I recently picked up a couple of old Cooeys at a local gun show that somebody had attempted to make a restoration project. One has a missing trigger support that would require welding the other had heavy pitting on the exterior of the barrel but the bore is safe to shoot.
Looking through the internet the common cosmetic fix even on this site is to fill with filler then paint but there is very little evidence of somebody actually doing this even YouTube doesn't have any videos apart from durafill more on that later.
Having some time and a Cerakote setup I thought i might try.
First thing was to remove the rust. Since Cerakote requires de greasing and sandblasting, sandblasting then degreasing was used to remove the rust and give a good surface for the filler to stick to.
Next stage was picking the filler There is a filler called Durafil but its a spray gun filler and there are some videos of it on YouTube but I don't think the spray gun method would fill the pits enough and even the videos didn't look like they gave a good enough finish for my liking. After a bit of research on what would be tough enough and has the characteristics to survive the process for Cerakote. It did turn out to be JB weld.
I applied the JB weld not a huge amount in the pits and let dry then smoothed them out with 600 grit wet dry paper which took three coats before I got the finish I liked.
Next was the Cerakote prep de greasing and sandblasting the only slight difference the JB weld side needs a little less air pressure when sandblasting.
Spraying went well and it turned out quite good.
The final test was how it stands up to firing, its no good if it doesn't handle shooting. so I put a hundred rounds through in quick or as quick as you can load a Cooey. and it held up well.
I can probably see why it is only talked about as it was a very time consuming process six to seven hours of work and with Cerakoting If I was charging it would cost much more than the rifle or close to the cost of a new barrel. I wouldn't mind trying it on a larger bore to see if it holds up as long as its safe to fire, but the only large bore I have with pitting is the obligatory Mosin Nagant and there is just something wrong with messing with a Mosin Nagant.
Looking through the internet the common cosmetic fix even on this site is to fill with filler then paint but there is very little evidence of somebody actually doing this even YouTube doesn't have any videos apart from durafill more on that later.
Having some time and a Cerakote setup I thought i might try.
First thing was to remove the rust. Since Cerakote requires de greasing and sandblasting, sandblasting then degreasing was used to remove the rust and give a good surface for the filler to stick to.
Next stage was picking the filler There is a filler called Durafil but its a spray gun filler and there are some videos of it on YouTube but I don't think the spray gun method would fill the pits enough and even the videos didn't look like they gave a good enough finish for my liking. After a bit of research on what would be tough enough and has the characteristics to survive the process for Cerakote. It did turn out to be JB weld.
I applied the JB weld not a huge amount in the pits and let dry then smoothed them out with 600 grit wet dry paper which took three coats before I got the finish I liked.
Next was the Cerakote prep de greasing and sandblasting the only slight difference the JB weld side needs a little less air pressure when sandblasting.
Spraying went well and it turned out quite good.
The final test was how it stands up to firing, its no good if it doesn't handle shooting. so I put a hundred rounds through in quick or as quick as you can load a Cooey. and it held up well.
I can probably see why it is only talked about as it was a very time consuming process six to seven hours of work and with Cerakoting If I was charging it would cost much more than the rifle or close to the cost of a new barrel. I wouldn't mind trying it on a larger bore to see if it holds up as long as its safe to fire, but the only large bore I have with pitting is the obligatory Mosin Nagant and there is just something wrong with messing with a Mosin Nagant.
