Painted wood and a little rust

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ilikeoldguns

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So I have this lovely old Stevens shotgun...but some idjit painted the stock and slide in a brown paint that makes it look like plastic, like on an old daisy air rifle. I don't want to just sand it off, as I want to preserve the checkering on the stock (ribbed slide-type).

It also has some light rust or "patina" on the receiver and barrel and some pitting in the bore. How do I get ride of these?

I've tried just rubbing at it with an oiled rag, but I haven't noticed an improvement. On the bore, I keep rubbing at it with a bore-brush and you; know, I think it gets a little better every time, but that could be my imagination. Any advice?
 
You can rub the metal with 0000 steel wool and oil, that should help clean it up somewhat. With old guns that don't have a lot of collector value in them Ive polished the metal with fine emery cloth and reblued them with a cold bluing solution. It makes them look almost as good as new most times. And its not that hard to do.
 
Some paint stripper and steel wool will do wonders on your old stevens. A bit of bluing (as mentioned) and it will be almost as good as new.
A little patience will go a long ways too. Good luck on your project.
 
Do I need a paint stripper gun to use this 1812 stuff?

How about other equipment for the cold bluing stuff? I just want to take good care of my old gun and patience I have, if not always time.
 
No stripper gun needed when using the chemical stripper. Lots of paper towel, plastic scrapers, metal scrapers, steel wool, and old toothbrushes (for the checkering). You'll need to wash the pieces with clear warm water to remove all of the residue. It can be a bit messy, but it's much easier to do than sanding, and it will not remove wood which should be left alone.
No special gear needed for the cold blue. Just read and follow the directions that come with it. In my experience, most/all cold blue requires extra care with cleanliness and oil removal, and it all requires several applications to get the dark blue you'll be looking for ... the patience you have will be a good thing. Brownells Oxpho Blue is excellent stuff, but difficult to impossible to source in Canada. Also, though it's called cold blue, it does usually take better when the metal parts are heated before application ... run hot tap water over the metal, pour hot water from the kettle on them, or use a heat gun to warm them up. Careful with the heat gun ... you don't want to get the metal so hot that you burn yourself!
 
You can get the Circa 1812 at any Lowes, Home Depot, or Home Hardware,and a hair drier will not put out enough heat to make a difference.
 
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