hi -- anyone know of someone in the houston area that does repairs on old/damaged/neglected firearms ... not just typical gunsmith stuff, but fixing up old forgotten family heirlooms? nothing high value that will be presentation pieces, but we want to make them functional and safe, as well as keeping them in their "well used" state -- essentially respecting them and keeping their history from being wiped away by a complete refinishing, if you catch my meaning.
i have recently been given three guns (though i have not take posession as yet) that have been neglected for decades, stored and forgotten in closets. two are my great-grandfathers that my dad used often when growing up (a .22 that was used daily and shot thousands of rounds and from all stories had near perfect accuracy as far as they eye could see, of course, and a shotgun i didn't get too close a look at, but it is definitely quite old and well used), and a winchester 1892 that belonged to my mother's father (this gun has great sentimental value, but appears very beat up).
the .22 is a single-shot bolt action that has a slightly cracked stock, but not so bad that it wouldn't be functional. the barrel may or may not be in bad shape, but it doesn't look too bad.
the shotgun also doesn't look too terribly bad, and the wood looks intact -- the barrel has some light rusting but otherwise it's probably the most safe to shoot... given a good cleaning and closer inspection.
the 1892, on the other hand, is in bad shape. the stock is cracked very badly. the thing is, this is a gun that was handled by my mother's father, and she has NO desire to have the wood replaced or altered greatly from its current state, because it is one of the few tangible things left that he touched that we are still able to see and touch ourselves. rumor has it that it was a gun he had while in the army, although it's unclear if it was an issue gun or if it was one he had privately -- rumor also is that the stock was cracked while he was in the army and never had it repaired. because it is in a delicate state, i didn't look too deeply at the hardware on the gun or state of the barrel, etc (i did cycle the lever a couple times and it "worked"). this seems to be the most challenging of the bunch -- if we are unable to make repairs good enough to be fired again, then it would be sufficient to repair the stock and clean it up a bit so we could handle it and not shoot. most repair places i've found online or few calls i made seem to be in it to make the gun "pretty" again -- replace all the wood, clean everything up, reblue, etc... that's exactly what we don't want but it's hard to find someone who really understands what i'm going for.
i do not want to personally attempt repair or anything on these, and i don't want someone who really doesn't know what they're doing -- the 1892 in particular we really want to be "fixed" but not destroy the current wood or remove the character that it has. i can't help but think that there's gotta be someone out there who can do this -- surely it's not an uncommon thing? the worst case would be to get someone who thinks they can repair stocks like that and end up utterly destroying it and any chance to salvage... if that were the case then we'd rather have just left it as-is.
anyway, please give me your thoughts or recommendations. i'd love to be able to get these fixed up and, if possible, allow my folks to shoot them once again. it'd be a wonderful connection to the past to have these alive and kicking again... but at the very least i want to get them out of the closets and feel respectable again.
i have recently been given three guns (though i have not take posession as yet) that have been neglected for decades, stored and forgotten in closets. two are my great-grandfathers that my dad used often when growing up (a .22 that was used daily and shot thousands of rounds and from all stories had near perfect accuracy as far as they eye could see, of course, and a shotgun i didn't get too close a look at, but it is definitely quite old and well used), and a winchester 1892 that belonged to my mother's father (this gun has great sentimental value, but appears very beat up).
the .22 is a single-shot bolt action that has a slightly cracked stock, but not so bad that it wouldn't be functional. the barrel may or may not be in bad shape, but it doesn't look too bad.
the shotgun also doesn't look too terribly bad, and the wood looks intact -- the barrel has some light rusting but otherwise it's probably the most safe to shoot... given a good cleaning and closer inspection.
the 1892, on the other hand, is in bad shape. the stock is cracked very badly. the thing is, this is a gun that was handled by my mother's father, and she has NO desire to have the wood replaced or altered greatly from its current state, because it is one of the few tangible things left that he touched that we are still able to see and touch ourselves. rumor has it that it was a gun he had while in the army, although it's unclear if it was an issue gun or if it was one he had privately -- rumor also is that the stock was cracked while he was in the army and never had it repaired. because it is in a delicate state, i didn't look too deeply at the hardware on the gun or state of the barrel, etc (i did cycle the lever a couple times and it "worked"). this seems to be the most challenging of the bunch -- if we are unable to make repairs good enough to be fired again, then it would be sufficient to repair the stock and clean it up a bit so we could handle it and not shoot. most repair places i've found online or few calls i made seem to be in it to make the gun "pretty" again -- replace all the wood, clean everything up, reblue, etc... that's exactly what we don't want but it's hard to find someone who really understands what i'm going for.
i do not want to personally attempt repair or anything on these, and i don't want someone who really doesn't know what they're doing -- the 1892 in particular we really want to be "fixed" but not destroy the current wood or remove the character that it has. i can't help but think that there's gotta be someone out there who can do this -- surely it's not an uncommon thing? the worst case would be to get someone who thinks they can repair stocks like that and end up utterly destroying it and any chance to salvage... if that were the case then we'd rather have just left it as-is.
anyway, please give me your thoughts or recommendations. i'd love to be able to get these fixed up and, if possible, allow my folks to shoot them once again. it'd be a wonderful connection to the past to have these alive and kicking again... but at the very least i want to get them out of the closets and feel respectable again.
