AYA SxS questions

REM3200

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GunNutz
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Nova Scotia
Recently picked this AYA up. It came to Canada with a gentleman immigrating from the UK around 1980. It was stored in the attic of his house and unfired since that time and also sadly left without maintenance. Less than a box fired in it prior to arriving in Canada

It’s marked 12-70 as I understand 12 Gauge with 2.75 “ chambers. One barrel is marked with one * and the other with three *. Believe that to be full and modified . Barrels are 26”

The good being receiver case hardened colours are excellent and wood is in VG condition.

The bad is the barrels didn’t fare as well. I’ve given them a light cleaning with fine steel wool. Small areas of light pitting as well as some marking inside the barrels that may clean up .

It’s a lower end gun so thoughts on sending the barrel off to have a proper rust blue done. Anybody in Canada you’d recommend and any idea what it would cost.

Not beyond tackling it myself but a Birchwood Casey kit isn’t going to cut it. Any dealer of Brownells Oxpho Blue in Canada or a similar product?

Thanks

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If you want rust blue, Chris Dawe. He is Stillwater restoration. On web. If you want an express DIY try pjs metal products. I think that’s the name. ACanadian outfit and easy to follow instructions.
 
Thanks for the replies folks. I’ll take it out this weekend and put a few rounds through it on the sporting clays course and decide if I want to invest in a proper job by Mr. Dawe.
 
That plug in the butt end needs some attention too. How badly dried out does the wood seem?

Depending on what you paid and what the restoration could do, I'd say it looks like a good candidate for a proper restoration.
 
AYA has always made good guns, still does. However they continue to be tarred with the dreaded "Spanish Shotgun" brush that was caused by a flood of very poor quality guns in the 1950's to 1980's that ruined the reputation of most Spanish makers. Sort of the way cheap nasty imported Belgian guns before the war ruined the reputation of all Belgian guns. As an AYA the quality will be good but as a Spanish gun the value will be low compared to a similar Italian, Japanese or German gun. Properly restored this would be a nice gun but the cost of this work could exceed the value it would add. Personally I can't stand to have an ugly gun around so I would need to fix it or sell it and I would try the Oxpho blue first to see how it came out. If nothing else it might see service on crappy days or as a loaner. Nothing lost, if I didn't like the result then I would wrestle with the next step.
 
That plug in the butt end needs some attention too. How badly dried out does the wood seem?

Depending on what you paid and what the restoration could do, I'd say it looks like a good candidate for a proper restoration.

I’d be guessing that plug in the butt once held some kind of company emblem for AYA. The wood is in very nice condition, if I keep it a recoil pad will be added so minimal amount of wood removed and that plug will be gone.
 
AYA has always made good guns, still does. However they continue to be tarred with the dreaded "Spanish Shotgun" brush that was caused by a flood of very poor quality guns in the 1950's to 1980's that ruined the reputation of most Spanish makers. Sort of the way cheap nasty imported Belgian guns before the war ruined the reputation of all Belgian guns. As an AYA the quality will be good but as a Spanish gun the value will be low compared to a similar Italian, Japanese or German gun. Properly restored this would be a nice gun but the cost of this work could exceed the value it would add. Personally I can't stand to have an ugly gun around so I would need to fix it or sell it and I would try the Oxpho blue first to see how it came out. If nothing else it might see service on crappy days or as a loaner. Nothing lost, if I didn't like the result then I would wrestle with the next step.

Pretty much sums up where I’m at considering “ the law of diminishing returns “ ,

I’m going to spend some time on it cleaning the barrels up but not a project to spend $400.00 plus on to restore the barrels finish professionally when the gun isn’t worth much more than that.

I’m into the gun for the price of a good bottle of Scotch so it’s a project to play with.

Thanks for the rationale.
 
That’s not an option. I’ve played with Krylon paint on a couple old beater 870 barrels but this gun deserves better.

I know, I wasn't really suggesting to paint it. Personally, I would cold blue it. I’ve blued many barrels with various types of cold blue and have had really good success. The key to good results is completely in your prep work
 
The plug in the butt was installed at the factory. These guns, like all quality doubles are balanced to a factory standard or to the customer's wishes if a custom order. There is a hole beyond the plug which effectively removes weight from the butt and if it is filled or partly filled with lead or such will add weight to the butt. This allows the gun to be balanced regardless of wood density ( weight). This is one feature out of many that set a well made gun apart from an inexpensive machine made gun. The plug should be very tightly fitted and nearly impossible to detect, this one needs attention.
 
The plug in the butt was installed at the factory. These guns, like all quality doubles are balanced to a factory standard or to the customer's wishes if a custom order. There is a hole beyond the plug which effectively removes weight from the butt and if it is filled or partly filled with lead or such will add weight to the butt. This allows the gun to be balanced regardless of wood density ( weight). This is one feature out of many that set a well made gun apart from an inexpensive machine made gun. The plug should be very tightly fitted and nearly impossible to detect, this one needs attention.

Well, my lack of knowledge on these guns shows. Looks like the butt got a bump at some point in the area of that plug making it slightly off level with surface. That presents another task to pull that plug back. Thanks for the info as I hadn’t even considered how to remove the stock. My best leave well enough alone.
 
Pretty much sums up where I’m at considering “ the law of diminishing returns “ ,

I’m going to spend some time on it cleaning the barrels up but not a project to spend $400.00 plus on to restore the barrels finish professionally when the gun isn’t worth much more than that.

I’m into the gun for the price of a good bottle of Scotch so it’s a project to play with.

Thanks for the rationale.

I have a few AYA shotguns. Beautiful guns ,,,,,,, period. Yours , once the barrels are professionally refinished is worth much more than $400.
I have a #3 ,,, 28 ga. in mint original condition which I happiley paid $ 1,300.
 
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