KP Texan
Member
Long story short, I inherited a nice little Remington 121 Fieldmaster from my grandfather and I'm doing a minor restoration on it. There is surface rust on this firearm due to a bit of neglect and the varnish is coming off of the stock. The great thing is that the action is smooth and seems to feed okay and it certainly shoots accurately. I'm fairly certain that the minor feeding issues I've experienced have to do with a worn out magazine spring and years of grime. I want to turn this gun back into a presentable but functional shooter that I can eventually pass down to my children.
That being said, this thread parallels another thread that I already have over at Rimfire Shooting: http://rimfireshooting.com/index.php?showtopic=6317 . If you would like a more long winded version of the story and a history of this Fieldmaster you can read it there. The guys over at that forum are really friendly and quite helpful but I think I can get some additional ideas from the great minds over here at THR.
I've completely broken this nice little gun down and started in on my rust issue. I first tried a bronze brush with CLP but that didn't really suffice. I saw real results with the light use of CLP and 0000 steel wool. Although the rust seems to be gone from the surface, I still see some light staining where some of it was. Is this generally removable? I'm just wondering how far I can go without damaging the bluing. It's been soaking in a thick coat of CLP for a couple days now so I'll probably come back and give it another careful shot.
Another question I have relates to the aluminum butt plate: what is the proper way to refinish this? I can't really tell if the original coating was painted or anodized, but I'd just like to get rid of the light colored scrapes and have it a solid black color so that it goes well with my newly refinished stock. Would a good cleaning followed by a light coat of primer and then a light coat or two of Rustoleum work?
What about the little crack in the fore-end? Will tite-bond wood glue and a clamp work okay?
My last question has to do with the replacement of the magazine spring. The tube and follower are in perfect condition so I just opted to purchase a universal .22 tubular magazine spring from Brownell's. Is there any secret to making sure this is cut to the correct length? Obviously if it is too long then it won't allow the tube to be closed all the way on a full magazine but, then again, I don't want it being too short.
Thanks so much for the help,
Wes
Before the restoration:
Where I am right now:
That being said, this thread parallels another thread that I already have over at Rimfire Shooting: http://rimfireshooting.com/index.php?showtopic=6317 . If you would like a more long winded version of the story and a history of this Fieldmaster you can read it there. The guys over at that forum are really friendly and quite helpful but I think I can get some additional ideas from the great minds over here at THR.
I've completely broken this nice little gun down and started in on my rust issue. I first tried a bronze brush with CLP but that didn't really suffice. I saw real results with the light use of CLP and 0000 steel wool. Although the rust seems to be gone from the surface, I still see some light staining where some of it was. Is this generally removable? I'm just wondering how far I can go without damaging the bluing. It's been soaking in a thick coat of CLP for a couple days now so I'll probably come back and give it another careful shot.
Another question I have relates to the aluminum butt plate: what is the proper way to refinish this? I can't really tell if the original coating was painted or anodized, but I'd just like to get rid of the light colored scrapes and have it a solid black color so that it goes well with my newly refinished stock. Would a good cleaning followed by a light coat of primer and then a light coat or two of Rustoleum work?
What about the little crack in the fore-end? Will tite-bond wood glue and a clamp work okay?
My last question has to do with the replacement of the magazine spring. The tube and follower are in perfect condition so I just opted to purchase a universal .22 tubular magazine spring from Brownell's. Is there any secret to making sure this is cut to the correct length? Obviously if it is too long then it won't allow the tube to be closed all the way on a full magazine but, then again, I don't want it being too short.
Thanks so much for the help,
Wes
Before the restoration:
Where I am right now:
