My little grand-nephew was turning one soon and I started looking for his first rifle.

You may remember Cooper and me from the pictures of our vacation this summer.

He is a fine little fellow, always happy, and a joy to be around.

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I wanted an old, but high quality .22 rifle, preferably a Remington bolt action.

I finally found what I was looking for, a Remington Model 510 Target Master, single shot bolt action.

Here it is.

Here it is.​

It had some rust and grime on the metal.

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The wood was slightly scratched and had a poor finish.

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It had a series of gouges on the stock that looked like it had been carried behind the seat of a pick-up.

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It was dirty and dusty.

But I knew I could turn it around and make it shine like it was new again.

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First I dissasembled all of the metal from the stock.

I then started cleaning the metal parts of all rust and grime.

A little WD-40 and some steel wool will polish the metal right up.

I polished the bolt to a high shine again.

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I then took the stock outside and sprayed Easy-Off Oven Cleaner on it to remove any finish and oil.

Two coats and a good scrubbing and it was as clean as the day it was made.

I sanded the stock slightly, just enough to make it smooth. Then a little Rit Dye to add a little red to the color.

Then several coats of Polyurethane Spray Finish.

I let it dry overnight and knocked the whiskers down with some fine steel wool and it was ready for the final coat.

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After cleaning the metal parts, I cold blued them anywhere that the finish was gone. I left the old finish and any patina from its age on it.

I also cleaned the bore, which turned out to be like new.

I drilled a hole under the butt pad and put a note about me and Cooper and the occasion, told him how much I loved him, and a Scripture for him to find some day.

I then screwed down the butt pad.

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Here's the finished rifle.

Here's the finished rifle.​

The cleaned-up trigger guard.

The cleaned-up trigger guard.​

The bolt area.

The bolt area.​

The roll stamps.

The roll stamps.​

And the stock with the gouges removed.

And the stock with the gouges removed.​

I took it to the range to be sure that it shot where it was pointed.

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Here are the first 5 rounds of Wolf at 30 yards. It's a shooter.

Here are the first 5 rounds of Wolf at 30 yards. It's a shooter.​

Here are the first 5 rounds of Wolf at 30 yards. It's a shooter.

I shot about a box of .22 cartridges through it, mostly at pieces of paper on the 55 yard berm.

I sometimes almost forget how much fun it is to plink with a good .22 rifle.

I then took it home and cleaned it up for him.

And here is Cooper on his birthday with his new (old) rifle.

And here is Cooper on his birthday with his new (old) rifle.​

Happy Birthday, little buddy.

Conclusions:

I hope he gets many years of enjoyment from it.