Restoring a Cooey Model 60

Caydel

Caydel

Regular
Rating - 100%
3   0   0
Location
Eastern Ontario
Hi all.

I am working on restoring an old Cooey Model 60 .22. It's the first firearm I've put any work into, but so far, it's been fun.

The rifle's original condition was pretty poor. It had been originally owned by my father-in-law's father. It was used to control critters on the farm.

Some time in the early 60's, the stock was broken while whacking a pig. It was used 'one-handed' for a while after that, but shortly fell out of use, and has since been sitting in a barn.

The other day, I found it in my father-in-law's barn, and have been working on it, hoping to make it shoot again. It has a lot of sentimental value for my father-in-law, as it was *his* father's gun.

Now, when I first pulled it out, it was pretty rusted. The action was completely seized; nothing would move. The barrel was completely clogged. Also, somewhere along the line, someone had ground down part of the trigger assembly, so that the trigger no longer fires the gun; you need to pull the rear of the bolt back and let it slam forward. :(

I've removed much of the surface rust with steel wool and WD-40. I've also unclogged the barrel, and cleaned out the magazine tube. The metal actually looks pretty good - it's pitted, but it's still solid. The action now cycles quite smoothly.

I don't yet know the condition of the rifling / barrel.

Now I have a few questions:

1. What is the best way to remove the remaining rust? Would a chemical rust remover be the best bet, provided I can lay the whole barrelled action in it?

2. I need to replace the stock, rear site, trigger assembly, and magazine follower. Can these items be found individually, or is my best bet to buy another similar rifle, and just cannibalize it?

3. When I replace the trigger, it's held in by a little pin. What is the best way to punch out these pins? Can new pins be purchased?

Just to note - I will, of course, get the whole works checked over by a gunsmith prior to firing it.

Thanks for any and all help - I will post pictures when I can.
 
most of the iems can be found on the EE, enough guys have parted them out. remove the pins with a pin punch. get a cheap set at princess auto or somewhere like that.

good way to remove the rust is elbox grease, but then you'll need to reblue the rifle.
 
Okay, here's my 2 cents worth. I've brought a few rifles back from the dead over the years, and the good folks at Western Gun Parts were invaluable in getting me some of the bits I needed, but for sure as gallen270 says, check out EE. The last time I did the whole barrel and action, it sounded something like yours. I got several different grits of wet/dry sandpaper, and just started hand sanding all the metal while using a light machine oil as a lubricant. I started with a coarse paper and over the period of several weeks, just kept going to finer and finer grits until I was just polishing the metal with an ultra fine polishing paper. I wiped it all down with varsol and then a clean lint free cloth. That was when I cold blued it and the final result was gorgeous! Now I'm not saying thats the only way, or even the best way to get the results you want. There's many different roads to the same destination, and a lot of very good guys on this site with as much or more experience than I. Listen to what they have to say, weigh your options, and then go to town! I'd love to see some pics of the before and after when your project is complete. Good luck to you!
 
Familiar story, I have one that was my father's first gun.

If you access to a glass bead blaster (not aluminum oxide or sand) it will do a good job at removing rust gently without taking metal off the steel parts.

If you barrel is as bad as the action and you really want to shoot again, Numrich in the US has factory NEW Cooey 600 24" barrels for $36.70 US

http://www.e-gunparts.com/DisplayAd.asp?chrProductSKU=1048660&chrSuperSKU=&MC=
 
I refinished a Cooey 75 just two days ago that sounds like it was in much better condition than yours, but still in rough shape.

I removed all the rust with a gentle wheel brush, and then sanded down with several grits. I then polished with steel wool (working from #0 to #0000). I then used a buffing wheel with polishing compound.

It looked like high gloss stainless steel at this point.

I then degreased with Hoppes degreaser. I then cold blued it, degreasing and polishing between coats. I did 8 coats of bluing. I then oiled it.

For the stock, I sanded with 100, 120, 150, 180, 220, 320, 400, #0000 steel wool, and then did 3 coats of Linseed Oil.

The result is incredible. It looks brand new. I'll have to put some pics up.
 
###XX said:
I refinished a Cooey 75 just two days ago that sounds like it was in much better condition than yours, but still in rough shape.

I removed all the rust with a gentle wheel brush, and then sanded down with several grits. I then polished with steel wool (working from #0 to #0000). I then used a buffing wheel with polishing compound.

It looked like high gloss stainless steel at this point.

I then degreased with Hoppes degreaser. I then cold blued it, degreasing and polishing between coats. I did 8 coats of bluing. I then oiled it.

For the stock, I sanded with 100, 120, 150, 180, 220, 320, 400, #0000 steel wool, and then did 3 coats of Linseed Oil.

The result is incredible. It looks brand new. I'll have to put some pics up.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting your 'method'.

I do have another question - the tube magazine (and related pieces)can't easily be removed from the barrel. What's the best way to deal with this?

I was thinking a chemical rust remover, such as 'Evapo-rust', may work to strip off the blueing and rust, along with some elbow grease. Following which, I would then sand the visible parts a bit. I do want to retain a bit of the pitting, as it's an important 'characteristic' of the rifle, and have no intention of reselling.

