The 870 Wingmaster Project Part 2

If you missed part one, see it here

So I decided to just restore the gun back to original, except put a high polish blued finish on the metal and the "bowling pin" finish on the wood.

First step was to source the missing brass bead, I found this one on ebay:

Then I found a replacement carrier, I could have stripped the chrome plating and polished the old one, or even blued it, but for $12.50 including shipping, why bother?

 
Next I had to fix the recoil pad, I accidentally cracked it when trying to get the screws out

I mixed up some JB Clear weld two part epoxy

and forced it into the crack

Next I decided to fit the stock to the receiver

Some filing and sanding and it is nearly flush

 

Now we start on the receiver

Here is what the pitting looks like before we started

I start with the more difficult side, this is after about 40 minutes of sanding with 100 grit, notice we stay away from the roll marks for now

The majority of the pitting is removed, time to move up to 150 grit

After sanding with 150 grit

After sanding with 220 grit, there are a few stubborn pits left.

Moving to the other side, because there were no roll marks I decided to use a file to remove some of the surface. You need to be careful if you do this, as you could put deep gouges in the surface, which will take even longer to get out....as they say sometimes the cure can be worse than the disease.
I did find that there are some low spots in the receiver

after mucho sanding, here it is at a 600 grit finish

I had to bead blast some other parts so I taped off the receiver and blasted the grooved sight line on top, this is much easier than trying to sand it by hand, and it won't remove the grooves machined into the metal.

Before it goes to the bluing tank we need to make sure it is clean, I cleaned and degreased. I also used a fine (white) Scotchbrite pad to even out the sanding marks, gives it a more uniform appearance

Stay tuned for part 3