Need advice on how and what to re-finish on a Jeffery 32" BLNE 3 inch chambered shotgun.

See this thread for pics of gun.
Jeffery Info

Some more pics.








At first glance I thought of three things,
Re-blue the barrels
Clean the rust and gunk from action
Re-finish stock in oil finish

Request the experts to please answer the questions,
What kind of blueing is recommended?
How the rust and pitting removed before blueing?
As apparent, case colors are gone long ago and cant be re-done here, polishing the action with buff wheel wont be damaging anything yes/no?
How to clean the rust on action? Could a rust remover used?
Could I use brass brush to clean rust?
Should any coating be applied on action after cleaning?
How the excess oil is removed from stock?
Should the checkering retouched after stock finishing or before it?

Hi there, answers below. I'm one for light restoration myself.

I've got a very similar gun, cased,20 bore, 1911 which I've fully restored.

If you want to see what I have done and how then the easiest way to explain is point you at my blog;

http://www.vintageshotgun.com

From there you can see that I had the barrels reblacked. I think boxlocks look great recoloured. Again I'm attempting to do that myself with a kiln first on a couple of old actions I've been given from my friendly guns shop.

For the stock, nitromorse works brilliantly,the soak and the steam the dents out...I'll stop...take a look at my blog . Happy to help with any specific questions either here or PM me.

What date is your gun?
Regards,
Tony

What ever direction you take hire a professional to do the work.....it would be a shame for this gun to have survived this long only to be screwed up by some amateur gun jockey

Saad:
Before you do ANYTHING to this gun, please consider your personal abilities. By your questions, I must assume you've got little experience in double gun restoration. Even the disassembly of this gun for a decent strip-&-clean should be undertaken with a measure of skill.

If you can do that without bodgering up the screws and wood, then I'd scrub all the metal surfaces with 0000 steel wool wet with bore solvent (or kerosene) to remove the rust, take the dirt and gum off the wood with a rag judiciously damp with mineral spirits, send the barrels OUT for a standard reblack, reassemble, and enjoy the gun.

Otherwise, study much, practice on something that doesn't matter, and try this one in a year or two.

Best, Kensal

Saad- You have a very nice shotgun.
Here is my rule for restoration work.

First, Do no harm.
Others have already suggested on what to do with the barrels.

Here are my unsolicited remarks concerning the woodwork.
It took 100 years to get the patina on that stock. Clean it gently, maybe steam out a deeper dent, but mostly, Leave it alone.

100 years of use put a lot of stories in that stock. Enjoy them when you look at it. You may, after cleaning it, desire to rub/buff it a little with a soft cloth. Maybe a little paste wax. Not much else. It looks well maintained. Don't spoil that.

Scrubbing the rust off (as previously described) is of course, just good maintainence.

Remember, first do no harm.

Just my 2 cents.

Clean it up, remove the rust, fix any mechanical issues and leave it alone.

No reblacking, recutting, or refinishing on anything.

OWD

....and don't shoot heavy 3 inch loads out of it or you'll rattle it apart.

I'll second what Joe says. It would doubtless have been proved for the English 3" cartridge of that period and proofed at 1 1/2 ounce. 2 3/4" Magnums are usually o.k. and withing its capabilities modern 3" stuff are probably beyond it. Lagopus.....

Ain't worth it. That gun is too plain jane. It's nice, but the work will cost far more than it's worth.

Check out this Cashmore:

http://www.cherrys.com/stokpics/23060fox.jpg

http://www.cherrys.com/stokpics/23060fox_5.jpg

It's all original, 2 3/4", 1 1/4oz gun with 32" bbls.

Plenty of condition, ejectors, nice long stock.

Price - $1595, and you could probably talk them down.

Put the "restoration" money into this gun and then you'll have two. Probably cost you less, too.

OWD

That Cashmore is the result of doing all that he inquired about the wrong way.
It looks like a Huglu. An over buffed Huglu.

First do no harm… I’ve found that it’s easy and cheap to make a tired gun look a lot better by doing a few simple things.

