Sporterizing fun
 

I found old Marlin M25 in the shop the other day so I asked the guys if I could buy it. they said yeah $75.00. Sold. The action was great and it had an old school Weaver scope on it. The wood was beat.

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I started playing with it and stripped the paint like finish off the cheapo birch stock. Then I was looking around my shop and I had a couple chunks of walnut laying around and the LOP was short so I added an inch or so onto the buttstock. Then I found this great piece of burl walnut and thought i could add a cool tip too. Now I had two hunks of walnut glued to either end. Today I ground and sanded the whole thing down to shape and cut the barrel groove.

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Finished sanding and then wiped with alcohol then buffed with steel wool. Then a light maple oil stain.


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Tomorrow more wool and maybe a second coat of stain. On this one I'm going to use poly instead of tung oil for durability.


More tomorrow.

Wow! That is (already is) going to look GREAT!!!!!!:)

Thanks. I'm warming up for my Mannlicher project. I figured I would do some of the things I want to do on that project here. Better on a POS $75 gun than screw up a $150.00 piece of quilted maple I have set aside for the long stock. I hope it won't turn black when I hit it with the poly. I hate birch, it's just ugly wood.

Looks good! I would go much darker though. How about a cherry stain to bring out the grain on the darker wood but also give some color to the light stuff. Dark woods on guns always look so high end. Love it!

I agree. I did it once with cherry and because birch is such crap wood and very porous on the end grain those area sucked it in too much and it was blotchy. I stripped it again and thought I might try a lighter stain to avoid the dark spots. Still got some as you can see, but not as bad. It just looks like patina. The Mannlicher project will be clear quilted maple and I will use strong tea to stain it just a little bit to bring out the quilting.

Very nice work!

Hey Buddy, try some grain sealer on the dark sections before you stain the light sections. First blend the grain lines into each other in the buttstock with a brown perminate marker pen. Selectively stain with a small 1/8th inch camel hair brush. With a little work you can make the two woods in the buttstock match pretty well from 4 - 5 feet away.

It is great practice for those expensive sidelock stock repair jobs!

Post pictures of your results!

Sidelocks arrrgh. Done a few of those. Not easy stuff. So many angles to be concerned with. Even lowly Crescents are trouble. Thanks for the tips.

Yeah, yeah, your wood work looks great. I'm more impressed with you getting the thing for $75. I'd have gotten $125 w/o the scope. Did you have incriminating photos or something?
Jim

Hey Jim, On occasion, I do work for the guys in this shop. Some on site some not. I guess they were trying to get a better deal on that next repair.

Ah, a kinfolk deal as we say. I was afraid folks would be showing up and wanting to know why I'm asking so much for mine.
Jim

Tell em it's that much because it's yours. Actually I think that's a fair price. They had a tag on this one for $90.00, and the finish was really bad.

Targa...I have an old Stevens/Savage double barrel 12 ga. Nothing special...just a cheap old gun. But it was my first "adult" gun given to me by my dad when I was about 12 y.o. and I still use it for quail hunting from time to time. lIt has a cheap stock that I finished when I was about 15 or so.

I want to replace the stock/fore end with a nice oil rubbed walnut or some other such wood. No fancy checkering or anything like that. You have any suggestions on where to buy one...someplace you could recommend that wouldn't require a huge amount of fitting/refinishing?

Thanks.

Send it to me. I will email you the name and a copy of the license of an FFL that takes work for me. I would like to send it directly to you so home email please. I'll send you pics of some of my SXS I've done so you know it's going to the right place. I have done about 30 of those, and I 'm doing one right now. Just send it. I'll take care of you buddy. It will take about 6 weeks to complete. You won't regret this.

best,
David

That is some nice woodwork!

Another sporterized rifle:
O3A3 Springfield / Herter stock
Built 36 years ago.
Before
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After
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Sweet!! Nice job!

Nice job Henry! Not even the same gun anymore.

You won't, Jim, trust me. I have a sporterized Springfield 30.06 from David.

wow..i dont even know what "sporterized" means..help?

"i dont even know what "sporterized" means..help?"

I have it typically as taking a bolt action military rifle and making more of a sporting rifle from it. Sometimes all that's left is the receiver of the original, sometimes just hacking off the extra wood & metal, depends who's doing the work. Sometimes the gun would be worth more if it was left alone.
Somehow in my shop the term has been corrupted to 'sportsterized' but then one can hear some strange things at a gun & pawn shop.
Jim

That is my understanding from back in the day, but why can't it just refer to customizing a firearm?

Think R Gruppe for rifles.

Guys, this term came about years ago when there were LOADS of old Mauser and other military rifles.

They would put a nice custom stock on the rifle, bend the bolt (original was straight out and in the way) and just generally make it a pleasure to shoot.

But did it involve shooting a Black Audi?

Ding Ding Ding!

In this case it's POS into less of a POS. I hated the stain I had on it so today I sanded it all off and I'm gonna try a darker stain, maybe cherry,and use frenchy's tip about a grain filler to see if it comes out better.

