The coffee can shotgun restoration

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.22LR
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2014 8:24 pm
PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 6:34 am
Time to start another gun rehabillitation project. This old shotgun has been sitting disassembled in a coffee can in the corner of my shop for the last 4 or 5 years. It was given to me be Dan Infalt. It’s a throw away for a variety of reasons but I never threw it away. This long winter has me doing more projects in the warmth of my shop so the coffee can gun gets a 2nd look.

The gun spent some time in a closet with an angry raccoon. What raccoon urine can do to wood and metal is amazing. I contend that in concentrated form could be weaponized. Needless to say, this gun is in terrible shape. I don’t think the barrel can be saved due the rusting.

A bit about the gun. This is a Ithaca Model 66 super single, Buck Buster. This gun was made by Ithaca from 1967 to 1979. Oddly this gun has no serial number anywhere on it but serial numbers were not mandated until 1968. The only info is stamped into the barrel identifying the gun. This particular gun is chambered in 20 ga. It's a lever action only in that the lever opens the breech to load a shotshell rather than a lever behind the hammer. Here is some info from the past.

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Compared to other guns it doesn’t have many parts.

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Its not a particularly valuable gun.

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Back to this coffee can gun. It takes little imagination to understand what raccoon urine can do to steel but I am impressed to how it reacts with aluminum (or pot metal) this anodized metal should not corrode but raccoon urine has created a white almost glass-like patina that etched the aluminum.

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The effects on the barrel are devastating.

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The pitting is so deep I don’t think there is any hope for the barrel.

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There were some lose parts in the coffee can that the exploded schematic help me identify.

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The parts inside the gun are likewise in bad shape.

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The stock is cracked (visible below the white line) and the front grip is pretty darkened (or it may just be a dark piece of wook that looks different than the butt stock wood) . Both are dinged up and scratched but at least there is something to work with and it still has the original Ithaca plastic butt plate. I will add white and black spacers to the butt plate just because I like how it looks.

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I think I can repair the cracked stock but even if I cant, I can easily find a replacement online. Since the stock is in such poor shape I have little to lose by trying my hand at stippling the grip. Its something Ive always wanted to attempt and this is the perfect piece of would to try it on because if I screw it up, Im not out much.

The first step is to get a good look at what Im dealing with in regards to the barrel. I soaked it in naval jelly for 24 hours which is far longer than I have soaked anything to remove rust.

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The rust was so bad It made the jelly bubble up while attacking the rust. Ive not seen that before. It could be the raccoon urine. I cant be sure.

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After 24 hours I rinsed under running water and then took a wire brush to the barrel.

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It looked pretty good at the breech end.

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Sadly though from the mid point to the muzzle it is just too pitted to be safe to use. If your reading this and know of a source for a 20 ga buck buster barrel, don’t be shy.

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I may end up restoring the gun but then have to wait until I locate a barrel to finish it. At any rate I have a stock to repair and refinish, gun parts in serious need of cleaning and rebluing and I get to try my hand at stippling so back to work.

.270 WIN
Posts: 429
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2012 8:50 am
PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 9:09 am
Well the wind is blowing like crazy, snow flying, wind chill negative freeze my big toe off. At least you have a worth while winter project. I can only wait for the sun to reappear. Is there enough good barrel left to cut it down to legal length? (18 inches minimum) Might work as a good brush gun until another barrel can be located.

.22LR
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2014 8:24 pm
PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 10:35 am
That is certainly an option while I search for a replacement barrel. It wouldnt make sence to have the rear sight without a front sight but at this point beggars cant be chosers.

.270 WIN
Posts: 429
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2012 8:50 am
PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 11:05 am
I believe the rear sight is soldered on to the barrel. Heating it up may remove it. Then it is just a matter of drilling and tapping for the front bead. Worse case you ruin the barrel but may learn a few things during the process.

.22LR
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2014 8:24 pm
PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 12:12 pm
How is the front sight attached? I took the small screw out (behind the plastic bead) but the front sight did not come off. Whats holding it on??

