HomeSmith Trainwreck: The Rustbucket

[Shotguncoach]

I didn't intend to start another project so soon, considering that Project 10-3 Fifty Seven still needs trigger work, but this feral Model 15 wandered by looking for help and I just had to take it in.

"More than moderate aging" was the auction description. I think perhaps "crusty" would have been better.

Welcome to Project Rustbucket

 

[Shotguncoach]

Rustbucket may look horrible, but she seems to have a good heart. Even as munged up as she was the timing was perfect on all 6 chambers.

Maybe I should have called this one "Freckles" instead....

And yes, there were things growing out from under the sideplate.

 

[Shotguncoach]

Rustbucket seemed to want to be rescued because every screw, including the rear sight screw, came right out and the sideplate popped off with a minimum of whacking.

It's about time to replant the garden so I saved the stuff from around the screws and sideplate to use as fertilizer.

 

[Shotguncoach]

The insides didn't really look that bad, but there was stuff growing under the rear sight that got saved for the garden also. All the insides were moved to the outside and placed into a container (labeled with the serial number because I have a couple of things apart now) and set aside.

There appears to be some contact from the inboard side of the trigger bevel that I'll have to take care of eventually.

 

[Shotguncoach]

Our next move was into the kitchen. She Who Must Be Obeyed (SWMBO) was at a crafting event, so we all know what that means: guns on the stove!

After a quick spritz with brake cleaner to degrease everything, all the major pieces were placed in the deep fryer with a couple of gallons of distilled water and boiled merrily for an hour while I had dinner. The controlled rusts that I do for rebluing only get a 20 minute boil, but this was uncontrolled lumpy rust that needed more time.

To be clear, this was not a refinish. This was triage. I needed to stop the rust and get an idea of what was hiding beneath it.

As usual, what came out looked worse than what went in.

 

[Shotguncoach]

Boiling water and a Grobet carding wheel do some magical stuff.

Here's the sideplate before, during, and after carding. There is some pitting but I think some careful draw filing, block sanding, and some time on the wheel will get most of it out.

 

[BC38]

That crud looks less like fertilizer and more like potting soil!

 

[Shotguncoach]

The cylinder cleaned up reasonably well. Most importantly, the chamber walls don't have any pitting.

 

[Shotguncoach]

The frame is a good news/bad news thing. The bad news is that it is covered with small pits. The good news is that the vast majority of them are on the flats and can be block sanded.

Laying the pieces together showed me that the sideplate lost quite a bit of color and is now significantly more grey than the frame. We're going to be rebluing it all anyway so that doesn't really bother me.

As I said earlier, this is triage....not refinishing. It also helped me to learn and predict what metal looks like under different rust coatings so that I can buy better Trainwrecks.

 

[Shotguncoach]

I could probably put it back together, lube it up, toss it on Gunbroker, and double my money now, but that's not the way I do things. For now all the pieces that were boiled and carded are soaking in RIG #2 to bring some oil back into play and make sure the rust is all stopped.

Now I have to figure out what I'm going to do with a fourth Model 15 project gun. You haven't met the other 3 yet. We'll come back to Rustbucket after I get some other things cleared out of the way...my short term plan is to clean up the insides, get her back together in a semi-finished state, and take her to the range so that she can tell me what else she needs besides new clothes.

Stay tuned.......

 

[Doug M.]

3" barrel, RB, good sights.

 

[Shotguncoach]

Here's how she looks after the RIG bath and the other work. I'm normally not a fan of goodyear stocks, but Rustbucket seems like a rubber boot kind of girl.

As all the pieces went from the outside to the inside they got what I guess I can start calling my "normal" trigger job. It's become both predictable and repeatable, with a DA pull of just under 8 pounds and a 2 pound single action pull. The yoke alignment was good, the rear gauge was in spec, endshake is .002", and the cylinder gap is .010".

Range trip tomorrow.....

 

[diyj98]

I could probably put it back together, lube it up, toss it on Gunbroker, and double my money now, but that's not the way I do things.

The gun show bandits in my area would have wanted $300 for it in the condition is was before you started!

 

[Banjo 10-79]

What a perfect woods/desert bumming around gun! Thank you fir rescuing that old girl, bravo!

 

[Troystat]

Nice save thanks for showing us.

 

[scooter123]

Boil it in water, you will be amazed at how much of the finish comes back when you convert it to black oxide by boiling it.

 

[gwpercle]

Awesome Job !
I just Love a story with a Happy Ending !

If it shoots just half as good as it looks ... it will be Great !

Thanks for posting , I enjoyed being part of the project ...

now to the range for some shooting !
Gary

 

[Bald1]

What was going on with front sight when you got it? Looked like the front of it was bent upwards?

 

[Protocall_Design]

If you mean the front of the rear sight, the screw holding it on was just loose. The sight tang is a flat spring that holds the rear sight upwards against the elevation screw.

 

[Muley Gil]

3' barrel, RB, good sights.

What do you want to build-a goose gun?