What to use to refinish or cover up old wood stock on a shotgun?

[DrDremel]

What kind of paint or finish works best on ugly old wood on a cheap firearm? I have a Sears Ranger (Stevens 520) shotgun that is worth $125 tops. I am making a trunk gun out of it and want to to it on the cheap. How does truck bed liner hold up on wood? I want to cover the stock and foregrip. I don't want a fancy finish but a protective finish. I am going to get the metal parkerized as there is only about 30% finish on it. I like the takedown feature over modern guns. Replacement wood is not an option unless someone out there knows where to get some at a decent price. Any suggestions?

 

[Traveler]

Unless you want to deal with flaking in the future you will have to remove the old finish. If you are going to do that I recommend using Verathane Spray Natural Oil Finish. That will seal up water tight, look halfway decent, and it's practically foolproof. It's cheap too.

 

[DeBee]

Get all the old finish off the wood. Sand it real nice while the stock is still on the metal.

Goop it with thinned spar varnish-let it soak in. When it is thouroughly dry, sand that down to the wood and top coat with satin spar varnish.

Brownells sells Chestnut Ridge Supply Military Stock Stain which someone recommended to me, it's cheap and it makes cheap wood look great.

I did a friend's Mossberg .22 using the soaked in spar varnish method, sanded all the dry varnish off the wood and stained with the Chestnut Ridge stuff. Waited for that to dry then top coated with satin spar. I slow rust blued the steel. The rifle looked like it came out of one of London's top gunmaking houses! Ok Ok maybe exaggeration but it was a looker...

Take a little extra time and forget about the truck liner- anything like that will eventually chip and no one needs an ugly trunk gun... Park the steel and spar varnish the stock- it'll give a military type look...

 

[HSMITH]

Bedliner works good on wood, go for it. Just sand it rough with some 40 grit and then paint it up. Works good for the metal too if you can't park it yourself.

 

[Joe Mamma]

I asked the same question recently on the shotgun forum. I ended up going with Tru-Oil and was very impressed. I didn't do any sanding or surface prep. The only thing I did was to use a little steel wool after the stuff dried. But, I probably didn't have to do that.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=58705

Joe Mamma

 

[Joe Mamma]

I asked the same question recently on the shotgun forum. I ended up going with Tru-Oil and was very impressed. I didn't do any sanding or surface prep. The only thing I did was to use a little steel wool after the stuff dried. But, I probably didn't have to do that.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=58705

Joe Mamma

 

[Brian Williams]

Strip the stock of the old finish and sand it smooth and rub in some boiled linseed oil. If you scratch it just rub in more. Spar Varnish and other varnishes will scratch or chip which needs sanding and work to make it look nice again.

 

[Clemson]

For the use that you indicate, I think I would just spray paint the wood with black wrinkle paint. I have used the stuff on synthetic rifle stocks, and it has a tacky texture that works fine for guns.

Clemson

 

[VaughnT]

Spray-on bedliner works great and doesn't peal if you prep the surface properly and apply it in a warm, dry environment. It's not bulletproof, but it will do and is easy to repair if a chip/scratch does occur.

Another favorite of mine is Bowflage paint, sold in Walmart and all your local sporting goods stores. It's made to come off with alcohol/min spirits, but it will make an ugly gun look good fast. It's even usable on the metal. For a few bucks, you can have OD metal and desert/black furniture in about five minutes. Not the most durable finish, but it's cheaper than dirt and quick to repair.