.270 WIN
Posts: 429
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2012 8:50 am
PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 10:56 pm
Don't know for sure, I will look into it in the morning. Should not matter if you cut the front sight off though. Also I was thinking about my previous advise. Here in Ohio it would be OK to lop off the end of the barrel provided that the barrel was still at least 18 inches. I have heard however that in other states any modification to the barrel length is illegal and could cause you serious problems. Check with your local regulations before getting the hack saw out.

.22LR
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2014 8:24 pm
PostPosted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 7:55 am
I placed a chisel in the butt plate end of the stock to spread the crack open. Then, using a syringe and Tightbond glue I filled the crack and clamped it tightly for several hours. During that time I cut a few black and white plastic spacers to match the plastic butt plate size and hole spacing. Then I attached the spacers and butt plate to the stock and sanded the old finish off the stock and down to the size of the original butt plate. This shaped the black and white spacers. The gun didnt originally have black and white spacers but I like how they dress up the look of a gun so I added them.

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When I was sanding at the 400 grit level I made sure there was plenty of wood dust packed in the crack and then laid down a layer of super glue to mix with the fine wood dust. The super glue mixes with the wood dust and creates a great gap filler made up the same material as the surrounding wood. Look up “super glue and baking soda” on youtube. Its an interesting method of repair and crack filling. I used walnut dust from the stock instead of baking soda.

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The goal here is to fill the void so that the crack is not visible as a surface imperfection that can be seen and felt through the finish. The super glue dries almost instantly and you can go back to sanding the wood.

Satisfied that the stock repair worked I tried my hand at stippling. Stippling is the ugly 2nd cousin of checkering (which I want to get into down the road) In simple terms its just a pattern stamped, gouged, pecked, embossed into the wood to increase the grip or traction for your hand when holding the stock. It can be done with a hammer and nail or any of a variety of means to create a random or organized pattern in the wood. I planned to try it with a Dremmel tool and a very tiny ball cutter. I used the 105N engraving cutter

http://www.dremel.com/en-us/Accessories ... px?pid=105

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If you have ever knocked the bark off a piece of old wood and have seen the tunnels bored by insects, thats the sort of look I was going for (if the insects were working overtime and on crack)

I sketched an area on both sides of the grip that I would stay in (always stay inside the lines) The plan is to freehand as best as I can. I would freehand not only the outline but also the depth and the random pattern. I plan to only go about a 16th of an inch deep.

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Keeping to the scribed line was tough but manageable. I couldn’t push too deep or the bit would really dig in and take you for a ride. I learned quickly to go slow with not much pressure. Here is how it turned out (fuzzy burrs and all prior to sanding).

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Then I did some sanding with 400 grit to remove the burrs along the edges of the grooves.

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Then I took a bit of 000 steel wool to it to get deeper into the grooves. Here is the outcome.

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Here is a video that better shows the end result. Im pleased with the results.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P759C2ekS5k

Now the stock parts can be refinised with tung oil and I can get to cleaning up the metal parts.

.270 WIN
Posts: 429
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2012 8:50 am
PostPosted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 8:07 am
You do good work. At this pace you will be done with the gun one day next week!

.22LR
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2014 8:24 pm
PostPosted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 1:00 pm
1977cutcher wrote:You do good work. At this pace you will be done with the gun one day next week!


That is the plan since I dont have to bother with the barrel.
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.270 WIN
Posts: 293
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2012 8:44 am
PostPosted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 2:20 pm
During that time I cut a few black and white plastic spacers to match the plastic butt plate size and hole spacing. Then I attached the spacers and butt plate to the stock and sanded the old finish off the stock and down to the size of the original butt plate. This shaped the black and white spacers. The gun didnt originally have black and white spacers but I like how they dress up the look of a gun so I added them.


That is a nice look ! Can you detail the material and the source ? I think I will use your technique on my next gun I do. Did you think this up or see it somewhere.

If you thought this up, I think we should call it the DIY_Guy pattern !!!

.22LR
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2014 8:24 pm
PostPosted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 3:47 pm
I doubt I am the first person to add colored spacers. I have done it to several restorations I have done in the past. I cut up one of my flexible cutting boards (white plastic) and the divider out of a three ring binder to add a bit more style. The black plastic is easy to find when the guy that works in the cube next to you leaves for a meeting. (He will never know they are missing)

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I think it adds a bit of class to the look without adding any cost.

