[mlammers]

Hey all, with the cheap bolt action 22 thread, I decided to post this project an keep you posted as I progress. The initial cost of the rifle was $5 at a garage sale. It is a Springfield M56 22 S, L, LR. The rifle was very rusty on the outside, but the bore was good, and it did fire, although it was missing a magazine.

As you can see it was a mess. I found a 10rd Mag at Numrich for $17, and so far I have about 6hrs(all last night), and about$5 in polishing materials, and Chemicals in it. All polishing is being done by hand, lots o work, but good for me right? THe stock will be stripped today, and the rest of the polishing done. I hope to get it blued this week as well. I can use cold blue to show what can be done on low cost, or I can hot blue it I have not decided. Or I could park it, but I like blue on this rifle better. What would you like to see? The cold blue I use is Oxpho Blue gel from Brownells.

 

[12twist]

A dremel tool with a polishing wheel attachment works wonders for these things....Ever try that?

 

[mele]

I vote for cold blue or parkerize. I'd like to see the results of either (with a description of how you did it!)

this should be a great thread!

Thanks for sharing
MEL

 

[Guest]

Do not cold blue it. You will be sorry.

I vote for parkerizing. Parkerizing is easy to do. There's a company called Palmetto Industries and their parkerizing chemicals are said to be superb.

Mad

 

[mlammers]

I do parking at home now, have buig vibratory polishing set up that can do everthing but barrels. It works better than blasting as it is set and forget, works while I sleep. The hardware on my garands was done by me excpet the match one. I have now finished the polishing, and yes I have used the dremel, and now have a huge hand polisher cutter from Sears. It is like a dremel on roids. I still like working by hand though. I am going to cold blue this one. I have used Oxpho blue before on shotguns, and it is as hard as any hot blue I have, and looks very nice. I will post later with all the details. Back to working on the stock, later guys.

 

[spade]

i say triple chrome plate it. OOOO, no wait... GOLD plate it... with 24 inch spinners on it... and 7 tv's.....

lol naw, honestly id probably just parkerize it or rust blue it.

 

[mlammers]

Ok guys, I have gotten quite a bit of work done today(wife is kind o mad though so I let her go out for while and took the kis off her hands). This rifle is being done to be a beat around truck rifle/kids first rifle for my oldest friend and hunting buddy.

You saw how it looke when he found it at the garage sale, so cut me some slack, I am not a miracle worker. The stock has major issues, mainly it is one ugly piece of wood, some cracks and lots of dings. The cracks I fixed, the dings I fixed some of, sanded others, and just plain gave up on some. There is a stain on the but, that just will not come out, I stripped it times, bleached it, and sanded it, but it is still there. I sanded this stock(I hate to use sandpaper on stocks, I usually only use steel wool) with 80, 120, 320, and finally 0000 Steel Wool.

The rifle was very heavily pitted in areas, but I did polish most of it out, although some were so deep I would have had to really thin out the contour of the barrel to get them all the way out. I have about 9-10hrs of polish time in on this one, and that does not include the chemical rust/blue removal time. The Polishing consisted of coarse emryclth followed by medium, then fine switching directions on each one. I then hit it with 400grit paper, and finally both directions two times with 600 grit.

The cold blue I used is Oxpho Blue Creme from Brownells. To prep the rifle I degreased 2 times with Acetone, and then never touched with bare hands after that. I used a method that I read in some information from Brownells that came with the Oxpho Blue. I used a pad of 0000 Steel Wool, and applied the Oxpho Blue to the pad, and buffed the rifle with the steel wool. The rifle soon had a nice deep black color. I applied the creme 3 times, and the entire rifle took the color well. Using an abrasive application method helps to make a more abrasion resistant finish. Ihave used this finish before, and have had good luck, plus it touches up easy if it does get dinged or scratched.

I have some pics below of the rifle as it currently looks. The one with two barrels in it is the 22 next to a nearly perfect M700 Rem barrel in factory High polish blue. The stock is not done, and only has one coat of stain. I currently plan to hit the stock with 0000 Steel Wool, and two coats of stain, and 3 coats of Tung Oil. It may not end up pretty, but it will be protected.

I still have to do the bolt, and all the hardware is in the polisher right now.

 

[mlammers]

Project update. I modified the stock today, shortened it by about 3/8 inch to get rid of the discolored wood around the butt. The wood was discolored due to what appeared to be oil combined with some rot at the edge of the plate joint. I will now have to work down both the plate in length, and the stock in width to get a perfect fit. I am re-stripping the stock to use a darker stain. I tried it in a small area and the result is much more pleasing to the eye.

I have progressed the metal hardware to the next grade of abrasive grit(320),and will see how it looks there. I still have to blue the internals and the bolt, but I will try to get that done by Sunday. I am tryig to figure a way to get a scope on this rifle but that may be difficult. I am also hunting for a rear sight elevator. All in all this should be decent looking set up for about $35 and several hours labor. I will post more pics soon.

