Just finished and delivered this 1920 16ga Hunter. Objective of project was not to make the gun look like new, but make it look like it'd been well taken care of. I want to thank Steve Hughes (SDH) for his book as it was a wealth of information on techniques I used on this project.

Here's a series of before and after photos.

Fine job! Wish I could have gotten my maternial grandfather's LC Smith and done the same with it.

Wow, you guys do some nice work.

Cheers,
Andy

Very nice work. Particularly salvaging the wood.

Curious about the trigger swap?

John, well done.

Just a great-looking job. I love to see an old firearm restored in that way.

beautiful.....

Trigger swap? What trigger swap?

I honestly didn't notice until now. I tried them both ways and they fit and worked a lot better the way I put them back in. I'll call him tomorrow and ask him if he minds. Thanks for asking.

John, a friend of a friend of mine who works at Motel 6 asked me to ask you if you could provide a little clearer shot of that SSN por favor.

Ah, sure; but not until I'm through with it, OK?

Story I got from the owner, son of the original owner, his Dad was real worried about the gun being stolen and had a vibrating engraver and...

As you can see I couldn't get it all off the wood without taking it way too low so I tried to make it look like a scratch. Draw-filing took it off the receiver nicely.

Nicely ... and tastefully done. Lovely.

Man, there are talented smith's on this forum!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Toomany Tools:
As you can see I couldn't get it all off the wood without taking it way too low so I tried to make it look like a scratch. Draw-filing took it off the receiver nicely.

Looks good!

Nicely done, sir!

WOW!! The wood restoration and case color is awesome. Thank you for sharing that project.

Good job! Very nice work, and BTW I like the idea of restoring it to "well taken care of" condition as opposed to trying to make it look "new".

I have a lot of my wife's grandfather's tools and his shotgun. Like this gun most have his SSI # and many his name AND number. Once a common theft deterent we cringe at the idea in this age of identiy theft!

Kudos, Sir!

Excellent work, and very tastefully done.

Very nice job TMT.

It's a thin line between a major clean-up and a major tart-up, and you've done a lovely restoration. Great job with the super buggered screws too. Folks with skill and taste do not grow on trees.

Marvelous!

Clemson

What type of finish and technique did you use on the wood?

It was tastefully done.

quote:

Originally posted by Toomany Tools:
Ah, sure; but not until I'm through with it, OK?

Story I got from the owner, son of the original owner, his Dad was real worried about the gun being stolen and had a vibrating engraver and...

As you can see I couldn't get it all off the wood without taking it way too low so I tried to make it look like a scratch. Draw-filing took it off the receiver nicely.

What a beautiful job Sir! In 1954 my Grandfather gave me a beautiful little 20 gauge L.C. Smith. Of three sons, my Dad favored my middle brother and resented my Grandfather giving the shotgun to me. My Dad took the Elsie and traded it for a new Win. Model 63 and gave to the "favored son".

I still look after my Grandfather's grave to this day as a grateful testimony of his genorosity to me. Of the three sons, only I am a firearms "loonie". Thanks...Bil.

Did you do the color case hardening yourself, or did you send it out? It looks great.

Steve

Color Case Company did the case hardening, but I did the polishing. The owner of Color Case made it clear to me he's trying to retire, but I guess he likes L.C. Smith shotguns so finally decided to do it.

I did all the rest of the finishing, using tips from Steve Hughes books and Gun Goddess bluing solution. Fixing up old guns like this really trips my trigger and is my favorite type work.

I like it!