It will be interesting trying to prepare the corrosion-free portions of the rifle for a nice finish, while leaving some of the corroded bits 'intact', albeit a new application of blueing.

Do you have a particular cold-blue preparation you would recommend? I've heard Brownell's 'Oxphoblue' is about the best.

I would love to see some pics of your restoration job.
 
Caydel said:
Thanks for posting your 'method'.

I do have another question - the tube magazine (and related pieces)can't easily be removed from the barrel. What's the best way to deal with this?

I was thinking a chemical rust remover, such as 'Evapo-rust', may work to strip off the blueing and rust, along with some elbow grease. Following which, I would then sand the visible parts a bit. I do want to retain a bit of the pitting, as it's an important 'characteristic' of the rifle, and have no intention of reselling.

It will be interesting trying to prepare the corrosion-free portions of the rifle for a nice finish, while leaving some of the corroded bits 'intact', albeit a new application of blueing.

Do you have a particular cold-blue preparation you would recommend? I've heard Brownell's 'Oxphoblue' is about the best.

I would love to see some pics of your restoration job.
Click to expand...

The tube magazine can only be removed if the screw on the bottom where it fits on the stock is removed. Its kind of a secondary thing after the stock screw is removed. Sorry probably didn't explain that well.

Brownells "Oxphoblue" is my favorite and I have used them all. I found the key to cold blueing is rinse it off with water between coats and 0000 fine steel wool until your fingers hurt.

I have rebuilt about a dozen Cooeys and I enjoyed everyone of them.

When you get it done show us. The funny thing is after all the effort you put into it it still isn't worth much to anyone but you and the others that owned it.
 
when you sand down the barrel to get the rust off, to make it look really good wrap the barrel with fine sand paper and steel wool and hold the sand paper in one hand and twist the barrel with the other slowly moving up and down the barrel like less then a 1/4" every turn when you go to blue it it will look really good. i did a rusted cooey too and it turned out well.

never clean it up side ways it will look funny when it gets reblued.
 
Wow, a model 60 was my Father's first gun and as a result, my first gun. He bought it at a hardware store for twelve dollars when he was sixteen years old. It has extreme sentimental value to me, good luck with your project. If you have any problems finding parts contact Western Gun Parts in Edmonton Alberta, they'll have what you need.
 
I borrowed my Dads first gun which was a model 60 about 25 years ago and haven't given it back yet.

My Grandfathers model 39 was the first gun I learnt on but the model 60 with a sidemounted scope and the tube was the reason I have turned out the way I am:rolleyes:
 
QOR said:
If you have any problems finding parts contact Western Gun Parts in Edmonton Alberta, they'll have what you need.
Click to expand...

can you walk in and buy or is it order only? by the looks of thier website they only cater to gunsmiths. i need quite a few parts to finish a project.
 
for the rust issue let the thing sit in ATF for about 2 days if you have any rusty tools through them in there too over the 2 days move the stuff around from time to time but letting it sit for atleast 4 hours or more befor moveing them

for parts i find western gun parts not too eger to help people that are not gun smiths with parts sor your better off going to a small time gun store like lock and load were they have old guns like that and part out a gun from there to fix yours
i fixed up my father in laws cooey last year and i found thats the best way to get parts
 
When all else fails, you can try electrolytic rust removal. Never yet tried it on gun parts, but I've had success with some other pieces of metal I've worked on over the years. Including 1500+ year old coins. Bascially, it involves water, an electrolyte (I'm partial to sodium bicarbonate but plain old table salt will do) and a power source. I use plain old rechargeable D-cell batteries but others have used a transformer with a dimmer switch. 3 volts or somewhere around that seems to work best for iron and steel. Can't really say what it'll do to any hardening found within the metal but considering how massively overbuilt the barrels were on Cooeys, especially .22's, I can't see it causing any issues. Anything that isn't sound metal will dissolve away, so expect massive pitting if you go that route. A coat of paint or cold bluing will take care of the aestethics, but there's nothing that can be done about any pits in the metal per se ....
 
my recomendation. since they have no serial numbers. goto your local gunshop and see if they have another cooey 60 in stock and buy that one. keep it hid for a month then give it back. you can likely find one in not terrable shape for likely less than $100.
 
For serious pitting on the outside of the barrel, try draw filing before moving on to the use of any sandpaper or steel wool. I've done a few barrels that way. Basically it involves setting the file across the barrel at 90 degrees and pulling/pushing it along the length of the barrel rather than pushing it "across" the barrel. It doesn't take a lot of practice to become fairly proficient at removing the pits without creating flat spots or irregular indentations on the outer surface of the barrel. Another tip that may help when using oxpho "cold" blue is to heat the metal before applying it. You can do that by running hot water over it, or by using a heat gun. I've found that the blue "takes" much better that way...doesn't have to be blistering, just hot to the touch.
 
cooey parts

I just finished an old single shot that was my father in laws first gun. Ron Windsor 403-854-3768 from Drumheller was a big help in parts and he installed a firing pin and ejector for me. Great guy. Another guy that has cooey parts is Bruce Tauber from Castor AB. Good Luck
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom