Thursday, May 23, 2013

Father & Son Project

My Father inherited this old Winchester model 1906 .22 pump (aka the gallery gun) from a friend. This gun was made in 1923 and served as a rodent killer in a feed store in Renton WA for 50+ years. The stock was a cheap "gum wood" and the finish on the steel was completely gone. There was no chance of diminishing collector value as this gun had none to start with.
The magazine tube had come loose from the dovetail and the wood was beyond saving.
My Dad & I decided to make it a Father & Son project. Here are the before pictures










 


We bought new semi-inletted American Black Walnut stocks from www.gunville.com, the butt stock is much larger than the old one, we will need to shave it down, we also bought a reproduction butt plate
 


I had to file the sides of the receiver, the metal had deep scratches, not so much rust though.



Once flat I took the sand paper to the metal

The stock is coming along

In this picture you can see the bolt has been beaten and the edges are "ruffelled" I'll tap the metal back with a hammer and file the edges straight again.
Also one of the bolt stop screw holes had what we thought was a broken screw in it. We did not have the proper equipment to get it out and took it to Fred at C.A.R. Firearms (http://dev.carfirearms.com/). He ran a tiny drill bit down the hole and it wasn't a broken bolt, but just a bunch of crud. He cleaned it out and refused to let us pay for his time...If you are near ( the South Seattle area (Renton, Tukwila, SeaTac, Burien) go see Fred, he is a true professional and all around nice guy!

 Here I am filing the bolt face and edges of the bolt where it fits the the receiver groove (for lock up)

We ordered a new set of screws from Homestead Parts
 

The parts are pretty much ready for the bluing tank, we'll tackle the stock after the metal is ready
 Here are the parts after bluing, We still need to finish the stock, then we will reassemble
 As we began the reassembly of the gun we knew we had to overcome a common problem with these Winchester pump rifles: The magazine tube mounts. They come loose because the dove tails cut for them are very shallow. We had a couple of options. 1. weld up the dove tails and re-cut them. This option is problematic because the steel used then is not the same alloys we use today and getting the right heat, type of welding rod etc...could cause warping of the barrel or the bluing to look funny. The second option would be to use some sort of adhesive, I don't have faith in super glue and epoxy would show too much, we chose to go with JB Weld. JB Weld is a combo epoxy and metal, it dries to a gray color. We only needed a small amount and we wiped the excess off before it set up. I highly doubt anyone but the serious Winchester aficionados will notice (and the aficionados will only notice because the magazine tube is surprisingly tight).
Here are a couple of pictures of the magazine tube mounts clamped in with the JB Weld
  

The stock now has two coats of Tru-Oil and a nice satin finish, since the gun will be mostly a safe queen I'm gonna stop at two coats. Next step: Final Assembly!

OK, I finally got the gun put together, here are the pictures of it finished:












 Here are the before and after pics





4 comments:

  1. Really Enjoyed reading all about the gun project. Sounds like a fun time, working with your dad is always more fun I think.

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  2. Thanks for the blog, I enjoyed it. I will be doing the same for my grandfathers 1906.

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  3. I found your blog after doing a search for Winchester 1906 rifles. Firstly, let me say well done. You (and your father) have done some wonderful work, which is most inspiring too. I live in New Zealand, and I have just recently bought two of these rifles (and two Rossi copies). The Winchesters are in poor condition, and need restoring. I intend to do the work myself, and as such, I might ask you a question or two if you don’t mind. I have a good workshop, but have not yet set up bluing tanks (next project). Thanks for taking the time to post your work, it has really inspired me to bring life back into the old rifles I bought. Their intended use is a “shooting gallery”, and hopefully they will give pleasure to many people for a good many years.

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