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Today's adventure: Cleaning a 28 Year-old Shotgun for the First Time in it's Life!

H

HookBender

.410
I figured that I would document this adventure when it dawned on me...Why don't I bring all the MO's with me!

So don't expect much but please stay seated until the ride comes to a complete stop!

Let me start by saying that one way to get to know a gun better is to tear it down and show it some love. So that's what I did, and here's what I found......
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Not sure if you can see it but there is a brownish haze and this piece which really bugged me. I later found out what this tiny was, but here is some more shots from the internals.
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...but wait there's more!

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Now the inside of the receiver...

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Needless to say, things were not pretty inside there.

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Somebody must have been a real "Jack-of all - Trades". (self proclaimed I'm guessing)
It is that so called repair that made me realize what the brownish tint on everything was. Yes, wood stain. Wood stain everywhere!

Now we can fast forward 4.5 hours of light scrubbing with mild degreaser and about 97 Q-tips.

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A little degreaser and all her secrets came out. Secrets like the wood stain and also a layer of black spray paint on the receiver! After removing the spray paint this was revealed....

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Clearly from that handy dandy stock repair.

Just goes to show that you never know what your going to find when you get up lose and personal with a used hand me down gun.

All in all I still love this gun. Just means that the search for factory stock parts begins today!
And to boot, no extra prices left over after the oil bath and re-assembly!

That was my Friday night, Ya'll come back now ya hear!




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OK.

It's official.

I'm never cleaning any of my guns again and will only be sending it to hookbender to do it for me from now on.

Nice job cleaning up that old gun. That thing was N-A-S-T-Y
 
John A. said:
OK.

It's official.

I'm never cleaning any of my guns again and will only be sending it to hookbender to do it for me from now on.

Nice job cleaning up that old gun. That thing was N-A-S-T-Y
Click to expand...

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here, my rates just went up and if you have to ask, then you can't afford it! Lol


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Bobster said:
If you drive the pin out of the bolt, you can get the firing pin out... Don't take the trigger assy. apart unless absolutely necessary!

This VIDEO is pretty cool!
Click to expand...

Good to know, and that video is quite useful for getting acquainted!


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Okay, my next cleaning job will be my 1985 500A. Tens of thousands of rounds and aside from spraying some Hoppe's #9 on the bolt every few decades, I usually only clean and oil the barrel. I did spray out the trigger assembly with solvent a few times to get the crunchies out, but I always figured the 500 is like an AKM. Give it a bath every 30 years. Still hasn't missed a beat in all these years. Maybe I'll pop the bolt out and clean it up. My 500 has seen too many rounds and always sits with 5 in the tube. I haven't had to replace any part including the magazine spring. Man, what a great gun.
 
Any ideas on what I should do about the blemishes on the receiver?
I guess I'm not really sure if I should do anything if even possible, after all, it is character I guess.
Input please?


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The receiver would be aluminum, so gun blue would be out of the question.

Member @diyguy did a short writeup about aluma-blak (sp?) from birchwood casey products and he said it did pretty good.

Other than that, short of anodizing it, not many choices available besides rattle canning it.
 
If you don't mind me asking, what is this rattle canning you speak of?

EDIT

...... Ok ok I get it.

I think the scuffs will just stay!
 
Sand the receiver after removing the stock, barrel and mag tube. There's many good satin black rattle can options nowadays, but my buddy reclaimed his old 500 receiver and 18 inch barrel with BBQ matte black paint and it's been holding up for years. Something about those Mossbergs.............scratches on the receiver 2 weeks after you buy it. My old 500A has a nice gash on the left side of the receiver. I put a small vinyl American flag decal over it and forgot about it. It wouldn't be an old 500 without black magic marker or touch up paint on the receiver. As for clean-up................Inspired by your thread, I took my bolt out and dropped it in a can of Hoppe's #9 overnight. The bolt was very dirty and the bottom of the can was full of carbon and grit. The inside of the receiver is shiny and worn after thousands of rounds of 12 gauge shells. Amazing the beating the inside of the aluminum receiver takes and keeps on going. A little Tetra grease on the rails and good for another 30 years.
 
Yes, sir. Tetra is great on the rails of all my guns. Have to use it sparingly because it will attract grit if you use too much. Wipe it on light, Q-Tip the excess off.
 
Good to hear!
I ordered a tube a few days ago figuring that a thicker lubricant would do the internals of this 500 good. I have always just used oil but I didn't think that it was enough, especially like you said, on the rails. Can't wait to use it now!


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Nice job sir...

I use a file on my receivers. Light passes followed by ye ol sandy paper....
 
Back in the day when firearm manufacturers made guns the right way (out of metal parts), aluminum came to be pretty popular from late 1950's on. This was well before a gun manufacturer made or used plastic trigger guards and such on popular hunting guns.

The most common method of finishing them was using paint on the aluminum surfaces.

Not sure how many times you noticed when looking at an old gun, but I would feel comfortable betting you a doughnut that if a gun was used regularly, the trigger guard will have all kinds of chips taken out of the paint. And there will be little if any paint left on the front edge where a shotgun shell would rub up against it while sliding it in the magazine tube.

Using paint is acceptable.

At least to me.

If you want a finish that is about as durable as Parkerizing, use Norrels Moly or KG GunKote bake on finish. It's probably as professional as you can get without getting a professional to do it for you but is a lot more extensive doing it than using spray paint. Otherwise, Krylon and Rustoleum will do about as good as what was on it from the factory.

Just my humble 2 cents.
 
Don't make your shotgun look too "new" and "pristine". That just ain't right.......
 
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