The Cooey Make-Over Thread

Thought I would post my re done Cooey 39 here. First time ever fixing up a gun, I can't believe how much fun it was. My only regret is not taking pictures of the way it looked before I started the project. It was from a meat plant and the guys there put it away wet every day, never washed it down or cleaned and oiled it. (No wonder it stopped working on them) Well their loss was definitely my gain.
I took it home, and took the gun apart. I sanded down the rusted barrel till it shinned, cleaned out the bore, which was immaculate, except for the crud built up in it. Then did the cold bluing. I used small bottles of Hoppes no.9 form Can-tire. and coated about 10 coats on it. and then oiled it up.

The stock I had to literally scrape the manure off of it before I could even get to the wood. When I finally did, get to the wood, the finish was gone, (duh) so sanded it down and stained it at my brothers cabinet shop. And had it sent in for a clear coat.
I can't believe how nice it turned out. the guys at the plant I got it from would be shocked to see it now. Just like out of the box. (IMO) It may not be that amazing to everyone else here that has better skill than I, but for a cheap little shooter and some patience this turned out very nicer than I had imagined it would.

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thebutcher said:
My only regret is not taking pictures of the way it looked before I started the project.
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Well done you!
I find 'before' pics difficult to remember to take. At the 'before' point, you don't really think anything is going to come of the project anyway, so why bother. All the energy goes into the restore.

I like how your cold bluing turned out, any tricks you can share?

How well does it shoot?
I found CCI standard velocity works really well in mine.
 
Rifleman44
The gun shoots amazing, I honestly cant believe how well it shoot and how accurate. (having never had a cooey before I didn't know they were famed for their accuracy.) I used some winchester 555's and they shot great not a single FTF.

As for tips on the bluing. I got tired of the dip-and-wipe method using the stupid spung that came with the bottle, so I got a PBC pipe, capped off the ends and cut the top out length wise and and filled it with bluing, then dipped the entire barrel in and let it soak for 5 minutes at a time then air dry, then hot-wet wipe with water and a rag and start all over agian. I think I put 7-10 coats on it.

My next project is a Repeater. I will make sure to take before hand pictures.
 
This is my Cooey Model 39 single shot bolt action .22. My dad gave it to me when I was about 10 when he picked it up from a garage sale from a friend of his. I still shoot it quite often and it is great fun. Still very accurate and I would say the perfect first rifle for a kid to have. I will be passing it on to my children one day.

It came with a JC Higgins 4x scope.

Now I don't know much about the rifle. It has the brass accents on the bolt and the trigger guard, plus the little inlay on the foregrip. I think it looks pretty classy.


IMG_1392.jpg by ceriksson, on Flickr



IMG_1394.jpg by ceriksson, on Flickr
 
Here's my 64B. I stripped the stock and sanded it to bare wood. I'm not sure what kind of wood it is but it actually pretty nice looking. Stained with Minwax gunstock stain and covered with Varathane satin finish. I made a custom bolt handle as the original is too short to work with gloves on. The rest of the metal parts were just cleaned and polished. It looks almost like a new rifle.
Heres the link to the pictures.

https://picasaweb.google.com/107396226306718729246/Cooey64B?authkey=Gv1sRgCJiejZ3ml_HtzwE#
 
Very nice John!
I like the bolt handle.
I couldn't figure out what my stock was made of either.
The local gun shop guy said there were a lot made from Birch.
 
Thanks Rifleman44. I think it is birch, it's much harder than pine or spruce for sure. I made the bolt handle out of a 5/16" X 3" grade 5 bolt and used my drill press and 2 different size files to shape it. It works much better than the original.
 
Call_to_Arms said:
ceriksson, did you fabricate new hammer and bolt handles out of brass or plate the old ones? your right it looks classy.
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I haven't done anything to it. My father picked it up from an old guy about 18 years ago when I was 10 or so and gave it to me. I don't know if that guy did the work or not. Whoever did it sure did a good job though.
 
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