Vintage double barrel shotgun project

Ghost Magnum · Apr 9, 2021

Okay, I traded an old lawnmower engine it. It was my carpenters gun. He was going to restore it and hang it on his wall. I don't even know what brand it is. It's going to be a awesome project. It has exposed hammers. And I think I can make out commander on the receiver. The right barrel fire pin is stuck. It has rust all over it. The wood was hopeless.
I tried to clean it up to see what I got to work with. I got some rust off of it and the bore is not all that bad. The springs still have life in it. But I can't get all the grime off no matter how hard I try.
I'm might get a large aquarium and a car battery and see if I can remove all the rust.
I might boil some of the smaller parts to get the grime and old oil off of it.
I'm thinking about electro plate it. And blue the barrel.

Ghost Magnum · Apr 9, 2021

Nevermind. It's says compeer gun co.

dasnake · Apr 9, 2021

Wow

Nice project,, do you have any idea on the year? Is the wood shot? Are you able to replace the wood through recarving a new set? Good luck.

dasnake · Apr 9, 2021

What I did.

I looked up a couple of things, try the crescent gun co. Or van kamp guns, it looks like yours may be around '91 to '31, roughly. But a start. I found this by google compeer and ended up on the shotgun world forum.

Ghost Magnum · Apr 9, 2021

It's a old one. It's not going to be worth much. But it will be a fun little project any way. I bet I can turn it into a work of art.

lihpster · Apr 9, 2021

Ghost Magnum said:
It's a old one. It's not going to be worth much. But it will be a fun little project any way. I bet I can turn it into a work of art.

At the very least, you could make it into a lamp.

dasnake · Apr 9, 2021

Wow, soon as I read that.......

lihpster said:
At the very least, you could make it into a lamp.

I thought of the xmas story movie about the kid and his want for a BB gun, his old man had the shapely leg lamp.

Bib · Apr 9, 2021

A good soak in Evaporust would probably clean it up nicely.

Ray1970 · Apr 9, 2021

I have a similar project but on a newer piece. It was stored in a soft case in a crawl space and it has some pretty nasty rust. Its one of the those future projects for when I’m bored some day. Keep us posted as you go along so it will motivate me or give me some helpful ideas.

ancient-one · Apr 9, 2021

Nothing better to spend your time on than trying to bring an old double back to life.

2152hq · Apr 9, 2021

Compeer made by Crescent.
The coil main springs are a good indication of the Crescent Mfg'r.
Crescent made lots of guns with lots of different brand names on them.

H&R made a bunch of SXS Hammer shotguns that aalso use coil mainsprings in the 20's but they were all small bore guns and some in 44SL Shot.

Have fun with your project.
I'd go right to a gentle glass bead blast to remove the rust.
It won't harm the metal like a sand or grit blast and will clean the metal parts up quickly and easily for you. Gives a nice starting place to begin polishing and you can clearly see how deep and how much pitting you are dealing with at that point.

WuzzFuzz · Apr 10, 2021

Can you identify the old grime? I've found oven cleaner does good on old grease or oil, and doesn't harm the metal. Spray on, let it set for abut 15 minutes or so, then just wash off, use a scrubbing sponge to help..Then wash off with water..Be sure to dry the water...You don't want to oil it to keep it from rusting again, not till you refinish the metal..new bluing or what ever you're going to coat the metal with before you put it all back together.

As far as rust goes, rust is iron, for iron I've used bathroom cleaner, like "The Works"..gets the rust, but not down to the metal. The label reads for removal of rust , calcium , and some other crud.

You will more than likely have some pitting under the rust..There again, how are you going to finish up with?

Looks like you've got a good shooting iron to start with.

WuzzFuzz

Old_Cop · Apr 10, 2021

I hope that lawnmower engine didn't run.

rubiranch · Apr 10, 2021

A little Flitz should clean her right up.

walkin jack · Apr 10, 2021

Please post pics when you get it done. I'm sure we'd all like to see how it turned out.

Jim R · Apr 10, 2021

Are the barrels Damascus? If they are you need to be very careful in how you remove the rust. If they are Damascus do some research before you get started.

jc2721 · Apr 10, 2021

Kroil! Lots of it! and elbow grease...

Jessie · Apr 10, 2021

Jim R said:
Are the barrels Damascus? If they are you need to be very careful in how you remove the rust. If they are Damascus do some research before you get started.

They look like they may be Damascus

Ghost Magnum · Apr 10, 2021

Old_Cop said:
I hope that lawnmower engine didn't run.

It was a lawnmower engine that was powering my dad's old carpet cleaning machine. It was brand new when he bought it nearly 15 years ago. So, it may or may not run.

Damascus barrel, I don't know yet.

outta_ammo · Apr 11, 2021

Just don't hot blue the barrels. It would desolder the barrels from the rib.

When I did an 1880s Pieper a couple of years back I buffed the barrels with a 320 grit compound then etched them with a Ferric Chloride solution to get the damascus pattern to jump out. Makes a purdy wall hanger.

Vintage double barrel shotgun project

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