I just happen to have pictures of Paul's 1903 A3

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Ok here is how I usually find them...(I used a side lock for Frenchy)

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This is how they end up...


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This is a Lefever I did for myself..
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Hey how did you get a hold of my grandpa's old double? :D

Looks just like the one I restored for my grandpa except his stock was way worse.
I had to graft in a bunch of wood and then recut it to fit the side plates.

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Nice job on your new gun.... That contrasting walnut is going to look sweet on the front.

Beautiful work on all three, targa...but mine is a cheap old $150 gun.:D Not worthy of your talents...it just has some sentimental value to me. Like I said I got it from my dad 40+ years ago...I think he bought two for $200 back then. One for me and one for my brother. I stripped the finish and did the TruOil thing but thought I'd dress it up with a nice stock/forepiece and try to stain it darker and less shiny. Never cared for the color/tone it came out with my feeble attempts as an impatient 16 y.o. at refinishing.

I also want to replace the trigger springs and cocking spring with lighter ones. Old gun is still in decent shape. 26" mod/IC...great quail gun back when we had wild coveys. I just noticed it didn't have serial numbers...and its only chambered for 2 3/4". Brought back some memories when I pulled it out.

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Who does your stock work? You or someone else? Especially on broken or mis-handled stocks.

Have always used "the stock Doctor" in Oregon and been very happy with his work but always looking for alternatives!

That looks like a 20 ga. stevens 311 or 5100. Good low priced gun that will last forever. They sold new for $100 and bring around $375.00$450.00 unless it's a .410 and they fetch $600-$800. Actually you did a nice job on the finish. Unless you want fancy wood, and I have a source for you, i would leave it alone to hold all those memories. Being that you have done it before and have done a good job, I would suggest you go here and pick you wood, then finish it yourself.

Macon Gunstocks gunstock carver , gunstock maker , gunstock duplicators.

They have a variety of woods and are about 90% finished when you get it. A little more than the guy I normally use as a supplier, but the quality of the blank you get is great, about 3% oversize. Finish sanding and some minor fitting is all you would do.

They do great work. I do my own here. If they are not shattered they usually can be put back together. The sidelock I have shown was busted in 9 parts and a roll of electrical tape was used to hold it together. I had to replace that one. I start with a semi finished stock I get from a number of different suppliers. One is listed in the message to Jim above. Price and wait time are big factors for the big guys. I'm a hobbiest I have all the time in the world. i do it because I like doing it. That equated into pretty cheap labor.

Sweet! I have a large piece of walnut curing in the garage that I plan to cut a couple blanks from sometime next year. If they turn out half as nice as your extensions I'll be pleased.

David...the what do you recommend using to strip the old TruOil finish? I assume its birch...seems somewhat soft. Can I stain it then treat with the TruOil?

I love the tone on your Lefever but I'm sure thats some sort of exotic walnut. Just beautiful.

My old gun is a 311 12 ga...for an amateur its a good ol' gun...kicks like a mule tho:D

A 12? Wow it looks smaller. I hate birch. It has no character at all. The stock that is the subject in this thread is birch. Not much you can do with it. It's soft. Thats why the checkering is pressed in rather than cut. he cutter just rips the wood rather than cut it. Not good for checkering. It also gets this black grain to it, that looks dirty. Can't get around it. put some nice walnut on it. Even straight walnut is nicer than the birch. You can get a nice set, fore and butt for around $125.00. I found that piece of crotch feather walnut on ebay for $25.00. It's worth more than the whole gun. Those bolt though the stock so it's easy to fit.

If you want to take the old oil off, any paint stripper will do it. When you wipe the stripper off use mineral spirits not water. That will minimize the "whiskering" the wood gets when you use water and it dries. if it whiskers, just use 00 steel wool. Try NOT to sand the old stock at all. Once you strip it. put it back on the gun and tape off the receiver. That way you don't take off too much wood and make the metal parts proud. Use steel wools, 0-0000. If you must use sand paper go lightly. Any dents can be steamed out with a wet wash rag and an iron. As a final touch, "fine guns" have all the screws indexed to line up with the axis of the gun, so make all your screw slots point down the barrel. All of them, buttplate, trigger guard, forend screws and top tang screw.

You worked a miracle there! Fun fitting those sideplates huh. Acraglass is your friend,.
Nice job.

Speaking of cheap guns we had as kids, I remembered this single shot Ithaca M49 in 22 WMR. Man!!!! When I got this from my uncle I was king of the hill in the '60's. I refinished it about the same time I did my old dbl barrell. Almost forgot I had it until I went to put the other gun away.

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My latest dilemma is this jap gun my brother gave me for my birthday last week. He won it at a Quails Unlimited Banquet 20+ years ago. Brand new and never fired. I feel guilty popping its cherry.:mad:

(Yes I have wiped it down with oil;))


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Targa,

First let me say the work you doing is amazing. Secondly, what scope is that on Paul's rifle? I am looking for a scope for my 'sporterized' mauser.