This is a 90 year old Enders Royal Western that I made a stock for from a walnut beam for a restoration I completed last week.

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That Enders came to me like this

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I made the two stocks from this walnut beam.

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I blogged that stock-from-scratch project on another forum but not here since its not an Ithaca
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.270 WIN
Posts: 293
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2012 8:44 am
PostPosted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 4:36 pm
I read about that one!

I do the same with old guns. I won't post pictures and hijack your thread, but will give the links to share with you. I have a 1957 that I am redoing and a 1952, both 16ga Ithaca 37's.

I think I will use this technique on one of them, probably the 1952 as it is going to be a tricked out, neat looking gun.

I have seen other folks use 1 white spacer, just never seen a stack like that !

http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtop ... 9&t=385245

http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtop ... 9&t=331343

http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtop ... 9&t=389096

.22LR
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2014 8:24 pm
PostPosted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 5:05 pm
Super nice work on those restorations. Im thinking of engraving the receiver of this old 66. Ine never done it before and this might be the gun to try it on. I would use a Dremmel tool.

.22LR
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2014 8:24 pm
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 6:30 am
I was out of town most of the weekend but did manage to get the metal parts of the Ithaca cleaned, stripped and reblued. The receiver is going to take some effort. The aluminum it pitted from the raccoon urine. Its going to take some elbow grease and time. That’s ok as there are still lots of coats of tung oil to be put on the stock.

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.270 WIN
Posts: 293
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2012 8:44 am
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 6:56 am
Would hitting it with a mild abrasive, such as soda or walnut shells at a low pressure, (which would then give you a "satin" finish) work for you ?

I keep thinking about a beater 37 that I know of that is pretty pitted all over, that finished like that, and then electroless nickled, would make a great rainy day gun.

.22LR
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2014 8:24 pm
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 8:19 am
The spray on baking lacquer from brownells might do a good job of masking the markings. Im contemplating the black baking lacquer and then engraving through the baking lacquer to get to shiny aluminum. Its my own shotgun so Im not afraid of trying something new.
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.270 WIN
Posts: 293
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2012 8:44 am
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 8:50 am
My gunsmith buddy has engraving tooling and software for his CNC driven Bridgeport.

If you do it with a Dremel (or other handheld tool like that) do you have, or are you going to make something to help control a consistent depth of cut ?

If you could find a cheap PantoGraph (spelling) you could really do a slick job. When I was a kid, some friend's father made labels with one in their basement as an extra source of income.

.22LR
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2014 8:24 pm
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 10:34 am
Freehand just like the stippling I did on the stock. The depth is really only going to be getting through the black outer coating to the shiny aluminum underneath.

.270 WIN
Posts: 429
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2012 8:50 am
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 5:36 pm
What process do you use for the re bluing.

.22LR
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2014 8:24 pm
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 10:50 pm
1977cutcher wrote:What process do you use for the re bluing.



The S.O.P. I use for steel parts is as follows.

Manually descale (Dremmel, sandpaper, files, steel wool, etc) to get rid of as much surface rust as possible and polish as best as possible.

Acetone bath with tooth brush (to degrease)

Chemical rust remover (30 minutes or longer on really corroded parts)

Water rinse and dry

Manual rust removal of any spots missed

400 grit sanding, Steel wool and polish

Acetone bath

Dicropan cold bluing with old tee shirt or Qtip for small parts

0000 steel wool

Acetone bath

Dicropan cold bluing

0000 steel wool

Acetone bath

Dicropan cold bluing

0000 steel wool polish

Light oil or paste wax (depending on the part)

The triple bluing and steel wool seems to give it good color and protection and shine. The better you polish the parts the better the blue will look. If you get it polished like a mirror and tripple blue you would swear its a factory hot blue job. Im working on resotoring a 1940 vintage Winchester model 37 shotgun right now with a rusty barrel. I spent 2 days working on the barrel before I even thought of bluing it. It took only half hour to blue. All the important work is done before you blue if you want a good looking blue.

The final blue is applied (and later polished) with the same 0000 steel wool that was used to polish the barrel prior to bluing. I havent been able to remove any bluing with 0000 steel wool no matter how I try. Its a deep bluing even though its a cold blue. The steel wool only makes it shine brighter.

