Firearm Refinish?

[eldirector]

So, I'm doing a little research for my father-in-law. He has an old Winchester 20-gauge shotgun that has seen better days. The outside of the barrel was pretty rusty and pitted, along with the rest of it. He cleaned it up some, but it desperately needs refinished. He stopped by Gander with it (yeah, I know), and they wanted a fortune to blast, polish, and blue it. Way more than the old shotgun is worth.

Since the gun isn't really worth that much, so he is looking for options. Is there an inexpensive finish that will fill the pits a bit? Any reputable folks he should get a quote from? He just wants it looking a bit more respectable, not restored.

 

[the1kidd03]

I don't know how much you plan on spending...but you can either check ITS in Moorseville...he has a bead blaster, and dip tanks..........otherwise you can read up and do you it yourself, or go the spray on finish route...............you are not really going to be able to find anything which will really fill in bad pitting very well....at least not to my knowledge

 

[WebSnyper]

Check with Indygunworks. He is a regular here and does that type of work I believe, INGunOwners - View Profile: IndyGunworks

Also Hoosier Gun Coat does as well:

INGunOwners - View Profile: Hoosier Gun Coat

Never used either of their services, but others here have and seem to say good things.

 

[cbseniour]

Here we go again. 30 years ago I purchased an old double barrel shot gun at auction for $75 it was rough and in some spots rusty and I had pretty much blown my gun budget on the purchase.
I took it apart and cleaned it well then cold blued it. The barrel still looks like new and the receiver has a bit of pitina( spell) on it. I stripped the stocks and treated them with Teak oil and they still look good.
I'm not saying that this is the ideal refinish method but poor folks have poor ways and sometimes they work very well.

 

[IndyGunworks]

Got any pictures? when it comes to pitting the cost really goes up. I file down all the pits and resand to blend it all back in. If you want it polished back to original condition, then you are just talking time. Time is where the cost is, not in the blueing itself. typicall just a dip costs around 75-100 dollars not including ANY prepwork. anything on top of that to prep the gun is where the real costs come in. w/out seeing it its hard to put a good quote to it. Feel free to email me some pictures and i will try to give you an idea as to what it would end up costing you.

 

[gunman41mag]

When I don't want to spend to much money, I buy HI-TEMP BAR-B-QUE paint then I hit it with LACQUER. It will only cost you about $10 for both

 

[88E30M50]

I refinished an old .410 that my sister got back in the 70s about a year ago. It was not worth much, was missing a firing pin and had not been fired in almost 40 years. My goal was to make it presentable and functional again and in the end, it turned out quite nice. I cleaned the stock, did a bit of stain and then gave it a bunch of coats of tung oil. For the metalwork, I cleaned and sanded it with very fine sandpaper (1000 grit) and then cold blued it. The end cost was something like $15 in refinishing supplies and about $35 or so for a new extractor and firing pin.

If all your father in law wants is a presentable shotgun, then it might be fun to refinish it that way. I did not need to fill in any major pits, but the cold blue did not turn out too bad.