Two Year Project Complete! Ruger M77 .270 Full Restoration

[jpbruni]

How did you handle sanding down the checkering without losing most of the detail? Mine has a glossy finish, and I want to clean out the checkering, then do an oiled finish, I think, but I'm not sure how to get the glossy finish out of the grooves.

Randy, the very 1st thing you do is strip all of the old finish away. I kept the front sling screw in the stock after I dissassembled it and backed it out a few turns so I would have something to hang it by. I took a coat hanger and wrapped it around the screw and then bent the other end to make a hook to hang it by.

Then I sprayed the entire stock with a top quality spray stripper (from Lowes or H.D.). Let it do it's work for about 10 minutes and then I sprayed all of the dissolved finish off with a hose with a high pressure nozzle. Wipe it down and dry it off and this should get everything out of the checkering. If it doesn't, keep applying the stripper to the checkering only and washing/blasting it off until all the finish is gone.

I let the stock dry for about 3 days before I started sanding on it.

Make sure and mask off all the checkering before you start sanding. Then, and this is super-important; DO NOT PUT ANY FINISH ON THE CHECKERING until the very last coat of Tru Oil!! Once you are done with the last coat, let it dry, then remove all of the masking tape, and appy the finish to the checkering.

I've got the same question, also, what did you sand the barrel with to get it down to shiny metal?

I used a soft wire brush on a grinder Dozer, but you can use 400 grit sandpaper as well. They key is the steel wooling between each bluing. I had never messed with this before and the process is pretty wild! It blues it INSTANTLY (heck, it's an acid!) so you have to be quick about things and DON'T go over what you just did again. Just do one pass at a time and use the 0000 steel wool in between coats.

I'l try to post some better dtail pics once I get better photo light this morning.

J.P.

[W-L-F]

very nice job---but do feel bad for you having to pay 50.00 for junk i will give you 60.00 to take it off your hands now--

[Night Wing]

Great looking restoration job. I love my 1976 Ruger M77 in 25-06.

[Bones]

Looks good. $50 was a steal for that rifle.

Actually, it was a steal for me. I got the 30-30 I had loaned him back

Looks good JP. Id have left it looking like a tent stake though. There ain't nothing wrong with a little ugly

Steve

[Richard M.]

That looks awesome! It's a nice reward for a lot of hard work.

[Bullydog]

Great job....she turned out purty...

[2050z]

Dang nice looking rifle.

[PHfactor]

that's an incredible refinish - awesome job!

[Texas Tracker]

Nice job JP! I have the same gun in 7mm mag.

[aironeout]

Sweet. Great Job.

>E

[muley4x4]

wow that thing looks awesome!

[Marooned]

Awesome job!! That's a work horse of a rifle right there.

[savagehunter83]

Looks great, J. P.

I am going to refinish the stock on my Remington 700 BDL .270 as soon as I get it back from the gunsmith...replacing the trigger . How did you handle sanding down the checkering without losing most of the detail? Mine has a glossy finish, and I want to clean out the checkering, then do an oiled finish, I think, but I'm not sure how to get the glossy finish out of the grooves.

the rem bdl are known for having a tough epoxy finish you can strip it with basic stripper but takes for ever. This stuff is more of what you want to use very powerful stuff http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=4...uct/CERTISTRIP

[Deathrow Jethro]

Man that is great looking... You did fantastic...

[jpbruni]

Here are a few more pics with some better detail of the stock and bluing...

J.P.