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Author Topic: Restoring a well used NEF pardner .410  (Read 1031 times)

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Offline Beers

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Restoring a well used NEF pardner .410
« on: December 18, 2006, 01:33:23 PM »
I've just been given a fantastic little NEF .410 that I've fallen in love with... shoots great, took a good many squirrels and a few rabbits earlier in the year...  :)  Only problem is that it's pretty beat up. Stock and forend scratched up, reciever has some ugly rust spotting...

I'm currently in the process of refinishing the stock and forend.. it looked like it had seen the bad side of a pissed off tomcat... It's coming along great and looking 50 times better already. I'll post some pics of the job when I'm done if anyone's interested.

What I'm looking for a little advice on restoring the reciever... It looks like originally it was color case hardened, which from what I'm gathering is quite a bit more work than other finishing methods... I've seen guns like mine in pristine shape, and I'm quite fond of the "rainbow" coloring... Any thoughts on wether it would worthwhile to attempt for an amatuer like myself?   Whatever happens to it I'd like to do the work myself, so if this turns out to be out of my league I'll settle for bluing it, anything will look better than it does currently.....  Links to helpful information, info on any special tools/equipment/supplies I'd need, tips, hints & opinions would all be appreciated.

Btw, I just stumbled onto this site while hunting around for info and was very sorry I didn't find it years ago. Fantastic place ya' got here. Made my day...  :D
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Offline Markus

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Re: Restoring a well used NEF pardner .410
« Reply #1 on: December 18, 2006, 01:51:05 PM »
Welcome! I think that H&R/NEF will refurbush your receiver for a fair price. If the stocks don't come out to your satisfaction you can alway get new ones from them as well. If you want some really nice stocks from one of our fine sponsors here check out www.gunstocksinc.com. they've got all kinds of laminates and evreything I've heard about them has been positive. If plastic stocks have a place in your gun rack thats available from choate or H&R. Post some pics of your gun when you get done. Check out the FAQ sticky on the NEF/H&R centerfire fourum for all knds of great info as well.
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Offline MSP Ret

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Re: Restoring a well used NEF pardner .410
« Reply #2 on: December 18, 2006, 02:10:06 PM »
As usual Markus is right on the money.  ;D ;D ;D. (thanks buddy!!)  H&R will refinish recievers that were originally color case hardened with the same finish for a very reasonable amount. Call Customer Service to check, it is by far the cheapest redo around, much cheaper than taking it to a gunsmith, and even cheaper than doing it yourself!!! They will also reblue recievers for cheap money. I am not sure if they will put the case hardened colors on recievers that were originally blued, if so I would like to send many of my recievers out to be redone in case hardened colors....<><.... :)
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Offline Brett

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Re: Restoring a well used NEF pardner .410
« Reply #3 on: December 18, 2006, 02:31:45 PM »
Beers,  Welcome to GBO. Good bunch of folks here.  How bad is the rust on your receiver?  If it's mostly surface rust try 0000 steel wool or 000 steel wool and a light penetrating oil such as Mystery Oil to polish the rust away.  I've used this method on blued firearms with good results.  Could be worth a try. If it doesn't work you could always send it to H&R for a redo.
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Offline Beers

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Re: Restoring a well used NEF pardner .410
« Reply #4 on: December 18, 2006, 02:53:14 PM »
Hey thanks guys, was suprised to see replies that fast...

The rust is what I consider pretty bad, it's pitting but not very deep at all. I had thought of going over it w/ the ol' 0000 but I wasn't sure how deep into the metal the coloration goes, and didn't want to take it off before I had some notion of how to put it back.  :P

I was aware of NEF's gunsmithing/refinishing services, but I'm one of those stubborn anachronistic bastards that really likes doing things the hard way... If it's anything shy of totally insane to try I'd like to give the DIY approach a whirl, I just don't know much at all about the process, and google isn't returning much in the way of helpfull info...
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Offline MSP Ret

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Re: Restoring a well used NEF pardner .410
« Reply #5 on: December 18, 2006, 03:32:29 PM »
Years ago I read an brief article on how old time gunsmiths did thier case hardened colors, if I remember correctly there were bits of bone and some other small pieces placed on the metal possibly with a liquid or chemical of some sort while the metal was heated and cooled in a particular sequence and temperature range. I would think a check of "case hardening" in wikipedia would turn up something. If not a personal call and inquiry to a gunsmithing school should put you on the right track. Best of Luck and let us know how you make out....<><.... :)
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Offline Beers

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Re: Restoring a well used NEF pardner .410
« Reply #6 on: December 19, 2006, 05:06:07 AM »
Well, I did some more research... managed to find some details regarding the process, and I've decided I'll not be going through all that... Brownells makes kits for color case hardening... the cheapie version is $400 and the "premier" version runs $2500.... It would be fun if I had the money.. Maybe someday....

I also thought that as much as I'd like to do all the work myself, I'd rather not lose that finish so I'll probably just send it in to NEF... I appreciate the help guys...  And I'll get some pics up when I'm done.  :)

Edit: AAARGH! I just called NEF, they informed me that they no longer do color case hardening, but that they'd be happy to blue it for me... I guess we'll find out if the steel wool treatment will do the trick, and if not I'll probably just blue it. Oh well....
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