as I can.....time and space are the biggest issues.

Ha! Glad to hear it. In my opinion the 1100 is the best looking and great handling auto of all. A walnut version with that great bluing can't be beat. never stop admiring the wood stock on my TB Trap model. I paid about $325 for it new in 1980. Competition 1100s now are around $1200 I believe.

Sis gave me one she took as a partial payment for an old travel trailer. Metal looked better than that one. I cleaned and cold blued it. I found the magazine follower had swolled and froze in the mag tube, so finally got it out, cleaned the tube and reblued inside it as best I could. The trigger was filthy so cleaned and put one of the adjustable Timney sears in while I was at it. The wood was unredeemable, someone had cut the stock shorter, installed a recoil pad , and when I got it had a thick spacer between the stock and pad that was much too small, creating something like gaps 1/8 to 1/4 inch around. Lots of deep scratches in the buttstock, and numerous small splits in the forearm..


I searched and searched and finally got a nice stock and forearm from Numerich. It had a full choke barrel so I shopped around and picked up a barrel that took interchangeable choke tubes, and while I was at it got a similar barrel for the 12 Ga I picked up over in Turkey back in 1972 when I was stationed over there.


It shoots nice, and while not new looking by any means it does not look like it has been banged around like it once did.

mauser9 wrote:Pains me to see a gun neglected and go to rack and ruin.

It does look great, agreed! Also agree whole-heartedly with the comment above. I know folks have different values, but you see so many nice firearms bubba'ed by somebody for some reason. I love a good vintage firearm, with lots of stories from the field captured in every scratch and dent. But I hate one (or the owner, actually) that is just misused, neglected, chopped because they thought it was a good idea, etc.

Yeah I agree. Wish folks would leave well enough alone! Does not take much to store and properly maintain a fine firearm. If some could see the price of a new Wingmaster or 1100 today am sure less bubba jobs and neglected guns would be seen. My 38 year old 1100 looks as good as the day I bought it. Proud to pass it to my son.

I understand what you mean. My first 1100, a plain barrel 12 ga I purchased new at the Rod and Gun club in Izmir, Turkey back in '72 still looks almost new, given that it is simply not possible to use one and have it remain looking completely new. I have a Marlin 39a rifle that dad bought for me back in 52 or 53, making it about 65-66 years old and it still looks almost new, except for one rust spot that occurred when dad loaned it to my uncle and he put it up wet behind a water heater. Dad never loaned a gun out again and neither have I.


From the looks of the little LT20 i fixed up, I hate to say restored, as i think a complete blue job would be needed, makes me think that someone who knew absolutly nothing about woodworking or gunsmithing butchered the stock, then over the years it may have haphazerdly been tossed around, possibly in the rain ect. Not taken care of but simply abused. Sure it was nothing fancy, but a nice little gun when new, and a tool, but tools need to be taken care of, they are not cheap and if cared for properly can give years of good service. I have one old Swiss military rifle that was made about 1871 or 72, making it nearly 150 years old and some folks over the years have taken fantastic care of it, the bore is pristine, bright and shinny, no pits, which is unusal for black powder arm of that age, wood is good no scratches or dents and metal is good, just a brown patina.

Good to hear you"re a believer in preserving the newness of firearms. An LT-20 an be tough to come by in my area as one dealer told me folks holding onto guns like that. People used to "trade up" including myself but now trade up to what? Glad I bought when I did 35-40 years back.

Without further hijacking this thread....I don't mind wear and tear on a firearm from careful use. Life happens and each woods scratch tells a story or holds a memory, even if they aren't mine. I have a used 700 that has almost no bluing left, but it is from long field carry, not abuse, and the glory of the deep, rich silver metal is awesome. Nothing more that I hate than seeing bubba take a hacksaw to a 24" rifle barrel thinking he's smart enough to make it a gangsta' truck gun. There's a guy on another forum who picks up almost every abused, unloved Marlin Model 60 and restores them to gems which they are.