Remember when I got rid of everything? Well through all that, I did hold onto the rifle and shotgun my grandfather passed on to me.
I used to keep a small collection of guns. Over the years, I had some pretty nice weapons in my possession at one point or another. Since then I’ve gotten rid of all but the two my grandfather passed on to me, a bolt action .22 magnum, and this Ithaca 20Ga.
Recently I took the Ithaca out of its case to see how it’s doing, and found that it’s completely covered in rust.
Okay, maybe I exaggerated a bit, but anyone who loves guns knows this is a sad sight. Since this will likely be a night time and not every night project, I’m updating this post with my thoughts, actions and observations with a new dated entry per event to preserve not just the outcome, but hopefully the thought process I guess.
05 FEB 2022
I’m just gonna shoot from the hip on this one and assume CLP and steel wool will at least get me moving in the right direction.
I found some instructions I think might come in handy here.
I’m familiar - or, as the case may be, I was familiar once with disassembling and reassembling the Browning .50 mounted machine gun, M-16A2, M4, AR-15 and SKS. Of all, I may have loved the latter the best, but I digress. The point is, that was a lifetime ago and now I’m no longer excited about the idea of taking this shotgun - or any gun - apart. But if I’m keeping them, I want to keep them working.
06 FEB 2022
We did some extended house cleaning today. I sprayed my steel wool down with CLP and left it on my tool box. I leaned the Ithaca against the wall next to the tool box. Anytime I had reason to go down stairs, I scrubbed it over quickly and gently. Basically I just rubbed it down to get it coated with the oil. I looked to see that the bluing took on that darkened shine and the dry orange rust turned that deep, flat wet brown.
As the day went on, I began to use these periodic bursts to focus on buffing out surface rust in isolated areas. I did about a three inch area on the left side of the barrel, and I cleared some off of the right side of the receiver. I didn’t take pictures as I went because I wanted to move quickly in order to roll it in with whatever I actually came down to do, like check laundry or get paper towels.
From what I’ve seen so far, I have to remove the bluing to clear out the rust. Not all of it, but the affected areas come clean; no rust, no bluing, plain steel.
I’m not into this for a restoration project. As much as I will take more care to preserve the aesthetic of the shotgun from here forward, it will only be a side affect of taking care of it as a whole. I just need to make sure it stays functional.
09 FEB 2022
First, I think I misspoke above. It’s not bluing on the barrel. Is it blacking? Is it paint? Not sure. But when I looked at it to take pictures I saw that the coating or surface treatment was different on the barrel. It was really only here that the cleaning reduced it it clean steel.
Second, I took some pictures.
The barrel’s coating came off, but the metal appears to be in good shape with no noticeable pitting or damage.
The receiver (is that the right term?) was less fortunate than the barrel so far. I was able to bring the rust to heel and remove the crust, but the steel may be visibly damaged in a way that I can’t - or won’t likely - repair. You say half-assing, I say kintsugi.
At this point I’m doubtful that I’ll disassemble a working shotgun. Here however, we are in agreement. That is for sure half-assing. But if I can keep it maintained at a functioning level without doing any disassembly, I’m gonna damn sure try to avoid the risk and hassle. But the exterior has a light coat and is mostly cleared, and I gave the bolt and carrier a light coat and cycled through a couple times.
I guess I need to run a rag or something with oil on it through the barrel and do another round over everything with the steel wool, but for now at least, I suppose this is where I leave it.
Thanks for checking it out, and thanks in advance to anyone who offers up corrections or critique to help improve my work!
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What a great classic. Definitely will need to take it down to bare metal. That's a lot of manual rubbing! I'd personally go to a dremel brush/polish wheel. If you don't want to go to the trouble of a full "hot blue" finish, there's some "cold blue" on the market that you just rub on with a cloth. It's not as pretty, but still be a lot better than the rust spots. Even though brown now, it is still eating away underneath. Show that baby some love!
Thanks, I think I needed to hear that. I’ll update the post when I take this next step!
Would love to see it all shined up! Had one like it when a teen. Many trips to the woods and back.
Same, this one definitely brings back those childhood memories. I’ll definitely post when it’s all wrapped up :)