Guest Post: Remington Model 12-CS Restoration Part 3

Part 3 of this restoration of a Remington model 12CS, see parts 1 & 2 by clicking the links below:

Part 1
Part 2


Success ... after 2 days of phone calls and emails back and forth to Out Back Gun Parts it seems we have a winner.

I had sent pictures to the Rep of the Action Bar along with the piece that was broken off. Placed it in as close a proximity as I could to where it had been attached to the Action Bar. The rep I was working with said he had never seen one broken there before. Where it was broken off is where a pin goes that holds what he was calling the "Carrier Dog". New term to me and my neophyte gun smithing experience. The pin and the Carrier Dog are nowhere to be found. They were not in the receiver when the gun was disassembled. Most likely long gone a loooooooooong time ago.

So he is going to get me an Action Bar rigged with a new Carrier Dog installed.

I have not yet delved into the trigger assembly ... may be a couple of springs that may have to be replaced and maybe the detent for the safety. The safety is not working properly and it may be pieces of the missing parts may be lodged the the trigger assembly.

Did get the Bolt cleaned up, oiled and polished. Firing pin seems to be in operating order if it is not damaged on the end. I don't know if it is or not, do not have a working one to compare the shape of the end to. Extractor works freely, now as to whether it will do it's job will have to be tested upon reassembly of the gun. Polished all articulating surfaces on the bolt.

Tomorrow is clean up the sights day and possibly Trigger Assembly tear down day.

Some pics of the Butt Stock ...

As you can see there is some pretty significant damage. One large crack you can plainly see in the picture just below. There are a couple of others, not quite so easy to see but are there, running back along the stock that start at each of the two holes on the lower part of the stock. Both bottom front corners are damaged and of course the missing two large chips out of the top. All of which are going to have to be addressed.

The bottom corners will be a near impossible permanent fix. Would be fixable with a plastic wood if the gun were just going to be a safe queen or display piece but the owner wants it as a shooter so that kind of a fix would not be strong enough for a long term solution. Same goes for the two large chip voids on top.

Overall the rest of the stock is in fairly good condition and will refinish in good shape.

In this picture you can see a crushed or mashed in area along the lower front of the Butt Stock. I don't think with as little thickness in the wood here that getting this "dent" smoothed out and feathered into the shape of the stock is going to be a feasible thing to do and have it look anywhere near natural with the flow of the stock's shape.

 

So as Option 2 at the moment I am considering an amputation and replacement. I am looking at cutting the front end of the Butt Stock off and replacing it with a crafted Walnut replacement. It will involve having to do quite a bit of hand work to make the end of the new piece be a mate to the removed end but I think it might be possible ... have come up with a plan of attack in my head. Hopefully I could get it to come out and be an aesthetic and a long term functional replacement.

Getting the end worked out to match the factory end will be a "FUN ENDEAVOR". If I go with this Option I am sure I will learn some new word combinations and I will get to work on my anger management skills. LOL

Option 3 would be to try and find and purchase another Butt Stock with no real damage. ( but where's the fun in that )

Again it is project direction and decision time ... mulling, mulling, mulling, mulling, mulling and then mulling some more.

Do I take the trouble ( and chance ) on Option 2 or Option 1 and just make the best repairs I can? Hard choice. Option 1 has a pretty well assured outcome and Option 2 is a question ...

Got started on getting the missing ribs on the right side of the fore grip put in. This was a first for me trying something like this.

This is the first step done yesterday. I spent some additional time on them again later this afternoon and worked with getting the widths and depths of the newly added rib groves to a closer match to the OEM rib grooves on the left. They came out real nice ... didn't have time to get pics after the additional work.

Here is the left side. All of these ribs were there from the factory.

Got some metal work done ... All of the external metal parts ... excluding the Trigger Group ... have been stripped and are ready for final 400 grit sanding.

Not going to do any finishing work on the Butt Stock Bolt but did clean it and buff it. Was a little rusty and oil/dirt caked.

Bolt polished up nicely considered how rust covered and damaged it was.

Mag Tube cleaned up nicely.

The end of the barrel was in bad shape. Several wear and tear battle scars, dents and significant rust pitting damage. It cleaned up pretty good. I think I am going to have to do a crown job. Some pitting down close to the muzzle I could not resolve with just sanding. Never done any crown repair before. Onward and upward. There are another couple of small flaws I see in the picture I am going to have to deal with.

Guest Post provided by:
Bobby Turner - STOCKAID RESTORATIONS - stockaidrestorations@gmail.com.