Renigade kit ?

[Saloon slug]

Hey ya I'll be getting a 70's renigade kit in .50 real soon as a project for my boys and me. What are some things I should do to make it go together easier? Is there any good reason to finish the barrel I was thinking of leaving it in the white and letting it age naturaly. Any ideas are most welcome.

Thanks

[El Lobo]

Mr. Slug,

If I might, where did you get the kit....I've been looking for a youth group I work with!!

Lobo in West Virginia

[Saloon slug]

I posted on another forum that I was looking for a kit at an Active Duty reasonable price and one of the members there PM'd me with this renigade kit. Have you looked at the traditions site? they have the Deer Slayer kit for about $160 IIRC in both cap lock and flint.

Jeremy

[Swamp Yankee]

    You might want to use a grain filler on the stock. How about a plumb brown finish on the barrel.....it's looks more traditional.........Jim

[Saloon slug]

I have been thinking of a rust brown after some though. What sort of grain filler would you recomend I am more of a motor head then a wood worker. If its metal and requires tools I am good to go. Also should I use linseed oil or tounge oil?

[mykeal]

There are many, many options for both wood and metal finishing, so what follows is just my opinion.

Wood: Walnut or maple stain, probably 2 or 3 coats, then Birchwood Casey's Tru Oil, 3 to 6 coats, rubbing out with very fine (0000) steel wool between coats, then Birchwood Casey Stock Sheen and Conditioner, or leave it in the gloss. Tung oil is another option after the stain coats; it's more work and takes longer but is a very nice finish. I've never been happy with linseed oil, it looks good but too much work for me, but you have those young hands...

Metal: Definitely must finish the barrel. Browning is more authentic and to my eye, better looking. Two options: Birchwood Casey's Plum Brown or Laurel Mountain's Barrel Browning solution (actually there are several, these are just my favorites). I suspend the barrel using wire so I don't have to touch it with either method. And don't forget to thoroughly clean and degrease the metal before you start applying the solution; I like Blue Wonder cleaner/degreaser/rust remover, but there are plenty of good options for that. Plum Brown is applied with a cotton swab after heating the barrel with a propane torch (or baking it in an oven) until the solution sizzles a little. Heat it gradually - take your time. It will require 3 or 4 coats, although you can stop after 2 if you like the finish. The finish gets darker with each coat. Laurel Mountain is applied cold and rubbed down with a rough (like denim or canvas) cloth between coats, but should be applied and allowed to cure in a humid environment, like over a tub of water.

[Saloon slug]

mykeal
Thanks for the info I have heard good things about Bitchwood Casey's. I like the Laurel Mountains aproach better as I will be putting this together with my kids the youngest is five dont need graby hands to get burned. Guess I will have go on Brownells and do some ordering .

Thanks again

[mykeal]

Yep, good point. The Birchwood Casey product also releases some pretty nasty fumes - I don't know if they are harmful but they are certainly not pleasant, and the effects on small children would be worse than on an adult. Best not to take any chances with that. Good luck and let us know how it comes out!

[clodbuster]

If you mean Thompson/Center Renegade kit then it will come with a blued barrel and color case hardened lock.

[Saloon slug]

clodbuster thanx for the info yes it is a Thompson Renegade. In the pic's I recieved it looked like the barrel was in the white it could have been the lighting used for the photo. the lock work is colorcase'd and looks nice (in the pic's). I just checked the ups tracker and it should show up in the next day or two. Cant wait.

[Saloon slug]

Well I got the kit on Thursday. Since I am putting this together with my sons 7 & 5 years old. I wanted to use products that weren't to harmfull to kids so we stopped by Home Depot to see what all they had. At first I was thinking some walnut stain and tung oil but my wife thought that the walnut was to dark and insisted on the rose wood stain (wifes are much better with colors then most of us) so I got the Min Waxe rosewood water based stain and the Min Wax finishing wax. The boys did all the stain work after I did all the sanding and prepwork. We put on 4 coats of stain rubbing with 0000 steelwool between each coat to knock the grain back down and keep every thing smooth. We left the stock to dry 15 min between coats after the stain I rubbed in 4 coats of finishing wax paste again alowing 15 min between coats and rubing with steel wool between coats. After the last coat I rubbed the stock down with a soft old T-shirt instead of the wool to give it a deep semigloss finish.
I will post some pic's later after I get some honey does out of the way . But it looks really awesome for being done by a couple of kids under the age of 10

P.S. the steel work except for the lock is all in the white so now I have to figure out how or if I want to finish it. If we finish the metal I think I will go with a nice brown it should contrast nice with the factory blue parts.

[clodbuster]

Wow a "white" TC kit.  I'd brown the barrel.  You have two choices a) birchwoodcasey plum brown and b) slow rusting chemicals under a raft of brand names.  The plum brown, I think is prettier but doesn't seem as durable as the the slow rust finish.  Plum brown is faster, you can start and be done today.  The other takes days if not weeks and is much work.  Both can be touchy about spotty results.  Polishing and cleaning/degreasing is important with either.  You need humidity a plenty to rust a barrel and may have to construct a simple tent or box to get a quicker rust.  Good luck what ever way you go.  I love my Renegade.

[Saloon slug]

Well I got her done my two boys did all the stain on the stock. And I went with a rust brown took 3 days in my garage with a humidifier sitting under it good thing its not that cool here in SoCal. Here ar some pic's hope you like.





The brown looks awesome in person.


finished stock


here is the stock after my boys got done with 4 coats of stain


And here is how she looked when I opened the box.

[mykeal]

Absolutely superb.

That's really something to be  proud of - you and the boys did a fine job.

What browning process did you use?

Now go out and shoot it and tell us how it does.

[Saloon slug]

I just used a comecial rust inducer left it hanging in my garrage over a humidifier for 3 days and then warmed up the bbl and gave it a good oil soak to stop the process. Gave it a nice deep finish that so far has been very scratch resistant. Now I just need to get some Balls and go get  some pillow ticking so I can shoot this thing  .

[JonnyReb]

 6 years later..  Did you ever shoot it