First time refinishing a gun stock

[Kaitum]

I have a Remington 600 that was my grandmother's gun. While the gun shoots incredibly well, the stock isn't much to look at. I've thought about refinishing it for awhile and yesterday I jumped in. Other than a few hours of YouTube videos I don't have any experience or knowledge on stock refinishing. But I had to learn eventually.

Turns out stripping the old factory lacquer off was a huge improvement. Most of the nicks and scrapes were just from the lacquer chipping off. Once I had it stripped down I could only find one small dent in the wood. For a 51 year old gun it has seen a lot of time in the safe. The checkering should be recut but that's not in the cards this time. I'm told the original checkering was pressed or stamped, not hand cut.

I'm just hand rubbing on an oil finish and wet sanding with progressively finer grits between coats. I only put two coats on tonight before stopping but it's already a huge improvement. I'll post pictures of the finished stock.

First two pictures of the original stock with some damage. Last picture taken just before hanging it to dry for the night.

 

[millerkiller77]

That looks really good, I've never had much luck refinishing wood stocks. Yours came out nice, congrats

 

[p_ham]

I have a Remington 600 that was my grandmother's gun. While the gun shoots incredibly well, the stock isn't much to look at. I've thought about refinishing it for awhile and yesterday I jumped in. Other than a few hours of YouTube videos I don't have any experience or knowledge on stock refinishing. But I had to learn eventually.

Turns out stripping the old factory lacquer off was a huge improvement. Most of the nicks and scrapes were just from the lacquer chipping off. Once I had it stripped down I could only find one small dent in the wood. For a 51 year old gun it has seen a lot of time in the safe. The checkering should be recut but that's not in the cards this time. I'm told the original checkering was pressed or stamped, not hand cut.

I'm just hand rubbing on an oil finish and wet sanding with progressively finer grits between coats. I only put two coats on tonight before stopping but it's already a huge improvement. I'll post pictures of the finished stock.

First two pictures of the original stock with some damage. Last picture taken just before hanging it to dry for the night.

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Some nice looking wood hiding under that lacquer.

 

[BackofBeyond]

What did you use to strip the old lacquer off?

 

[Kaitum]

95% came off using the edge of a metal ruler as a scraper. For the checkering I used Citristrip.

 

[kiwi hunter]

Looking good

 

[Don Fischer]

Last stock I did was a 700 BDL and I tried a new way to remove the old finish. Finish remover. Read about it and sounded reasonable. No scraping or sanding to remove old finish. But on that 700 the finish really fought being removed although it finally did come all off. Another thing I did on it was to rub the finish on in circles with 400 grit wet and dry sand paper. The idea was doing that filled the pore's in the wood. Did alright but filler works better. Last thing I did Learned years ago. Use 0000 steel wool on the last coat to dull the coat.

That 660 Rem was my favorite rifle years ago, 308 Win. Somehow my son ended up with it and he doesn't hunt with it. Instead he borrows another one of my rifles. has taken a fondness to my mod 70 in 6.5x55 this year! last year all he wanted to use was my 25-06! Gives me something to complain about!

 

[Flintlock hunter]

That stock is really looking good!

 

[J-Booda]

Looks great so far! I'll be following with interest. I was inspired by all the great work recently posted... I'm tentatively working on my dad's Winchester 69A. New walnut stock I'm planning on oiling like you guys do here. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

[Harrier]

I refinished my first stock as a pandemic lockdown project and enjoyed it so much I refinished nearly all my other long guns eventually. The first one is the hardest; after you know what you’re doing they all get easier and more enjoyable.

 

[ccc23454]

In highschool shop class a bunch of us refurbished family gun stocks. I did my dads first shotguns stock, a 16ga bolt gun. While i haven't hunted that gun in several years i still like walking past it in the gunroom, brings back some good memories of him and that work i put into stock. i bet you couldnt do that in most of todays schools. Keep up good work and take your time!

 

[perma]

In highschool shop class a bunch of us refurbished family gun stocks. I did my dads first shotguns stock, a 16ga bolt gun. While i haven't hunted that gun in several years i still like walking past it in the gunroom, brings back some good memories of him and that work i put into stock. i bet you couldnt do that in most of todays schools. Keep up good work and take your time!

I was just going to ask if you can imagine doing this in modern times. My old high school doesn't even have the automotive classes anymore. =[

 

[Kaitum]

The end result. It's almost criminal they covered it with lacquer originally. Of course it's not the only questionable fashion the 1970's produced.

 

[huntnfisher]

Very Nice! Love the wood stocks!

 

[6mm Remington]

Sure looks nice. I had the finish on my (now my sons) Model 600 done a few years ago by a local gunsmith that did a nice job also. I'm keeping the original bottom metal (plastic as it is) but I am going to replace it and put one of these on the rifle. Haven't decided which one yet. Really make it look and feel a lot nicer also!!

Trigger Guard, Cast Steel, New Reproduction

REMINGTON 600, 660, MOHAWK 600 Trigger Guard, Cast Steel, New Reproduction

www.gunpartscorp.com

Metal Replacement Trigger Guard - Remington 600 - Heritage Arms, Inc.

Increase the style and durability of your Remington 600/660/Mohawk rifle with our CNC machined steel or aluminum replacement trigger guard.

heritage-arms.com

 

[Kaitum]

Sure looks nice. I had the finish on my (now my sons) Model 600 done a few years ago by a local gunsmith that did a nice job also. I'm keeping the original bottom metal (plastic as it is) but I am going to replace it and put one of these on the rifle. Haven't decided which one yet. Really make it look and feel a lot nicer also!!

Trigger Guard, Cast Steel, New Reproduction

REMINGTON 600, 660, MOHAWK 600 Trigger Guard, Cast Steel, New Reproduction

www.gunpartscorp.com

Metal Replacement Trigger Guard - Remington 600 - Heritage Arms, Inc.

Increase the style and durability of your Remington 600/660/Mohawk rifle with our CNC machined steel or aluminum replacement trigger guard.

heritage-arms.com

Thanks for posting these. I've been wanting to replace the plastic bottom with a metal one. I found a replacement last year that was metal. The finish was terribly rough and I returned it.

 

[Kaitum]

And reassembled.

 

[choc dogs]

When we distributed my late fathers guns, my daughter ended up with the 6mm. I should steal it and clean it up.

This looks Fantastic

 

[Kaitum]

Some of you are probably thinking that doesn't look like the typical Remington 600s with the 18" vent rib barrel. Here's a thread on the other work I've done to the gun: https://www.hunttalk.com/threads/something-old-something-new.296343/

 

[huntnfisher]

And reassembled.
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Beautiful...