Stock – I remove the stock and soak it for 12 to 24 hours in acetone, then after I let it dry, I rub it down with 0000 steel wool and start wiping on very thin coats of True Oil. I let it dry between coats and then lightly rub the stock down with steel wool again before I wipe on the next coat of True Oil. I repeat 10-15 times and I always rub the stock down with the 0000 steel wool after the last coat to remove that cheap lacquered-look shine. Be sure you only wipe down the checkered areas 2 or 3 times as the True Oil tends to build up in the valleys.

Metal frame and barrels – I rub it down with light oil and 0000 steel wool to remove rust and grime. I’ve also found that soaking the action overnight in Coleman Lantern fuel will clean out must accumulated grime and goo. After I pull it out of the Coleman fluid I use a bottle of high quality spray lubricant and one of those long red nozzles to spray lubricant into the recessed areas of the action. I let it set overnight in a standing position so the excess oil can drain out, then I use my air hose again to blow out any remaining excess oil. Usually that treatment will get the action working briskly without having to take it apart.

Barrels(assuming black and not browned barrels) – I take the barrels that I’ve cleaned with a 0000 steel wool rub and hose them down with automotive starting fluid to degrease them (don’t be smoking when you do this!), after degreasing I rub the barrels down with a good quality cold blue treatment. Cold blue doesn’t hold up as well as a rust blue, but it’s simple to do (and redo the next season) and won’t hurt the barrels if you want to rust blue them in the future. Overall, while not nearly as good as rust bluing (especially in a side by side comparison) it will typically make the gun look a lot better than it did.

Be sure when you take the gun apart that all your screw drivers tightly fit the screws so you don’t bugger them up.

So that’s my free advice for the day and worth every penny.

Steve

Thanks a lot for such a wonderful blog. Seems that I will get answers to many questions.

It is estimated to be manufactured between 1924-30. Have e-mailed the current owner of Jeffery records for date of manufacture.

Cheers Saad. I'm actually one for mild restoration. Others say leave it as it is and with some validity. I'm learning how to bring guns back to the way they might have been. I pay for the guns so I feel I can do how I wish.

Anyway, you have some great advisors here many with more experience than I. But I am trying to do things properly and learn on the way. I post my mistakes as well as my gains so that others can pick up on that too.

Good luck and feel free to contact me any time.
Regards,
Tony

Guys,
Thanks for very sound advice.

I am not an expert anyway to do restoration my self. Just wanted to have enough knowledge before taking this gun to a professional gunsmith. But usually the gunsmiths available here, don't care much about following the right procedures, so you have to guide them what to do and what not to do. For example, while doing a re-blue they excessively buff the barrels and ruin the edges and stampings. Some guys do the same to action and blue it!!

The most I may want to do myself is clean the action and try re-finishing stock, if I get the proper oil finish. Looking for answer on re-cut checkering?

Absolutely no intention of using 3 inch ammo in it. Have got a box of 2-3/4 40 gram no. 4s. Are they safe for this gun? Usually, will be using standard 2-3/4 loads.

It is difficult to ascertain the grade (0000) of steel wool available here. Is it ok to use fine wired brass brush instead for rust removal?

Do any parts within the action need greasing?

Saad
0000 steel wool is very very fine, almost like cotton. I'm not sure what to say about the fine wired brass brush, try it on the metal under the forend first and see how it works. After you've sprayed light oil into the action as I've directed you shouldn't need any grease. There was a discussion about using grease before on this site. Several people were of the opinion that sticky grease collected abrasives (sand and grit from the environment) and didn't recomend using grease, instead they recomended always using oil.
BTW you might find that your checkering will look very nice after you've thoroughly cleaned the old finish off the stock.
One other thing, be careful about sanding the stock while it is off the gun, if I were you I'd try not to sand it at all. It's very easy to round the edges of the wood where they meet with the metal, a sure sign that the guns been messed with by inexperienced hands.
Good luck with whatever you choose to do.
Steve

Check out the brass brush in a more hidden place on the gun. I have had brushes that worked fine , and yet another that marked the steel like pencil lead would. It was somewhat difficult to get the brass marks off of the barrels.

Thanks guys!

Learned a lot by reading and re-reading this thread. What are the recommended cold blue treatments?

