gun refinishing Queston

[ilikeguns]

My father in law gave me his first rifle to g give to my oldest boy when he was born. The gun was in pretty bad shape and I always meant to restore it. After ten years in the closet I am finally doing it. The gun had a very dark stain and was blued. I have stripped the stocks and have them sanded down and ready and just finished up stripping down the barrel and getting all the old blueing and rust off. The receiver is anodized aluminum that had been painted from the factory. I stripped the paint and buffed it out to a really nice shine and plan to have my father in laws name and DOB engraved on one side and my oldest sons on the other. I had planned on reblueing and staining the wood dark again but now that everything is stripped I really like the looks of the light wood and bare metal. So my question is, is there any finish or coating that I can use to keep the bare metal look or is my only viable option to blue it again? I have looked through all the bake on finishes in brownells and didn't see anything. I wouldn't even mind maybe a "gunmetal grey", I just want something that I can do myself and will have adequate protection for the metal.

 

[IndyGunworks]

If you polished the metal, then NO spray on finish will adhere to it w/ any degree of success. Your best bet might be to just keep it oiled very very well. As for the light color of the stock, just add some boiled linseed oil, that will protect/preserve the wood w/out making it much darker like you would get w/ a stain.

Any of the aftermarket finishes will require abrasive sandblasting to end up w/ a durable finish. If you have it engraved deep enough then you can coat overtop of after its been blasted and it will look pretty good.

I just did this to my shotgun w/ some darkened grey moly resin, then I added stickers from hobby lobby and painted it black. Took the stickers off and baked it to cure.







The "imperfection" you see on the barrel is oil, not an imperfection.

 

[starkiller3]

Have you looked into dura-coat for the metal and a finish of min-wax for the stock, lots of combos going that route

 

[Kagnew]

Fogle's Gunsmithing - Specializing in Gun Rebluing and Restoration (Just a suggestion.)