Dougfirtree
Well-known member
I thought I'd post up a picture, or two of a winter project, which I've just finished. The stock on my Rem 7600 (early 80's vintage) was looking a little rough and I wasn't satisfied with the recoil pad I had on it, or with the LOP. I use this rifle for tracking and still hunting when I know I'll be in very thick cover, or when the weather is such that a scope becomes a liability. It's a really fun rifle to carry and shoulders beautifully.
First, I wasn't happy with any of the recoil pad options for the curved butt of older Remington stocks, so I removed the old pad and carefully cut the end of the stock flat.
Then I stripped the stock, which was harder than I expected. I used citristrip, which was a bit anemic and it took a lot of elbow grease to get the finish off. In the process, it was impossible not to get schmutz into the "checkering" so that required a bunch of careful cleanup after.
I then re-sanded the stock, tried to touch up the walnut stain to get everything matching and finished with Tru Oil. I did the first two coats with Tru Oil cut with mineral spirits, then sanded it with fine paper, while the finish was still wet. That really helped the end product, I think. The rest of the coats were full strength Tru Oil, rubbed by hand and lightly wet sanded between coats. I used some of the Birchwood Casey Stock Sheen Conditioner at the end, to get more of a satin finish.
For the new pad, I added a big spacer, then a Pachmayr Deccelerator. The LOP is still not quite what it would be on a shotgun, but it's closer and I'm happy with it.
Overall, I'm happy with the results. There are one or two spots where I can see a slight run in the finish, despite trying to be really careful to apply thin coats and rub them in thoroughly. In the photographs, I can also see places where the walnut stain did not fully match the rest of the wood, but those spots are less obvious just looking at the stock. For now, I'm going to live with those imperfections and I feel like this old rifle is looking pretty good! I think one of these days, when I've got $100 to burn, I'll replace the Williams peep with a Skinner. And, I'd love to re-barrel this rifle and get it shooting better at longer ranges, but it's crazy expensive to re-barrel a 7600 these days..
Pics below..
First, I wasn't happy with any of the recoil pad options for the curved butt of older Remington stocks, so I removed the old pad and carefully cut the end of the stock flat.
Then I stripped the stock, which was harder than I expected. I used citristrip, which was a bit anemic and it took a lot of elbow grease to get the finish off. In the process, it was impossible not to get schmutz into the "checkering" so that required a bunch of careful cleanup after.
I then re-sanded the stock, tried to touch up the walnut stain to get everything matching and finished with Tru Oil. I did the first two coats with Tru Oil cut with mineral spirits, then sanded it with fine paper, while the finish was still wet. That really helped the end product, I think. The rest of the coats were full strength Tru Oil, rubbed by hand and lightly wet sanded between coats. I used some of the Birchwood Casey Stock Sheen Conditioner at the end, to get more of a satin finish.
For the new pad, I added a big spacer, then a Pachmayr Deccelerator. The LOP is still not quite what it would be on a shotgun, but it's closer and I'm happy with it.
Overall, I'm happy with the results. There are one or two spots where I can see a slight run in the finish, despite trying to be really careful to apply thin coats and rub them in thoroughly. In the photographs, I can also see places where the walnut stain did not fully match the rest of the wood, but those spots are less obvious just looking at the stock. For now, I'm going to live with those imperfections and I feel like this old rifle is looking pretty good! I think one of these days, when I've got $100 to burn, I'll replace the Williams peep with a Skinner. And, I'd love to re-barrel this rifle and get it shooting better at longer ranges, but it's crazy expensive to re-barrel a 7600 these days..
Pics below..