Brownell's Oxpho-Blue seems to be the one mentioned most often when discussing cold bluing. I have used it for years when doing touch-ups. Cheers!

Saad,
I use a Birch Wood Casey, Super Blue that I purchase at WalMart. I'm sure there's better products but I've found this works well.
Here's exactly what I do:
1. Don't remove the old finish, just any rust spots that you can see and feel when you run your finger tips over the barrels.
2. I beleive that the bluing chemical reacts with the original rust bluing and turns it black again (one of the things that happens with age is the original rust bluing turns brown), as well as bluing any areas where the original finish has been removed. Anyhow, it'll turn the entire barrel a nice dark blue again, just don't polish it down to bare steel.
3. I use automotive starting fluid (ether) as a degreaser. It degreases well and drys very fast, but nearly any good solvent should work well as a degreaser.
4. after cleaning any surface rust patches off the barrel and getting it smooth to the touch, I take a rag and soak it in the bluing compound and rub down the barrels, rinsing, degreasing and then repeating several times until the barrel has a nice evenly blued finish. Make sure you wash all the bluing off when you finish, it's a very powerful corrosive and will pit the barrel if left on too long (just follow directions on the product).
Steve

If you value the gun you'll stay away from cold blue treatments and screw drivers.

The glass is always half empty isn't it jOe. Having seen alot of badly buggered screws I can understand the scewdriver comment but I can't for the life of me see where there's any harm in freshening up a pair of barrels with the cold blue treatment I suggest. It doesn't harm anything, if he wanted to have the barrels professionally rust blued in the future the cold blue treatment wouldn't hurt anything, in the meantime the gun will look a lot better then it would with a pair of tired out looking barrels.
I can't wait for your enlightenment, oh jOe of such few words.
Steve

A man needs to know his limitations.

Vintage arms don't deserve to be taken down blind alleys.
JMO

Thanks again guys. Appreciate your concerns about not harming this gun. Want to assure you that this the reason I am asking questions.

Could anybody tell that does the fore end type indicates the grade of gun or it depends upon the period when it is manufactured? This Jeffery has a snap type fore end. I have also seen the push button type fore ends on some Jefferies, even the hammer guns older then this gun!

Is that happened to the trigger guard, see the 2nd pic.

Sorry I interrupted yer Internet gun restoration dOc....



Cold bluing probably won't hurt a thing....it looks like they've already been emery clothed.

Any input on fore end type? Thanks

Now that it is found from Jeffery ledger entry that barrels are damascuss, what do you guys recommend.

Saad, in order for us to continue I guess we would have to know exactly what type of gun owner are you? What are you going to do with this firearm? Restore it and hang it or use it for maybe competitive shooting or hunting and if you’re hunting what do you hunt and how do you hunt? Behind dogs? In a blind? In good weather, bad weather or it doesn’t matter this shotgun is coming with me no matter what.

I’ve taken a $250 dollar Nitro Special and put close to $1,000 in it to clean it up and hunt with it. Will I ever see my money….NO! Do I care….NO! Its mine and it fits like a glove and that is all that matters.

So in other words what are you planning to do with it?? That is a beautiful shotgun by the way, good find!!

If the barrels are indeed Damascus and since I am not exactly sure of where you reside or how the smiths in your part of the world operate. You need to find one that can take accurate barrel wall thickness measurements and bore measurements. DAMASCUS is a whole different animal and you want some numbers to make sure it is safe to shoot BEFORE YOU SHOOT IT even with RST low pressure loads which may or may not be avaiable in your neck of the woods?.

H&H

Saad, your original questions suggest you have no gunsmithing experience. Also, you seem aware that many so-called gunsmiths can do more harm than good. If you do not have a good set of hollow ground gunsmithing screwdrivers, I'd suggest avoiding even disassembling for cleaning. You have a nice gun and it is not one to use as a learning tool. If you desire to do this type of work, it is wise to start with cheap common guns rather than a higher quality piece.

Where are you located? Perhaps someone here can direct you to a gunsmith near you that can do what you wish without ruining your gun. I agree with those who advise you to do as little as possible to make the gun look good without a total restoration. Always keep it at least ten feet away from buffing wheels and sandpaper. Good luck. Let us know how it turns out.