Browning a Rifles Lock\sideplates

[JonnyReb]

 I'm going to be removing the blue on a CVA mountain rifle and refinishing with B.C plum Brown. Probably. I read a bunch of reviews of all the different methods and most said the BC was an excellent finish if correctly applied. I did an underhammer with it back in the 80's and it turned out beautiful..Has anyone used this product or a traditional rust method on the spain made CVA locks though? I'm not sure what metal they've used and wondered what the result may be, thought i'd ask. Also, has anyone browned an L&R lock? T\C?    Thanks!  jeff

[AtlLaw]

Hey Jeff!
 
Actually, Plum Brown is all I've ever used up until now.  As you know, it's quick, easy and does a good job.  However, on the rifle I'm working on now I plan to use Laurel Mtn. browner and a humidity box.  I've never tried either of them before!   
 
I'll take a pic of the lock on the one rifle I kept.  I think it's an L&R...    The did the rifle maybe 20 years ago and it's never been touched up.   

[JonnyReb]

 Thank you Sir. I've been following the threads on your build and actually have to say i've picked up some motivation from them, thank you Don't want my own project to become 20 years in the making though so i'm gonna get it done over the next month or two, maybe 3 tops. My rifles gonna make deer season this year for sure. Hopefully.

 I was very tempted to try Laurel Mt myself and still could get talked into it, however after reading 3 or 4 posts where folks had done excellent jobs with B.C., then shot and used their rifles for 20+ years and the finish only got better. My own experience with B.C., as i mentioned, was positive and i look forward to seeing your pics.  Will be interested in hearing of your experiences using the Laurel Mt. solution and seeing how your rifle turns out. 

  Seems like once you start planning a refurbishment or a build, the project seems to snowball, last night i found myself contemplating inlays for hours on TOTW and the Tennessee Valley site. Triggerguards start calling.. L&R starts seeming to be a requirement. I'm going to resist this time and keep my project simple..but can forsee a future build more similar to yours. The stockwork required seems most daunting.

  Thanks much for the post!   Jeff

[AtlLaw]

Hey Jeff!  Here's the pic of my So. Mtn Rifle.  All the steel was browned with BC Plum Brown some 20 years ago.  It's been through a lot of wx and cleaning since!   
 
The one part that just keeps getting better looking to me is the cherry stock.  It's not as easy to work as walnut, maybe as difficult or a little harder then maple, and a real pain to stain, but it keeps getting prettier as it ages!
 
Ain't this great fun!?   

[pastorp]

Jeff,

I'm not much help but I hunted with a TC hawked years ago that the previous owner had browned. To me it seemed better looking and more durable than bluing. If I ever knew what he used to brown it that information has long ago escaped me.

Regards,

Richard, I like your rifle. Is that the poor boy rifle Dixie arms used to sell ?

[AtlLaw]

Is that the poor boy rifle Dixie arms used to sell ?

Geeeze Byron!      You really know how to hurt a guy!   
 
No, that's a build of mine from somewhere around 20 odd years ago.  Glad you like it but it is really poorly crafted... 
 
You can see the stock for the current build behind it.   

[JonnyReb]

 Thanks Pastorp and i agree, brown does seem to hold up better against corrosion, or if not at least its not as noticable. I know the one i had browned way back never really got any care after i was done with it, just went into a closet for 15 years basically and then i sold it regretfully. It looked great as it came out of storage. Never really used a browned rifle though, year after year to measure wearability. I'll assume from those pics of Richard rifle and from the commentary that it wears pretty well.

 Richard thats a fine looking rifle and i can tell i'd really come to appreciate a cherry wood stock too, i never really paid attention to cherry but i can see i've been missing out. Beautiful piece of wood and i think the metal finish work looks excellent, i can hope for similar results. I really like the stocks shape too, its similar to my Mt Rifle kind of and a big departure from the more modern TC stocks i'm used too. These buttplates seem to fit in the upper arm best and to hold one in shooting form is quite different from my norm. I like the change.

 Spent 11 hours in the last 2 days disassembling and stripping the Mt Rifle. Found it really was an unfired rifle, as mentioned by the seller. At first glance it wouldn't appear so, as CVA workmanship and finish left some to be desired but most all of that will be made better. The CvA sideplate i was questioning is steel, no potmetal mix i was worried about. Will take a finish fine and is a pretty lock now in the polished white, Its hard not to want to leave it in the white to match the german silver (cast aluminum?)metalwork on the nose and butt.Cap and plate.

  Whatever kind of varnish CV used on the wood is HORRIBLE stuff to remove, at least with 3m stripper and now some kinda environmental stuff, nextgen or something like that. The finish seems more like wax and the strippers barely fazes it. I WILL get it off without sanding though. Yes This Is Fun!   

