doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Griffin & Howe garage sale find

The OP is another who would like as much advice as is willingly provided!

Im 37 and have been around firearms my whole life...but this rifle is in my opinion a piece of firearms history of the finest quality, and I have never owned anything of this historical/collectible quality before

I think it can be preserved, I'm just not sure where to start. Do you feel comfortable taking it apart? If so we can post instructions if needed.

There is no rush on my part. I'll do what I can, and so will others, to help you.

May I suggest that if you don't have a good set of screw drivers, get them first. A few days waiting to get good drivers is not going to make that much difference, a buggered screw is not what you want.
Next is to get the wood off as prevously suggested.

Ditto on the screw drivers. I'll bet some of those screws are rusted in place and will need extra attention to break free, and buggered screw heads and gouged wood from tool slippage will just add to your woes.

The Kroil that Michael Petrov mentioned is a good penetrating oil and rust stopper. It might be wise to let the small screws have an application to soak into and loosen the threads. I don't mean douse the area, but a light application that will wick into the threads. I find it works well if let to sit for a day or two.
Thaine

I respectfully disagree on the use of Kroil. It is OK for fasteners that are not really all that stuck, but in my experience, it has frequently failed to penetrate more than a couple threads deep on many screws that were not severely rusted. This has happened to me with Kroil many times even with repeated soakings over extended periods. There are much better alternatives out there in my opinion. I've had some successes with pure Oil of Wintergreen recently. I've been trying Burlite which is sold by W. E. Boyd who often posts here under the name of Docbill. It seems very good, but I haven't used it enough to give an honest glowing endorsement. A 50-50 mix of acetone and ATF works well, but it needs to be reapplied often for severely stuck screws because the acetone evaporates quickly. I do like Zep 45 and had good results with it in a very corrosive environment. I still have not tried Mouse Milk. Many guys on antique tractor forums swear by it. Has anyone here used it?

Obviously, this is an area of interest to me as I do a lot of work on old firearms and old farm tractors, etc. I've used literally dozens of brands and concoctions in a vain attempt to find a replacement for Cabot's Tasgon which was discontinued in the early 1980's due to it's creosote content. I have a small amount left which I only use when everything else fails. If you can find a partial can at a garage sale or flea market, buy it. It has worked on many things that appeared beyond hope. Even Tasgon will not help once galling has occurred, so I always preach patience and repeated, extended soakings along with applications of heat, cold, and shock to facilitate penetration. Some screws that surely would have been twisted off with agressive early attempts have broke free easily after several months of occasional application of a good penetrating oil. I have perhaps 2 gallons of Kroil in my shop. I continue to use it as a penetrant when it looks like a fastener is not severely stuck. I also use it on 0000 steel wool to remove rust on guns. But even there, WD-40 works better. All penetrating oils are fantastic when they work. And I know many feel Kroil is great. I just don't think it's much better than plain old kerosene. I'm basing my comments here on decades of what has and hasn't worked and literally thousands of applications.

Dittos on the use of quality gunsmithing screwdrivers. Just as important is the guy behind the screwdriver who knows how to use it and when to back off before doing real damage.

That stock is fine and does not need to be replaced. It can be repaired and refinished along with the rest of the job.

Definitely have G&H do the work, or failing that, choose a gunsmith of national reputation to preserve the value of the piece. If it's restored by G&H it will be as valuable as it can be when you get it back, although I would suggest that a restoration by someone like Monte Mandarino would be as prized, if not moreso.

I may have missed it, but how is the bore/chamber?

Good point. If the bore is trashed I would re-think how extensive the re-furb would be.

the bore is definatly shootable....I havent gotten to scrubbing the barrel out yet though
will do that next week when I get back into town..

back from the dead!

rifle has been fully disassembled, cleaned and ready to be put back together after


the stock is still in need of repair...but I have shot this rifle about a dozen times and it is accurate as can be at 100 yards




Mr Petrov....do you know where I might procure a front sight HOOD for this rifle?