From Case Colors to French Grey - 02/28/11 09:20 PM
*Note, this thread is a follow up to an earlier discussion.
I have ended up with a 1944 Ugartechea that I'm working on refinishing. The gun was cheap and it's not rare or collectible, so I'm going to have some fun with it and take a few chances. One of those chances is that I want to try removing the worn case colors from the receiver so that I'm left with a French Grey finish. I couldn't find another thread where someone documented this process, so I started a new one. I'll do my best to post pictures along the way that might help others who also want to give this a go.
This afternoon a new set of gunsmithing screwdrivers arrived with the UPS man, and I promptly went to work removing the stock according to the directions contained in the thread linked above. Worked like a charm.
Now I'm left with this:
Here's where I've hit two snags.
1) The directions I'm following don't say whether the action needs to be totally disassembled to have the colors removed (i.e. don't get acid on the internals of the action), or whether I can go ahead and just cover the whole thing in something like toilet bowl cleaner. I would simply disassemble the whole thing, but I've read a number of warning that "disassembling an Anson & Deeley boxlock is best left to a gunsmith". Anyone have any advice to give?
2) The top lever and the safety appear to have originally been blued and I'd like to send them out with the barrels for rebluing. The issue is the safety. There's a silver rod on the bottom/inside of the safety lever holding it in place. The rod doesn't want to move and I can't think of a way to get the safety button off with the rod in place. Does anyone have any suggestions of how I might deal with this issue?
Thank you in advance for your generous help. Although my knowledge is too thin to contribute expertise to the board, I'll do my best to contribute photos and write ups of my progress for others to learn from.
I have ended up with a 1944 Ugartechea that I'm working on refinishing. The gun was cheap and it's not rare or collectible, so I'm going to have some fun with it and take a few chances. One of those chances is that I want to try removing the worn case colors from the receiver so that I'm left with a French Grey finish. I couldn't find another thread where someone documented this process, so I started a new one. I'll do my best to post pictures along the way that might help others who also want to give this a go.
This afternoon a new set of gunsmithing screwdrivers arrived with the UPS man, and I promptly went to work removing the stock according to the directions contained in the thread linked above. Worked like a charm.
Now I'm left with this:
Here's where I've hit two snags.
1) The directions I'm following don't say whether the action needs to be totally disassembled to have the colors removed (i.e. don't get acid on the internals of the action), or whether I can go ahead and just cover the whole thing in something like toilet bowl cleaner. I would simply disassemble the whole thing, but I've read a number of warning that "disassembling an Anson & Deeley boxlock is best left to a gunsmith". Anyone have any advice to give?
2) The top lever and the safety appear to have originally been blued and I'd like to send them out with the barrels for rebluing. The issue is the safety. There's a silver rod on the bottom/inside of the safety lever holding it in place. The rod doesn't want to move and I can't think of a way to get the safety button off with the rod in place. Does anyone have any suggestions of how I might deal with this issue?
Thank you in advance for your generous help. Although my knowledge is too thin to contribute expertise to the board, I'll do my best to contribute photos and write ups of my progress for others to learn from.