Winchester Model 1906 Rebuild

Fargone4sure

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Just finished rebuilding a Winchester Model 1906, that belonged to my dad. He passed about 10 years ago, but had left this with my older brother. So I fixed it up, and am giving it back to him.

Dad bought this sometime in the 40's, for $3 because it was so messed up. Somebody had replaced the original barrel. Originally the gun had a barrel thread of 24 threads per inch. But Bubba was alive and well even back them. Evidently they didn't have the taps/dies to thread the barrel shank properly. So they just ran a 5/8" x 11 threads per inch tap over the existing threads in the receiver, and then threaded the barrel 11 tpi as well. Unfortunately the barrel shank was slightly under size, so the die ran crooked, thus the barrel wasn't straight with the receiver. The muzzle was about 1.5" to the left. And since the threading was so loose, they just soldered the whole mess together.

It looked like they must have cut the dovetails for the front sight, and the tube hangers by hand with a file, none of which fit remotely correct. So they affixed them with copious amounts of solder as well. As well, they broke of the screw that attaches the slide action plate, so just welded a glob on to hold it. The pump wood was missing, and the rear stock had the obligatory electrical tape, and a hole drilled for a twine sling.

The whole gun was then brushed with black paint, but even that couldn't hide the rust. Strangely enough, the bore and internals were all very good.

Work Done:
- seemingly endless amounts of sanding
- recut the barrel shank straight, and made a sleeve for inside the receiver to better align the barrel. Silver brazed and pinned the sleeve into place.
- recut the dovetails for front sight and tube hangers.
- machined weld off action cover plate, drilled and tapped for correct screw. And made a new screw to fasten it.
- made new screws to attach pump wood
- sand blasted the barrel, tube, and takedown knob, armacoated them black.
- color case hardened the action and frame, then clear coated them.
- nickel coated the hammer and trigger
- fitted new stock pieces from Boyd's.

Like every project, there are a few things I'd do different if starting the project again, but overall I'm really happy with the results.

Attached are some before and after pics.

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the armacoat with the case color suprisingly looks great and not out of place ,Again another well done project
Cheers Peter

Hey Peter,
I struggled a bit regarding how to refinish this one. Although I'm set up to do hot bluing, and that would have been historically correct for the barrel and action, I decided to dress it up with the case coloring on the action and frame. The 1906 wasn't available with that option, because it was meant to be an economy version of the model 1890, which was available with case coloring. Dito for the nickel coating.

Basically I decided since this was meant to be a family heirloom, looks were more important than historical accuracy. And with that the armacoat made sense as well, since it requires a lot less prep work than bluing, covers a multitude of sins, looks and wears great.

And as you mention, the combination works despite being somewhat unconventional.
 
It's certainly a long distance family project now. First your Dad and now you. That's some seriously nice work. And particular kudos on the color case hardening. It came out great looking.

Is this just a hobby for you or do you offer some of these services to others?
 
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