Remington 10A

[Benaiah]

 So I got this old shotgun that a friend wants me to clean up and ensure good working order. The original bluing is all gone, and it has some light surface rust. He doesn't want it re-blued, although I am trying to convince him to at least let me cold blue it. Is there any way to give an old gun that aged bluing look? If he still doesn't want the bluing, I plan on using 4-O steel wool to take the rust off and putting a light coat of oil on to protect it.
 I am in the process of dis-assembly, and have some instructions. It looks to be a bear to disassemble.
 I'm wondering about any pitfalls I may run into. What are some excessive wear or unsafe conditions I should look for? I haven't fired it yet, as I have been reading that some of the early chamberings are 2 9/16 instead of 2 3/4. Just want to ensure safe conditions and good working order first.
 I have already identified 2 screws (magazine plug screws) that need to be replaced. It looks like someone had tried to disassemble the barrel assembly with a hammer. There are peen marks on the barrel around the barrel lug. That leads me to believe that there may be other "goober" marks and maybe damage. The same person also tried to put on an aftermarket butt pad, so I am looking for an original butt plate.
 I welcome any and all advice on this project, especially in respect to the chambering. More to follow.

Thanks

[gunnut69]

The tangs break off the receiver sometimes and the bolt assembly extends rearward into the area between the upper and lower tangs. This is wider than the tangs so the butt stoick must be relieved for the bolt group. This seriously weakens the butt stock and many fail. The design was not really successful and getting some parts can be difficult. Personally I dislike it immensely!! It also tends to have issues with the internals, as the gun loads and ejects thru the bottom of the action. It like the Ithaca M37 always seemed rough to me as the internals are doing more work than a simpilar gun with seperate ejection/loading ports.

[james]

I picked a pristine one up at a gun show and did a little research.  Everything I found said the M 10 was all chambered for 2 &3/4 ammo.   I saw some parts and parts guns on gunbroker.  I took the barrel and magazine off but didn't mess with anything that required removing screws.   The receiver looks like a bear to work on as it is one block of steel.

[mcwoodduck]

I have one.
Bought it and reblued it as a project gun.
Mine is a trap model and I liked the take down feature.
It was real easy to take down and then started to discharge on it's own.
Took it to my friend the gunsmith and he added a butt pad and then he looked into the discharge and found that the head spacing was off and that is what was causing the problems.
Now it is a bear to take apart but shoots well.

[Benaiah]

I have it disassembled and sitting on my bench now. I got the all the rust off, so now it is "in the white". At first I thought it was the riot gun model, but as I removed rust, I saw the "full" marking on the barrel. So apparently someone had cut it down. I measured the chamber, and it came out 2 3/4, so that is a good thing. Now I need to convince the owner to let me at least blue it, since I believe the collector value is low, due to the condition it was in when he gave it to me.
Anyone have any experience with Oxpho-blue?

[gunnut69]

I use it almost exclusivelt excepting the occasional hot blue. Its the toughest cold blue I've found though it's not the best touchup sometimes as the black found on modern blued guns doesn't match the blue created by the oxphoblue.. Clean the metal to be blued but don't worry about degreasing or a bit of oil. I like the metal warm but not too hot.. Pore a bit of the oxphoblue into a small container or use from a clean squirt bottle to avoid contaminating the main bottle. I use a squirt bottle and apply the material to a makeup pad that I bought at WalMart. This is clamped in a forecepts and apply to the warmed steel enough to keep the steel wet. If the bluing won't bite, stop and wipe dry. Buff the surface with steel wool (00) and try again. Keep the steel wet until the color stops getting darker. Dry the surface with a paper towel and burnish with 00 steel wool. Do these last steps over until the desired color is reached. After the metal is colored I allow at least a day for the color to harden and either wax or apply WD40 or other hard oil..

[Benaiah]

gunnut69- That is great information. Thanks! Unfortunately, the guy doesn't weant anything doen to it, just wants me to leave it "in the white" with some oil to protect it. Oh well.