Remington 514 Restoration Part III

I’ve been concentrating on the stock for now, deciding how far I wanted to go and how much wood I was comfortable with removing. After consulting with a friend I decided not to try and steam out every dent and sand or patch every nick. Instead, I’d remove the lacquer with 220 grit paper and try to get rid of visible scratches. I’d follow that with 320 grit, and when I was happy with the surface, wet sand with Tru-Oil to fill the grain. I did a test first on the butt.

This looked good, so I did more sanding and did a sand-and-fill over the rest of the stock.

From here on I’ll be scuff sanding with 3M abrasive cloth and applying more coats until I’m happy with the depth of the finish. At that point I’ll turn my attention back to the metal parts.

Remington 514 restoration, part II

Last month I mentioned that I had acquired a Remington 514 from a friend with plans to restore it. Various projects have intervened since then, including the rebuilding of my Benjamin Marauder air rifle, some overdue tree trimming, and much-needed house cleaning, but I’ve finally gotten around to working on the Remington. Some tests on the barrel show that it’s not as bad as I first thought. Here’s a photo showing the barrel as received, and a section that’s been given a polishing with 3M synthetic steel wool (the red one) and  phosphoric-acid based cold blue:

Cleaned up nicely, and this is just a quick test. I’m going to strip the receiver and give the whole thing a good cleaning, polishing, and cold blue.

I’ve also started sanding the lacquer finish on the stock. It looks like walnut, and I think a sand-and-fill with Tru-Oil will look pretty good when I’m done. Stay tuned.