Thanks for all the nice comments on the rifle, The original is a grand rifle with a very interesting history, it was a pleasure to work on this piece. Alex, the gun went home with our newest member Matt/PA yesterday. He will be putting it through its paces soon. Perhaps he will report on that as he joins our fraternity . I did not have to make any adjustments to the sights when I test fired the gun and it put the first five balls in a cloverleaf at 25 yds. so it has great potential.
To those who asked about the metal finish, I have worked with boiling my metal parts in a Clorox solution for years, I have a full length heavy aluminum tank and use about 3 gallons of water to 1/3 gal of Clorox and boil for about 15-20 minutes. I have to check to get the effect that I am looking for as different barrel steels react differently. I then scrub the rust off with a Scotch Brite pad and use B.C. Super Blue to cover the barrel. I rub it back to the desired degree of wear. Tthe barrel is oiled and hung by the wood stove for a day then wiped down and waxed with dark brown Bri Wax.
I use Trans-Tint dyes to color in the dark and varying shaded non wear areas. I use mainly three colors Dark Mission Brown, Honey gold and Reddish Brown. Work from the darkest to the lightest. You can use the honey gold to feather out the edges of the darker colors. I apply them using small hunks of 4-0 steel wool. You first apply your base stain color and put a thinned coat of finish on the stock before starting to shade the stock. The seal coat of finish allows you to work with the shading to get the effect you want. Allow the shading dyes to dry for about four hours before applying the next coat of finish. I use a satin spar varnish.
Best wishes
Ron