  Heres the rifle as i started on it, its one of the more recent spain built Mt Rifles, the blue just doesn't look quite right on it ..well at least not since seeing a brown version.
 

[necchi]

This is LMF,



 
The rifle was made for "Sharon"
 



 
German Silver (sand cast!) Pewter and Browned w/LMF lock as case hardened,,
Pretty shnazzy for a Jukar  45 huh!?

[JonnyReb]

  Thank you Necchi for the pics and post . Laurel Mt. looks excellent, very uniform but it makes sense that it would be as its a more controlled process i think. The color appears very similar to what i'm seeing with BC.
 Really is snazzy for a Jukar, nicest one i've ever seen, love those inlays.  . Like the engraved sideplate too

  Got my barrel and tang browned last night late, i did it with a propane torch and found it difficult to keep my temps constant. I ended up doing 4 coats with lots of steel wool inbetween and acetone baths between heatings. It didn't look too good really, but i finally coated it with "superfine" post blue heavy oil and put it up. Got home from work and it was coated with corrosion and the oil was gone. I steel wooled it and neutralized with baking soda, then reoiled. It looks less than  fantastic, the overnight rerust, if you can call it that, did a good job of evening out the light spots but i 'll pull the rib off again and degrease\ steel wool\add brown again.. I've heard that BC doesn't rust the steel in the same way as LM but it certainly rusts it nonetheless. I don't trust that what i'm seeing is the final product, it still is curing i guess but i see promise in it. If Nothing else it looks antique 
 
 If i wanted to leave the lock polished, is their a recommended protective finish for that application?  Bearfat?  J

  Heres the color i've achieved with BC so far.

[JonnyReb]

 Took about 4 days for the BC to cure on the metal parts, i oiled and sanded with old demin a couple times a day in between. The BC plum brown certainly looks pretty good to me. Never did the sideplate or lock, i'm just leaving them in the white and oiled heavily for awhile. May eventually brown them or might even look into having them casehardened.

 One nice thing about the Mountain Rifle is that most all the screws and the escutcheons are already casehardened. Nice touch by CVA.

 I finally got all the old stain\varnish off the very nice walnut stock. Found a few minor cracks and had to fix them, lightly sanded with 400 and 600 grit and them finished the stock with a turpentine, beeswax and linseed oil(in thirds) recommended to the forum by P.A. a few months ago. It works great and brings out the grain while being a natural looking matte finish.

 Finally got it back together today and am real pleased with the results.

[AtlLaw]

Looks good to me!   
 
That stock sure has some nice quarter-sawn grain contrast in it!  Did it look that way before you refinished it? 

[JonnyReb]

 Thanks Richard, for following along with my little makeover and for the comment.Can't say for sure if grain contrast was enhanced by the refinish but i'd like to say so. It was a pretty stock to begin with, "before" pics in the middle of this thread show the nice grain but the stock was scarred up just a bit and had heavy laqquer or varnish on it. Not a scratch now and the finish is mellow but still shows the grain nicely. I would prefer nice maple i think but am pretty pleased with the stock.

  Gotta start trying some different rb loads in the rifle over the next few months, i look forward to taking my first muzzleloader deer with it.   

                                                 Jeff

[pastorp]

I agree your rifle came out real nice Jeff. I like it.


How heavy is she? One of the reasons I'm thinking about the Seneca is overall weight. I've got some medical issues that has caused me to lose a lot of feeling & strength in my hands. So looking for a lighter alternative to hunt with.

Hope you really enjoy that mountain rifle.

[JonnyReb]

 Hey Byron!  Thanks much for stopping in

 The MR is 4" longer than my longest BP rifle but in spite of that, its skinnier and carries better. Its the nicest carrying BP rifle i've grabbed ahold of with the possible exception of a few other CVA's, which were all thin and lightweight. I never thought much of CVA until i had a chance to own a few and now i'm quite impressed with them, My biggest complaint is the word "spain" stamped into the barrel but hey, i can live with it.

  Seems like(to me) the best carrying BP rifles are long but with thin 13\16" +\- barrels. Being larger caliber reduces the barrel weight a bit too. It surprises me that the 49" MR seems to carry every bit as nicely as my short little White Mt carbine, but when sighting, the longer sight plane and additional weight out front makes it more steady on target.

 The Seneca and the Cherokee both have those skinny 13\16" barrels, they are definitely lighter and handier than about ANY Hawken or Renegade, the stocks are trimmer and my old .45 Cherokee was a joy to carry. Wish i still had it. I sure don't think you could go wrong with the Seneca but i have been noticing that Petersoli Frontier rifle in the classifieds too, its a 6lb rifle i believe and would probably carry like a dream, considering its length. I'm a big fan of lightweight rifles myself..as i carry them around far more than i shoot them.  Look forward to seeing which way you decide to go.  Jeff