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Wood corncob

sixbennetts

.270 WIN
Bought this on eBay. It doesn't fit the pump slide, (action bar). Would I try to ream it out, or is there an action bar it would fit that will work on my Shockwave? Thanx!
 

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I seriously doubt that any different action bar that fits that forend would work on your shockwave.

Sorry.
 
Bummer. Been looking on ebay. Seems like there's 2 different length action bars, "7¾ and "6⅝. Any chance the shorter one is also more narrow?
 
Would the handguard have possibly originally been for a 20ga and mislabeled or someone sold you the wrong thing unknowingly?

Regardless, once you put some polyurethane on that walnut, or maybe oil rub, it's going to look amazing.
 
Nope, it's stamped 12 inside. It was probably for an older model, or not even Mossberg at all! It fits now.

Here's a pic from earlier.
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I used epoxy thinned with acetone. Worked really well. Soaked in from the inside really well, then buttered the action tube with epoxy, slid it in, epoxied the threads, and screwed the cap on tight. It is all one piece now. If the wood breaks, I'll just get a new action tube. They're like $30-$40 on ebay.

I'm saving the outer finish for some distressing, a light stain, and Minwax Antique Oil Finish. Trying to get that old gun look, dark dents and all.

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You'll probably hear me crying as I bang the wood on the concrete steps at the back door. It's difficult to distress something you've worked so hard on, but the result is so very satisfying. There's just something about old, dark, dented, greasy walnut gun stocks. Especially on a pump shotty.

The nearly instant wear on the action bars, mag tube, bolt and elevator coupled with the Mossberg flat blue finish, and a Shockwave looks 50 years old after the 1st range trip.

So, I'm embracing that with the wood.
 
No need of intentionally banging the gun into concrete steps. I don't understand the logic of that. Just use it and let the character come naturally.
 
This was a brand new Hickory handle I got for $5 at the True Value down the street. I prefer the way it compliments the old Germantown hatchet head.

I don't worry about dropping it. Or scratching it. I use it camping all the time. I want, (and prefer), the same for my Shockwave. It's already scratched and dented, pristine wood would be incongruous IMHO.

To each, their own.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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You'll probably hear me crying as I bang the wood on the concrete steps at the back door. It's difficult to distress something you've worked so hard on, but the result is so very satisfying. There's just something about old, dark, dented, greasy walnut gun stocks. Especially on a pump shotty.

The nearly instant wear on the action bars, mag tube, bolt and elevator coupled with the Mossberg flat blue finish, and a Shockwave looks 50 years old after the 1st range trip.

So, I'm embracing that with the wood.


I will probably get trounced for syaing this, but I just dont like the look of the action bars and the magazine tube all scratched up, but thats the price to pay in the pump shotgun game I suppose. But if I was Mossberg, I wouldnt want my guns looking like that, I would come up with a more durable finish.

Your "wood" looks amazing though lol.
 
Yup, I'm with ya. I love my Mossberg, don't get me wrong. But the flat blue finish isn't very durable compared to the standard gloss blue, the industry standard. I would imagine it serves the purpose of being non-reflective, tactically. But it does seem delicate, requiring one to adjust their thinking a bit.

A brand new scoped, wood stocked bolt action hunting rifle is usually a gorgeous machine. 50 years from now, it would look like my Shockwave already does!

Mossberg, it ain't a fancy Milwaukee nail gun.
It's a hammer!
 
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Ok, so time for some finish. I ordered the Birchwood Casey stock refinishing kit. It contains their water-based walnut stain, Tru-Oil finish, and stock conditioner, and sssorted sandpapers and steel wool. I also ordered a bottle of their Rusty Walnut stain. As you can see from this picture, I've got a little matching to do. I'm pretty sure these are both walnut. The grip is walnut, the forend might be black walnut? Or the grip is sapwood and the forend heartwood? Or neither are walnut at all! Here's a picture showing both dry and water wetted.

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The grip needs some red-yellow, and needs to be darker. B-C says you can play with how dark you make things by both diluting with water and adding subsequent coats of stain.

The forend has perfect color, but needs to be just a bit darker. I'll stain that 1st with diluted walnut. I don't think it needs any more red than it already has.