 

[mlammers]

OK the metal is out of the Polisher, and looks real good. I will get the finish on tomarrow. This thing is coming along nicely, the only hard part left is sahping the butt and Plate to match up. I found that a Marlin sight elevator should work, so that problem is fixed, and I will order the mag from Numrich this week. I may do one or two more darkening coats on on the barrel/receiver combo, and I am going to see about jeweling the bolt just for kicks.

 

[mlammers]

Ok guys here is the stock and hardware redone, or in the case of the stock nearly done. I have one more coat of Pure Old Masters Tung Oil to rub in tonight. I will assemble it in the morning, and take it down the street to shoot it. Tell me what you think. I think the darker stain was much better on the stock, I also wetted it a few times to raise dents, and bring up grain so it would have some figure to it.

 

[madgunsmith]

Great work!!!

I'm totatlly blown away. I had no idea that cold blue would look so good.



Mad

 

[mlammers]

Mad, that means a lot coming from you, Thanks. I will see if I can did up a pic of a Topper 48 HR shot gun I did for the same guy. It had Edge Grain Walnut furniture covered by a pain like stain from the factory, and the metal was about same as this one when I started. I did it the same way. I would recommend the Oxpho Blue strongly, it can also closely match Park on blasted metalif only a light coat is used, works great for touchup on scratched areas etc. Also on the Bolt of the M56, I polished to a High Luster and oiled thoroughly.

 

[mele]

How wear resistent is that cold blue?

MEL

 

[mlammers]

Seems pretty good, you use an abrasive application method(applied using medium steel wool) to put it on, so abrasion is part of the process. The real beauty is if you do scratch it, just a quick degrease, little steel wool to apply the blue, and it matches right in. Also part of the process of applying it is lightly buffing with 0000 steel wool when done. It seems when using it, that the more you rub the blue in with the steel wool as you are putting it on, the better it looks and the darker it gets. The Oxpho Blue is sold through Brownells, and comes in liquid or creme form, I Use the creme. The maker claims it forms a phosphate like plating under the blue, and that is the way it protects so well.

I have used two other Cold Blues to keep bolts colored on Rem 870s and neither held up well, or looked good. I have only used the Oxpho Blue on one, and so far no problems, I am sure it will wear as does hot blue on these parts(I was rebluing to repair the worn factory blue). I think how long it lasts(on bolts and the like) is mostly dependant on how well lubricated the part is kept. On Barrels/receivers, I think it will hold up pretty well. I did one barrel, stored it in my garage unprotected for 6 months and no rust, so corrosion protection must be pretty good. Hope this helps.

 

[mele]

Yep, it does help.

How would one acheive a more matte finish using cold blue? Just need to bead blast the parts perhaps?

MEL

 

[mlammers]

Exactly, bead blast or just dont polish as well, I have the rifle fully assembled now. I ran the hardware like the trigger guard, and buttplate through only two stages in my vibratory equipment, which is very close to the matte finish from a good bead blasting. I will get some pics up tonight with closeups of the guard, which has a Matte finish. I finished the hardware matte as it takes more of a beating, and matte hides minor dings and scratches much better than Highly Polished.

 

[mlammers]

Here is the finished product, minus the Magazine which has not arrived yet. I plan to test fire it tomorrow. I had to do some minor parts creation and modification today, slowed things down a little, she is done now. Tell me what you think, not bad for a $5 gun I guess.

Total break down of cost for the whole project, is as follows:

4.0 oz Oxpho-Blue Creme=$6.32
Birchwood Casey Rust and Blue Remover=$3.68
Misc screws to replace worn parts=$2.50
Abrasive papers=$6.00
PVC Gloves=$2.00
Old Masters Dark Walnut Stain=$4.99
Old Masters Tung Oil$=4.99
Bag of Rags=$1.49
Magazine=$17.00
Rifle=$5.00

The total is $53.97, if you had to buy everything. I had the stain, Tung Oil, Rust remover, most of the paper, Gloves, and the Oxpho-Blue on hand, so my cost is $26 including the rifle and magazine. I have well over 15hrs of work into this project, so the money is not the only cost, but I do enjoy the work, and it keeps me out of trouble.

Refinishing this rifle is certainly something any of us could do, it just takes time and patience. I should also mention that just doing one rifle, leaves enough of the Chemicals, oils, and stains to do at leas 3-4 more rifles, so the actual cost of materials used is much lower than the purchase price. Everything I used, or an equal brand of substitute can be obtained at any hardware store with the exception of the Oxpho-Blue which I have only seen at gunsmith supply houses like Brownells or Midway.

 

[muzzleblast]

Looks like a million bucks man. Great job!

 

[mlammers]

Thanks man, not sure it looks that good, but if you are offering, let me know. I 'll split it with my buddy.

 

[mele]

Great thread and great job mlammers!! Looks really good, and now I'm anxious to do a resto.

I am thinking of building an M40 cloan. The old original M40 with a wood stock. I happened upon a redfield accu-track scope of the proper vintage, and its just begging to be put on an M40 cloan. Though, the redfield scopes did go on the M40A1's also until the unertl's replaced them right around 1980.

MEL