So I started over by applying a coating of naval jelly and letting it sit for a minute or two and rinsing with water. A bit of Deja Vu...
Then I began polishing the metal again, this time we had no pits to deal with, so the polishing went much faster, this is a 400 grit
I could leave it at a 400 grit level and the gun would look good when blued, but the owner wanted a high polish job, so we stepped up to 600, then 800, then 1000, then 2000 and finally 2400 grit Crocus cloth. The barrel got the same treatment
We used Brownells Oxynate 7 and got wonderful results
The owner asked for my help with the stock, so he brought it to me to install a new recoil pad, refinish the wood and assemble the gun
This is what the wood looked like when he brought it to me. We decided not to refinish the entire stock, but instead clean it up and install a new factory original butt plate
After talking with the owner I learned that this gun has significant sentimental value, as his grandfather purchased it new and had made a repair to the forend.
The owners brother made an attempt at installing a recoil pad at one time, not sure what the electrical tape was for....check out the figure in the wood though..
You can see the repair made below
begin re-assembly, the bolt was pretty dirty
I scrubbed every nook and cranny and then gave it a bit of a polish. It hasn't been this clean since it left Ilion.
The operating handle and pins were polished for nitre bluing
The instructions for the piston were still legible
In the next installment we will find and install a recoil pad, finish the pins and operating handle in nitre blue and complete the re-assembly