Then, I'll use the rusty walnut diluted about 50/50, and work up the coats to get it close.

The Tru-Oil finish adds some yellow/orange, and from what I've read, the more coats you add, the more yellow/orange you get.

So, I'll do a few coats on both, and then continue to add coats to the grip until they're matched.

I hope.
 
*Update!

Well, I think I'm almost there. The forend was stained with just 2 50% thinned coats of Birchwood Casey Walnut Stain. In the above pic, you can see that it was pretty dark already.

The pistol grip was both lighter, and less red, so I gave it 3 full strength coats of a half & half mix of the above mentioned walnut, and Birchwood Casey Rusty Walnut Stain. I think they're pretty close. The difference won't be noticeable once they're installed.

Both got 6 coats of Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil. Did the first 2 coats very thin, then flat-sanded and steel wooled it between the last 4. I opted not to wet sand the Tru-Oil to fill the pores and hairline natural cracks in the wood. As mentioned above, I'm aiming for a well-used finish on the entire weapon, so leaving the character of the wood and the patina from use was important. The largest of which is is a 2" long scar about ⅓ of the way down the forend. You can see it in the below picture.

Marks like that are 1, difficult to replicate, and 2, nearly impossible to sand out of such an intricate pattern as a corncob forend. The more you sand, the wider the flats look, and the narrower the grooves look. So, I decided to incorporate it into the theme of the weapon, (well-loved but beat up a lil bit).

The gloss showing in the pic will be knocked back to a semi-gloss with Birchwood Casey Stock Sheen and Conditioner. This leaves a semi-gloss sheen to it.

I have to wait a week for all of it to cure, so I'm done for now. The end result will hopefully resembled an old reddish walnut stock from a well-used and well-loved, favorite weapon. This *should match well with Mossberg's Satin Blued Finish, and it's ability to attract dings, dents, scratches, while wearing down quickly on action bars and magazine tube.

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Some before pics for contrast.

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Yup, I'm with ya. I love my Mossberg, don't get me wrong. But the flat blue finish isn't very durable compared to the standard gloss blue, the industry standard. I would imagine it serves the purpose of being non-reflective, tactically. But it does seem delicate, requiring one to adjust their thinking a bit.

This is why I sprung for the factory FDE Cerakote finish option on my Shockwave. Unfortunately, it isn't on the action bars, so those will wear down just as quickly, but so far it seems like it will at least look a bit better in contrast to the overall finish.
 
Thanks, Deej. I just GOTTA mod stuff. Can't stand bone-stock anything. Especially vehicles. My wife actually insisted we start leasing vehicles a few years ago because of all the modifications around here!

Our back yard.
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Anyways, I slapped it back together for some pics this morning. The Tru-Oil has to cure for a week then I'll knock back the shine with Birchwood Casey Stock Sheen & Conditioner.

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Here's the forend, and that battle scar. The pic doesn't do it justice. It's my favorite part of the whole refinishing project, and I'm delighted that I left it in and incorporated it into this. (It's in the upper right of the forend).

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It's hard to see with so much shine, but there are more dents, dings, and small scratches in both pieces of wood. Once the sheen is dulled a bit, I use a little beeswax softened with turpentine, in which I dissolve a dab of regular brown shoe polish. It makes kind of a grungy brown paste, which I'll rub in well into the imperfections. Once it's wiped away a bit, it resembles a well-used and loved antique stock.

Then, I'll finish with a regular stock wax. I've used Pledge, Johnson's, hell even Mcguires car wax! Wax is wax.

Then I'll rub-a-dub until I get it where I want it.

The grip. I was on the fence about whether to keep the finger bump A2 style, or remove it so it's A1 style. I left it. It adds a little detail to a slab-sided piece of wood. If I would have checkered it, I would have removed the bump.

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Keep in mind, the brass will be browned slightly with ammonia fumes, so it won't be that bright when it's done.

The sling mount plate was something I found at Numrich for a few bucks. It'll be distressed as well. Also, if you look along the bottom edge of the wood near the plate, you can see some of the distressing I'm talking about. Those will be a tiny bit more pronounced than they are now.

Here's a comparison shot of the two pieces of wood. Close enough for government work!

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More in a week
 
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