The Cooey Make-Over Thread
- Thread starter NAA
- Start date
A friend from work handed me a Cooey 600 and asked me to refinish the stock. The original finish is peeling badly.
I was planning on using tru-oil, but to come close to the original colour, would you recommend staining first, or just refinish the bare wood?
Thanks in advance.
I was planning on using tru-oil, but to come close to the original colour, would you recommend staining first, or just refinish the bare wood?
Thanks in advance.
All I've been doing is sanding off the old finish and then refinishing with tung oil. It's simple and has been giving me good results. I did a bit of experimenting with a stain made from tar, and I have 1 that came out looking beautiful after staining and about 5 or 6 coats of tung oil.
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Nice work. I have to start collecting some of these. Herbert Cooey was my Great Grand Uncle
Well I tried my first ever attempt at refinishing a rifle a couple of weeks ago and just got the parts back from some cerakote. I stripped the origanal finish and sanded it down and restrained it with only one coat of walnut stain. I thought it came out pretty good with only the one coat so I proceeded with 5 coats of tru oil with wet sanding in between coats. I think I'm going to try doing another one soon I had a good time doing it and learned lots.
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
This is a cooey 750 I did a little while back. Barrel was shortened to 19 inches new trigger guard and pistol grip cap made from aluminium and refinished the stock. I really like how it turned out its a great lightweight walking gun.
".....My Cooey will be with me til I die. If you see a beat up old Cooey at a gun show, treat it with respect. Someone probably had to die for it to be there."
With this in mind, I picked up a well worn model 60 at one of the local gun shows last year planning to give it a respectful makeover. I was able to clean up the stock and it came out pretty well. After a few trips to the range it became clear that it just wasn't a great shooter. It slowly made its way to the back of the safe.
Closer examination this spring revealed that the barrel seemed to have a bit of a curve to the left, like someone had used it as a pry bar or something. I'm sure they had their reasons....
With the front sight drifted about half way out of the dovetail, I could finally get some shots on paper but grouping was minute of dinner plate. With a trip to the bench vise, a less than gentle "adjustment" was made to the end of the barrel. The next trip to the range confirmed that it was now straighter and I was able to drift the front sight most of the way back into the dovetail. Grouping was still no screamin' hell though.
Now, what separates me from the the average Bubba is the fact that I have a conscience as well as a sense of history. I thought long and hard about reaching for the hacksaw...
What would the original (probably long departed) owner think if I sawed 5 inches off the barrel? I heard no objections from the great beyond, so I wrapped the barrel in masking tape and got busy.
Filing a new dovetail was not actually as scary as I had expected, similar to what I had seen on youtube. With the front sight in place it no longer had that sawed off look. Filing the end of the barrel flat (more or less) only took a few minutes. A little bit of cold blue made it less obvious.
Encouraged by the new look and compact handling characteristics I set out to find a Weaver #2 mount as the receiver was already drilled and tapped for it.
I was at Sail in Ottawa looking for something else when the kid at the counter asked if he could help me. I decided to give him a test............kids these days....they think they know everything.......
I almost fell over when he returned from the back with exactly what I needed on the first try, mount and side mount rings. Maybe there is hope for future generations after all!
The following weekend was the big test. The iron sights needed a little tweak and were acceptably on target, then on went the cheap 4x pellet gun scope.
I didn’t want to spoil it by sighting it in with expensive ammo so I got it dialed in with Remington Golden Bullets. I’m glad it likes the cheap stuff!
Bexan.
With this in mind, I picked up a well worn model 60 at one of the local gun shows last year planning to give it a respectful makeover. I was able to clean up the stock and it came out pretty well. After a few trips to the range it became clear that it just wasn't a great shooter. It slowly made its way to the back of the safe.
Closer examination this spring revealed that the barrel seemed to have a bit of a curve to the left, like someone had used it as a pry bar or something. I'm sure they had their reasons....
With the front sight drifted about half way out of the dovetail, I could finally get some shots on paper but grouping was minute of dinner plate. With a trip to the bench vise, a less than gentle "adjustment" was made to the end of the barrel. The next trip to the range confirmed that it was now straighter and I was able to drift the front sight most of the way back into the dovetail. Grouping was still no screamin' hell though.
Now, what separates me from the the average Bubba is the fact that I have a conscience as well as a sense of history. I thought long and hard about reaching for the hacksaw...
What would the original (probably long departed) owner think if I sawed 5 inches off the barrel? I heard no objections from the great beyond, so I wrapped the barrel in masking tape and got busy.
Filing a new dovetail was not actually as scary as I had expected, similar to what I had seen on youtube. With the front sight in place it no longer had that sawed off look. Filing the end of the barrel flat (more or less) only took a few minutes. A little bit of cold blue made it less obvious.
Encouraged by the new look and compact handling characteristics I set out to find a Weaver #2 mount as the receiver was already drilled and tapped for it.
I was at Sail in Ottawa looking for something else when the kid at the counter asked if he could help me. I decided to give him a test............kids these days....they think they know everything.......
I almost fell over when he returned from the back with exactly what I needed on the first try, mount and side mount rings. Maybe there is hope for future generations after all!
The following weekend was the big test. The iron sights needed a little tweak and were acceptably on target, then on went the cheap 4x pellet gun scope.
I didn’t want to spoil it by sighting it in with expensive ammo so I got it dialed in with Remington Golden Bullets. I’m glad it likes the cheap stuff!
Bexan.
I've recently come into possession of 2 Cooeys. They were rusted beyond belief on the outside, but after taking them apart and soaking the moving parts in CLP, it still functions. I'll be restoring them over the next few weeks/months, but I have some questions. One is a single shot bolt action and the other is a mag tube fed, bolt action. I have been able to clean up all the surface rust on one rifle and have started on the second already with a couple pull throughs. No rifling pitting and no gouges or pitting on the rest of the rifles. They have that patina look to them right now and was wondering if I should leave the bolts un-blued? Would re-blueing the bolts affect functionality? I assume keeping them oiled from now on will protect them, but I would like to re-blue the barrel and get them as close to original as possible and refinish the stocks.
One thing that worries me is the lack of serial numbers on both. I've done a bit of googling and found out that anything between the period of 1961 and 1968 had no serial numbers, but whats the legality of this? Are they prohib or just a rare find? One says "ACE 22 Long Rifle" on the top rear of the receiver and everytime I google that, it brings me to a pistol that looks like a 1911. More info from the pro's would be appreciated. Thanks
One thing that worries me is the lack of serial numbers on both. I've done a bit of googling and found out that anything between the period of 1961 and 1968 had no serial numbers, but whats the legality of this? Are they prohib or just a rare find? One says "ACE 22 Long Rifle" on the top rear of the receiver and everytime I google that, it brings me to a pistol that looks like a 1911. More info from the pro's would be appreciated. Thanks
