Since I was so pleased with the Browning re-finish job

http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=2765772

I decided to go through the rest of my gun collection to see what else I could spruce up.

I dug out an H&R Model 65 I had. The stock had way too manycotes of what looked like varnish, runs and all. The metal had virtually no finish at all. It looked like it had been parkerized. Here is whatI did.

I started by disassembling the entire gun. Next, I stripped the stock with JASCO’s. This took a couple applications because of the thickness of the old finish. I then lightly sanded, stained and refinished. I used Minwax Wood Finish stain in a Gunstock color and Birchwood Casey’s Tru-oil Gun stock finish. I applied approx 6 coats buffing with steel wool between the last three. To get a more satin finish I then used Birchwood Casey’s Stock Sheen & Conditioner. This removed the gloss and left a nice even satin finish. I’m very pleased.

I had a couple sight mount screw holes I wanted to fill. I was unable to find any plug screws the correct size locally so I decided to make my own. First I re-tapped the holes from an 8-40 to a 10-32. This allowed me to purchase common set screws from OSH. I cut the screws to length, cut slots and installed with Loctite. Once the Loctite set I filed and polished the screws to match the barrel contour.

When I was disassembling the trigger group I found the sear spring had rusted in the sear. Only a short section of spring was left. Funny thing was the rifle was working fine the last time I used it. I cleaned and reamed out the hole the spring goes in. Unable to locate a spring at a gun shop locally, I checked OSH and found a couple 1/8” diameter springs that felt about right.

I took the disassembled action, protected the chamber and bore, and then sandblasted all the metal. This included the barrel, trigger guard, sling swivels, steel butt pad, trigger, scope base and assorted screws.

Next I applied Brownells Aluma-Hyde II in a gray parkerizing color to all the metal. This epoxy coating took several days to cure.

Lastly, I reassembled the gun lubing all parts. Installed my OSH sear spring that I cut to length, cycled the action several times. Everything seems to function fine, won’t know for sure until I have an opportunity to shoot it.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the finished gun.

One more...

Wow, looks great. Sounds like a very thorough operation. Hopefully, it will function as great as it looks. Congrats.