No4 mk1 Restoration questions

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Winchester30-30

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Location
Fraserwood, MB
few of you may remember a couple months ago i acquired a no4mk1 from a customer who told me to get it out of his garage, well finally got around to getting the parts i needed for it, still missing 2 screws, but thought you guys would like to see it

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the top hand guards are a different colour but ive seen quite a few of them like that, havent checked the head space on the bolt as i dont have the gauges yet and the rifle came without the original bolt, thinking about talking to a few gunsmiths and getting it a nice hot blu job cleaning it up real nice, and re finishing the wood so it all matches,

im missing the rear trigger guard screw which i robbed for my parker hale sporter and the middle band screw, found a machine screw that works but i want to get the proper one,

so for now that is my progress on this .303
thoughts, comments, criticism, always appreciated cause im new to this,

Winchester30-30
 

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It's ugly. I like it =)

How did the stock go on? Nice & tight in the draws? Make sure she shoots before you put any more effort into refinishing.

I would go over the metal, make sure everything is nice and clean and a little oil to keep the brown stuff away. Then a good scrub with something mild to de-grease the wood and some then some RLO. BLO works if you want a quick finish and done but IMO the raw stuff brings out the wood better with all the polishing that usually goes with it.
 
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everything went together nice and tight, i was quite impressed, metal is all good, but it was FTR at some point so theres a few paint drips and such, so i was thinking of completely stripping it down, but i kinda like the rough rugged look to it, like it was the day it fought and won our freedom you know? i need to get a set of headspace gauges i dont want to shoot anything untill i get that, this is about as far as im going to go with this one right now, my next project is a LSA MK3 that i want to take back to full wood,
 
ok so i got a perdicament here, i cant find anyone who does hot bluing here, found a guy who will do a cerakote for 225, is it worth it to do ot on this gun, not looking for resale or anything, i want it to look good, but i kinda like the way it looks like it did on the day it won our freedom:) and opinions?

thanks guys
 
Personally, I wouldn't do either re-blue or cerakote, but that's just me. If I were forced to pick one, I'd say wait until you can find someone who will do a complete re-blue. I like how it looks now. Some bits look like they could use some cleaning up, but I wouldn't get carried away.
 
well my next step would be to completly dis assemble the rifle and give it a good cleaning, but i think somebody had painted it or done something to it, but then i want the wood to match, either all dark or find a lighter set of top hand guards, i like the way it looks, i think it looks mean, not looking to re sell, its got history and meaning,
 
Oil blueing on small parts is easy. I do it a lot of parts that have been rode hard and put away wet. If you want to restor a rifle and give it that just out of factory look, that is the way to go.
I use regular motor oil. Used and the blacker the better (many will argue this point but it works for me).
clean the part with a wire or buffing wheel, steel wool etc. Evenly heat the part with a torch till it just starts to turn red.
Dunk the part into the oil for a couple of seconds and remove. Re-apply the torch and re-heat till oil is dry and dunk it again. Repeat if needed.
Different types of steel will take the oil blueing better than others. You can't hurt the piece unless you overheat it. the key is even heat just to dull red at the most. Experement with the temperature. Try heating the part till it turns blue, befor the red stage and see if it will take the finish. some parts will.
Don't try this on tempered parts such as the receiver. It can be done but it is easy to screw up the temper.
 
I sometimes think that rear hand guards come from a different planet. I had 4 sets recently and all of the rear guards did not match. I stained the whole works and came close on a couple.
As for finishing the rifle, that's a lot of money to spend on blueing. I had one that somebody painted silver. after stripping it, there was no finish. I painted it with a hot engine black spray paint and it turned out really nice. I thought it might be ugly but it looked factory finished.
 
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