Today I stumbled upon a Winchester 64A for a very reasonable price. The reason it is 'reasonable' is that, while most of the rifle is almost unused and as new, the left hand side of the receiver is rusted and slightly pitted. It would appear that the rifle was laid, for some time, on a damp surface.

I am still considering buying this rifle and will probably draw-file the left hand side of the action to remove the rust and pitting. I don't think it needs a lot of work (and only a modest removal of metal) to clean up the side of the action.

However, the tricky part will be re-finishing the receiver as, I understand, the steel in these actions reacts strangely to normal blueing techniques with the result that the action will be an odd color.

Can anybody recommend a method of refinishing/blueing this action so that it looks something like the original finish?

BwanaBob--

The technique for hot dipping a Winchester is to blue at 285-290 then let the temperature climb to 305 and hold it there about 5 miniutes.

Or you could send it to Doug Turnbull and have him do an original charcoal blue on it.

Here's some drawfile and polish pictures on a pre-war 94.

Hand Polishing
http://community.webshots.com/album/17944759FTFDzctiRT

JBELK,
I wish I was one of your grandsons.
The stock work and blueing are fantastic.
Lucky grandkids...hope they appreciate what they are getting.

JBELK,

Thanks for the information and for the link to the photos. Excellent stuff!

I haven't bought the rifle, yet, as I was a little unsure whether it was worth the work but armed with your information I am now going to buy it. I also have two other '94s, a '95 and a '92 (all of which are 'resurection' works in progress)in the cupboard so your information will be useful for those projects, too.

Thanks again,
good shooting!

Jack
Looks like those reconditioned eyeballs are working pretty good. Fine work.