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.
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.
It had some rust and grime on the metal.
The wood was slightly scratched and had a poor finish.
It had a series of gouges on the stock that looked like it had been carried behind the seat of a pick-up.
It was dirty and dusty.
But I knew I could turn it around and make it shine like it was new again.
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.
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.
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.
Here's the finished rifle.
The cleaned-up trigger guard.
The bolt area.
The roll stamps.
And the stock with the gouges removed.
I took it to the range to be sure that it shot where it was pointed.
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.
Happy Birthday, little buddy.
Conclusions:
I hope he gets many years of enjoyment from it.
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.
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.
It had some rust and grime on the metal.
The wood was slightly scratched and had a poor finish.
It had a series of gouges on the stock that looked like it had been carried behind the seat of a pick-up.
It was dirty and dusty.
But I knew I could turn it around and make it shine like it was new again.
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.
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.
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.
Here's the finished rifle.
The cleaned-up trigger guard.
The bolt area.
The roll stamps.
And the stock with the gouges removed.
I took it to the range to be sure that it shot where it was pointed.
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.
Happy Birthday, little buddy.
Conclusions:
I hope he gets many years of enjoyment from it.
