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Rehab Project

dtspoke

MegaPoke is insane
Gold Member
Aug 19, 2003
20,178
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I started this project with a Weatherby Vanguard with a rusty barrel and action. It was kind of a piece of junk but the sucker would shoot. I can't find the file with all of the pictures of this restore, but here is the gun when I first got it. It had quite a bit of rust developing and lots of pitting.

images

Here are some after pics.

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I pulled the action and put it in a Boyd's laminate since I want to maintain some weather resistance. I have always like that Forest Camo version they do.

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I applied Duracoat in Coyote Tan after doing some serious prep with TrueStrip and chlorine free BraKleen then spent a lot of time with steel wool scouring and scoring the metal for application. As an addendum I will say that if you want to do this right on your won, Parkerizing is probably the best way to go, but I did it with a limited budget for this gun and a short time frame.

I put aluminum pillars in then I glass bed the action for tighter tolerances.

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I also did an application on a set of Talley Lightweight rings which are by far my favorite ring and base setup. Since I built this for potential sale, I put a mid-range Vortex Viper 4-12x40 and did a trigger rebuild.

For the bore I applied a coat of Dyna-bore coat which is really fantastic when it comes to reducing copper fouling and cleaning time. The lands were showing some wear, but with the headspacing it isn't an issue and the gun should get another 2 or 3 thousands rounds through it before it will need some work.

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So, I bought the gun for $220 scope not included. Materials and work done is around $160 not including the scope. All in all, I've got $600 total in this gun.

It goes to my range today for 100 and 300 yard testing to make sure the bedding didn't bind the action somewhere effecting point of impact.

If I get time I'll put up results unless they are really bad, then I'll tear the whole thing down and start over.

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I've not seen a transformation quite like that one. Nice job DTS! I really like the barrel refinish and matching rings. Looks like a stainless barrel in those pics.

Anxious to here how she shoots now.

I'm going to retire for the first time from collegiate mental health/academia at the ripe old age of 59, and wondering what my next career will be, besides some private practice/consulting. I hope to have time for a project like this for my Grandson.
 
Originally posted by TexasCowPoke:
I've not seen a transformation quite like that one. Nice job DTS! I really like the barrel refinish and matching rings. Looks like a stainless barrel in those pics.

Anxious to here how she shoots now.

I'm going to retire for the first time from collegiate mental health/academia at the ripe old age of 59, and wondering what my next career will be, besides some private practice/consulting. I hope to have time for a project like this for my Grandson.
It was blued and a bunch of the bluing was worn off. I can't figure out what I did with those before pictures, but they show the pitting and damage from the rust. Scrubbing the exterior rust off left the blue in really poor shape, which was the catalyst for this.

I've done a couple of Dura-coat projects that have held up, and it really takes about 3 weeks before the elastic/hardening process is completed, so we'll see if my prep work was good enough or if I'll need to reapply.

Everything from Talley rings to the bedding compound is from Midway USA.
 
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