Here is what the barrel looked like when I got it.

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After polishing (you can see my fingers in the reflection holding the camera)

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After bluing the mirror finish is still there and you can still see the reflection of my fingers and the green logo on my shirt in the barrel.

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Here are two very short videos of the barrel after polishing and after bluing and steel wool polish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgOKW2rzH7s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRh4BA-aRO0

A bad blue job is not always a bad blue job. Its more likely a bad pre-bluing (polish) that makes the bluing look bad. Before bluing it should look like a mirror, after bluing it should look like a black mirror.

Small internal parts that cant be seen dont need this level of polish.

.22LR
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2014 8:24 pm
PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 6:22 am
Got a new shipment of Brownells Baking lacquer so I was able to spray and bake the receiver and lever. I had the time so I spent it doing more to smooth out the receiver and get rid of the pock marks. It turned out pretty well. It will look even better with two coats of paste wax to give it some shine. Im almost ready to put the gun back together. The stock is nearly finished getting coats of tung oil.

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.22LR
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2014 8:24 pm
PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2014 6:37 am
Last night was a banner night for this old shotgun. A few things of note took place. First of all since this gun was destroyed by a raccoon and it pitted the receiver and lever (and raised hell on the wood) I opted to mark the history of the gun into that same receiver. I was originally going to mark both sides but opted for just one side.

I masked off an area and sprayed it with flat, white spray paint.

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Then I placed tape over the paint and drew in the image I wanted on the receiver. I painted the receiver white so I could see the pencil lines.

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I used a fine pointed diamond bit in my dremmel to take away the black baking lacquer and shine up the aluminum underneath.

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Then I peeled away the tape and washed away the white paint with acetone leaving the tribute to the masked bandit etched into the metal.

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I assembled all the metal parts and attached the finished wood. For now I have the pitted barrel on the gun just for the pictures.

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The stippling worked out very well.

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The cracked stock is repaired and looks a bit better than before.

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This gun has come a long way from the coffee can.

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Also last night I won an Ebay Auction for a replacement barrel for this gun in the buckbuster configuration (with front and rear rifle sights) So this old gun can once again take to the deer woods. (once I recondition the barrel and reblue it) The barrel set me back $128 but since I got the gun for nothing, It all works out in the end. Here are the images from the Ebay Auction.

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With this one done its time to move onto a gun with some sentimental value to me. A 1940 Winchester model 37. Its my father’s gun and the first shotgun I ever fired. Time to start a new restoration thread for this rusty mule kicker.

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.270 WIN
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Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2012 8:50 am
PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2014 4:18 pm
Very well done.
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.270 WIN
Posts: 293
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2012 8:44 am
PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2014 5:29 pm
Some of my higher end single shot BPCR rifles have a matte finish. One I had done with an old fashioned rust blue.

The company hits them with a very very mild abrasive, then goes over them with a soft wire wheel before bluing.

With the old family gun being a bit pitted (from your picture above) this type of finish would look exceptionally well and still be "blued steel".

Case coloring would hide any pits you couldn't get out of the receiver and looks good with a matte finished barrel.

It would end up top shelf also. Just some thoughts......

This is what they look like.

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.270 WIN
Posts: 452
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2011 10:07 pm
PostPosted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 6:44 pm
drcook wrote:
During that time I cut a few black and white plastic spacers to match the plastic butt plate size and hole spacing. Then I attached the spacers and butt plate to the stock and sanded the old finish off the stock and down to the size of the original butt plate. This shaped the black and white spacers. The gun didnt originally have black and white spacers but I like how they dress up the look of a gun so I added them.


That is a nice look ! Can you detail the material and the source ? I think I will use your technique on my next gun I do. Did you think this up or see it somewhere.

If you thought this up, I think we should call it the DIY_Guy pattern !!!


On Marlin 336 rifles, one of the primary areas of restoration are the white spacers under the grip cap and the butt plates. Those spacers tend to shrink to nothing over the years, just like on my otherwise mint 336 SC .35 Remington. The two most common sources for replacement material are the tops of white 5 gallon buckets or bleach jugs.

I'm thinking some of these plastic spacers mixed with some other color of some homemade micarta!

OP fantastic work!
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