Picked up a single shot 12 gauge recently, was thinking I'd either use it as a wall hanger or restoration project. When I got it, it was a pretty solid gun, the wood had seen better days, but the metal looked like it was taken care of and solid overall. Rather than make it a wall hanger, I decided to try restoring it a bit. It was in much better shape than I thought it would be actually. No rust, inside of the barrel is like a mirror, outside of the barrel looked like someone had taken a brillow pad to it and removed patches of blue, but overall, not terrible shape (the wood was bad though).
It was sold as a "Cooey Ranger", though from the shape of it, I was thinking it was an Iver Johnson. Apparently, Sears bought from them and rebranded Iver Johnson shotguns as "Ranger" and then sold them as the Sears brand. When I got it, that was confirmed. Taking it apart, I found a little folded up piece of paper under the butt plate, turned out to be the original registration, from 1940. Listed as an Iver Johnson on that. There was also a number scratched on the back side of the butt plate that matched the serial stamped on the trigger guard.
Used some paint stripper and took off the varnish that was left. Then used a bit of sandpaper and cleaned it up a bit more. Didnt sand down deep enough to get clear of all the original stain, so the forestock is much darker than the back. It's either not original or someone refinished one of the pieces before. The forestock looked kinda like someone shaped the front part, i've never seen an Iver Johnson shaped liked that before... who knows...
It was hard to match the colors, the forestock only got one coat of stain (maybe should have been none..), and did seven or eight on the back. Just wasnt taking the stain as much. Ran out of stain, so i'm calling that it.
The receiver was in pretty good shape, havent touched it yet, this is still a work in progress, but the barrel was a bit dodgy. Went at it with 320 grit, 400, and steel wool, got pretty clean.
I used Outters cold blue kit. $17. Came with cleaner, blue, and steel wool. I wasnt expecting great things, but was quite surprised.
First coat:
Second:
Third (has a new Tikka next to it to compare):
So i'm still not done, but that's my progress. Going to do the wood with boiled linseed later this afternoon, first coat anyway. I think i'll clean up the receiver a bit more, and maybe do the blue on that too. Quite impressed with how well it took on the barrel.
It was sold as a "Cooey Ranger", though from the shape of it, I was thinking it was an Iver Johnson. Apparently, Sears bought from them and rebranded Iver Johnson shotguns as "Ranger" and then sold them as the Sears brand. When I got it, that was confirmed. Taking it apart, I found a little folded up piece of paper under the butt plate, turned out to be the original registration, from 1940. Listed as an Iver Johnson on that. There was also a number scratched on the back side of the butt plate that matched the serial stamped on the trigger guard.
Used some paint stripper and took off the varnish that was left. Then used a bit of sandpaper and cleaned it up a bit more. Didnt sand down deep enough to get clear of all the original stain, so the forestock is much darker than the back. It's either not original or someone refinished one of the pieces before. The forestock looked kinda like someone shaped the front part, i've never seen an Iver Johnson shaped liked that before... who knows...
It was hard to match the colors, the forestock only got one coat of stain (maybe should have been none..), and did seven or eight on the back. Just wasnt taking the stain as much. Ran out of stain, so i'm calling that it.
The receiver was in pretty good shape, havent touched it yet, this is still a work in progress, but the barrel was a bit dodgy. Went at it with 320 grit, 400, and steel wool, got pretty clean.
I used Outters cold blue kit. $17. Came with cleaner, blue, and steel wool. I wasnt expecting great things, but was quite surprised.
First coat:
Second:
Third (has a new Tikka next to it to compare):
So i'm still not done, but that's my progress. Going to do the wood with boiled linseed later this afternoon, first coat anyway. I think i'll clean up the receiver a bit more, and maybe do the blue on that too. Quite impressed with how well it took on the barrel.
