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November 7, 2015
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Turns out my 1894 has led a rough life recently. Lots of surface rust on and under the butt plate and a few other places. Bore patches still coming out brown. Pin that holds the magazine tube is frozen, will have to let Kroil work on it overnight. Looks like getting this old girl cleaned up will take a fair bit of elbow grease….and Kroil…..and copper scrub pads. No pitting so far so it looks like the abuse was recent, think it was probably stored in an unheated Montana building all winter.
Guess I need to continue this thread in a more appropriate place, still no pitting or major damage to the bluing but it was a lot worse than I thought. What I thought was decades of grime was actually fairly new rust soaked in oil.
November 7, 2015
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Here’s the “before” pics. Sorry for the delay, phone and laptop fighting again.
Good on ya for using copper pads. Bronze wool, brass bristled ‘tooth’ brushes, brass scrapers and even a small piece of .010″ stainless steel shim stock have done wonders for me. I never tried anything, besides Hoppe’s No. 9 solvent, but have heard that Kroil is great stuff. With the aforementioned implements, I have been able to clean tons of rust without causing damage to the actual patina and remaining bluing. Good Luck!
GMC(SW) - USN Retired 1978 - 2001
November 7, 2015
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Looks like it went pretty well, only have a few small areas of pitting and a little blue loss here and there. I’ve always used 0000 steel wool for light surface rust but this is the worst mess I’ve tried to tackle. Have a few stubborn spots soaking, will hit them again on a few days.
Copper seems to work much better, would have never gotten it done right with steel wool.
Kroil is great stuff, works just like it says with no nasty traits. Even smells good!
November 7, 2015
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Caution; nekkid metal pics below. 
Finally got back to work on this old 1894, did all I could to reverse the damage done to the metal and prevent further damage. Almost forgot to remove the rear sight, plenty of surface rust under there as well. 
Bore up cleaned OK, wasn’t as bright as I was hoping for. Bore scope images a bit disappointing but should shoot just fine. First coat of tung oil/mineral spirits soaking into the wood as I try to type this, excellent thread on the subject on this page.
Mike that looks great! Can’t wait to se what she looks like altogether again. I need to get started on some of my own projects and you fella sure provide the education on metal and wood in as far as do’s & don’ts!
Dave
WACA #10119
NRA Member
November 7, 2015
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Thanks! Finished up with the wood last night, will go over it again tomorrow night and if all looks good will go back together with her. Wood still shows the marks from many years of hard use but a few coats of tung oil made a nice difference.
TXGunNut said
Thanks! Finished up with the wood last night, will go over it again tomorrow night and if all looks good will go back together with her. Wood still shows the marks from many years of hard use but a few coats of tung oil made a nice difference.
Looking forward to seeing the effects of the tung oil touch up.
"This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
November 7, 2015
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Wincacher said
Looking forward to seeing the effects of the tung oil touch up.
I can assure you it won’t be as pretty as your work but it seemed to be the right thing to do with this rifle.
Mike
TXGunNut said
I can assure you it won’t be as pretty as your work but it seemed to be the right thing to do with this rifle.
Mike
Not expecting a restoration. A nice touch up always enhances an old shooter.
"This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
November 7, 2015
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Well, if it comes out decent it’s thanks to your excellent posts on the subject. Maybe we can get Bert to make that recent thread a “sticky” or maybe copy & paste a tutorial on the subject. I’m a sucker for a nice piece of wood but I don’t trust myself to have the skill or patience to do it right. After reading that thread a few times I jumped in there and adapted your method to this situation.
November 7, 2015
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Here’s a few pics of the wood, too dark & rainy to take proper pics outdoors but hopefully they will show the character of this wood.
The wood looks really nice.
"This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
November 7, 2015
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Wincacher said
The wood looks really nice.
Thanks for the kind words and for taking the time to post your tung oil method, Wayne. For clarification I did not add any stain, just applied three coats of 50/50 tung oil/mineral spirits. If I had tried to repair the wood or remove the oil stains, scratches and dents I would have had to refinish and stain it. My goal was to preserve the character of this hard-working old gun while giving it a good cleaning to prevent further damage.
Hope to get it back together tomorrow night. Wood may need another day or two to dry, rained a bit tonight and will probably get more next day or so.
Compared to the original photos it looks like what you did was clean up years of grime, and possibly neglect, and you still have an original Winchester shooter. Not unlike an oil change, steam cleaning and some polishing compound on a ’57 Bel Air.
"This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
Mike,
The wood looks much better… nice work !!
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
November 7, 2015
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Thanks, and thanks for the help and encouragement. Now I need to cast a few bullets and see how the old girl shoots!
Mike those new pics of the furniture look fantastic! Retains that nice reddish color and really looks great! You guys are motivating me to do a few guns that need some TLC. I for one really appreciate you detailed descriptions and photos.
Dave
WACA #10119
NRA Member
November 7, 2015
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Well, my latest (and earliest ) 1894 is back together and headed for the safe. I cast a couple hundred 38-255 bullets for it last night so it won’t be there long. Turned out OK but most importantly the recent damage done was minimized and another Winchester was preserved for future generations to enjoy. It wasn’t my intention to start a how-to thread here, was mostly looking for input and trying to show the results of a short time of neglect on a fine old Winchester. As anyone experienced in restoration and repair can see I’m barely a novice in a situation like this and quite honestly was in a bit over my head. It was good to get the help I needed here and I deeply appreciate it.
Someday I’ll get a decent camera and maybe even learn how to use it but for now this is the best I can do:
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