A couple days ago I was able to snag a 1952 A5 from a local shop for $215 out the door. Overall condition seemed ok, but was masked by a layer of terrible black paint. With the help of Rudolph31, I realized that the barrel was not the original. This barrel was only 19.5", had a vent rib and removable choke. While I love having an interchangeable choke, this choke seems very odd and finding the same type of choke in different patterns may prove to be difficult. Since this example is void of it's original barrel, I think this would be a good candidate to try and bring some life back into it. Figured this would be a good place to document the progress, that way anybody with experience and or personal opinions on the work to be done can put it here so I, and maybe some others can learn a thing or two through the process. I apologize for not having any pictures of the gun as I bought it, I have a nasty habit of tearing them down as soon as I get home to see what I really have. Many pictures to come. So far my plans are..... Slow rust blue for the metal- Not sure on the wood finish since all I have ever worked with is True Oil. I know it provides a great finish but would not look period correct on this gun. But then again, neither does a 19.5" **Special Steel barrel.
First thing is stripping the metal. Started off by simply hitting it with some brake cleaner to knock of the paint. Then gave it a good overnight soak in some oil to loosen up the rust that was there. Then started attacking it with a leather polishing attachment on the dremmel. Cleaning up pretty nice. All the engraving is still nice and deep, only some shallow pitting left from the rust. Nothing too terrible.
I still need to grab some blue & rust remover to knock off the last of the blue, there really isn't much left. The only area of concern that I have found so far is the rear of the receiver. There was quite a bit of rust in that area but no signs of stress or cracking yet. The action spring tube has some obvious pitting but still not nearly as bad as the one on the Remington Sportsman (model 11) that I got for my wife. Wrapped an old bore brush in some steel wool, soaked it with RemOil, chucked it in a drill and ran it high speed in the action spring tube to knock out the rust. It looks like there is still a lot in the picture but it is actually pretty smooth.
All of the internals came apart with relative ease. Nothing seized up or rusted tight. Locking Block rail looks good. Everything should run smooth once cleaned up.
Wood is in pretty good shape, finish on it is not. As you can see on the grip there is one dent that should be able to be raised with some steam. It looks like a small piece is broken off but I think that is just the finish chipped off. Otherwise it is just light scratches that should sand right out. Checkering even looks pretty good and won't need much of a touch up.
The box is necessary. It’s all too easy to mix up the Firing Pin retention pin with the Locking Block Latch pin.
Like Rudolph31 said, completely necessary. I have started using those boxes every time I disassemble a firearm. It may not be necessary but I even like to keep pins that are exactly the same, with the part they were retaining. That is why I have the little paper labels in some of the boxes noting exactly which hole in the receiver they came out of. I was able to get all the rust removed from everything except the barrel and the inside rear of the receiver so far. After getting all the parts cleaned up, I gave all of the moving parts the Frog Lube treatment. Heated them up, applied the paste, let it cool, removed the left over residue. For those of you that haven't used that stuff, I think it is worth a shot. I know there are a million different gun lubes out there these days, and a million different opinions about each one, but this is the one I have settled on for most applications right now. After it cools, I can wipe off all the residue and it retains its lubricity while not leaking oil throughout the gun. After reassembling the bolt, it runs like it was created in a Country Crock factory. I am a little proud of myself for this was the first time I was able to completely reassemble one of these guns correctly without having to watch one of Arts' videos. Hopefully today I can finish getting the barrel stripped down and start stripping the finish off of the wood. More pictures to come soon. I also think I may start another thread tonight just about proof marks on these A5s. They appear on just about every part and I think it would be cool to have a photo database on this sight where the experts can chime in on what all of them mean.
All I can post is as follows. Can disassemble and reassemble Auto 5's and DA 's with my eyes closed but for the life of me cannot figure out how to post pics! Latest project was fitting a 50's Auto 5 barrel to a 1910 reciever then harvesting a great meal!
Wow blackduck, I dream of the day when I need a separate safe just for humpbacks. Then again, that dream is more like a separate safe for every class of firearm I own. New guns don't interest me. I would take a collection like yours over a pallet of new shotguns any day!
Some updated pictures.... Wood is cleaning up nicely, no fancy grain but definitely good bones. No cracks or splits to be found, just very light scratches and dents. Hopefully will have some time to throw some steam at the dents tomorrow after work. Even the checkering is pretty good, will be easy to touch up after sanding.
Here are some of the proof marks, I will post them here but still try to create a new thread just addressing the marks.
I like the idea of a new thread on proof marks. Those strange stamps on my first Auto-5 are what peaked my interest to learn more about them. Not all of the stamps are government proof marks, some are FN inspection stamps.