R1 frame off resto

[T-Higgs]

My recent pawn shop purchase of a Beeman R1 Huntington Beach had seen gross neglect from it's prior owner.  Rusty bluing, improper lube, and shooting 12 FPE were reason enough for for a rebuild. With advice from good people here, I've decided to give the R1 as full a restoration as I am capable of and document it here. I'm no tuner but have read and learned much over the years so here we go.

First will be the refinishing of the stock.  The stock was stripped with paste stripper, some nasty stuff.  This is a commercial product but you can get similar products from paint stores and lowes.  Let the chemical do it's job. Keep the wood wet with stripper untill the old finish scrapes off easily. You don't want to gouge the wood by fighting it with the scraper it should come off relatively easy.  Wash/ scrub the stock afterword with lacquer thinner and scotch-brite pad to remove any residual finish. You could use steel wool instead if you will not be using water based products as they will rust any steel left in the wood. Dry with a clean cloth.
I chose to sand the stock with 220 grit to remove minor damage.  If you have to sand more aggressively, check the fit of your recoil pad as you may change the dimensions of the stock. Now would be the time to match the recoil pad to the stock again.
My stock is beech, not the most interesting of wood species. It has some nice grain so to bring out more contrasting colors, I will dye the wood lemon yellow first. This puts a bit of fire under the general color and adds depth. After that flashed off, I used a water based, relatively dark, stain. I chose water base for its penetration characteristics on hard woods that don't except dark colored oil stains well. Let stain dry and it's time for clear coat.
Many finishes to choose from.  Catalyzed lacquer, conversion varnish, aliphatic urethane. I don't really use older finishes like true oil or waterlox but reason you can't. I chose 3 coats of aliphatic urethane.  I wet sand with paint thinner and open coat 220 and 360 paper after second coat is dry. At 120.00 per gallon, I'm glad I had extra from a previous job. I'm happy with the results.

Next is total rebluing. 
 

[T-Higgs]

The finished stock. Pic don't do it justice. I'll try again in the daylight.

[bgmcgee]

Very nice. That looks like a nice piece of wood.

[palonej]

Stock looks gorgeous!!
Beech might not be the prettiest.....but there is lots of nice grain in that piece!
Great job!!

[T-Higgs]

I started the rust bluing process yesterday.  It's a bit involved and time consuming, I guess that's why it is sometimes refurred to as "slow rust bluing".  I won't go into great detail as the process can be found on youtube by people more knowledgable than me.  But, you start by stripping the old bluing by soaking parts in vinegar for 15-20 minutes and it's gone.  I then pulled patches through the barrel untill they came out clean. Then you polish/sand the parts with with 360 grit paper to remove all scratches and imperfections.  You then degrease the parts very well. When you think they are clean enough, do it one more time.  It is then time to apply your rust bluing solution evenly and without overlapping or scrubbing. Hang parts for one hour and then reapply the solution. Hang for three more hours then boil the parts in distilled water for ten minutes.  Remove parts from boil tank and blow water off and out with compressed air or hair dryer.  Remove black velvety coating with 0000 steel wool that has been degreased with acetone. No oil can get on the parts or it will leave color problems.  Your ready to do it all over again. You must repeat this process as many time as needed to archive good color or untill the gun just won't take color any more.  Humidity is needed to get a good rusting on coated parts.  You may need to use a box with a wet towel in it to provide moisture to the air. This is after my third application and carding off of velvet. I'll need 2-3 more I'm sure.

[MikieG]

I have an R1 that could use a new bluing job. This is the real project. How does one keep bluing out of the barrel and compression tube?

[T-Higgs]

The bluing solution (acid) is applied with a cotton pad only to the metal you want blued. The submersion tank is just distilled water, no chance of bluing insides.

[T-Higgs]

Well,I finished the bluing today. I think it all looks great except the threaded end cap (trigger block).  It just would not take the rust bluing color like the rest of the parts.  The breach block took color well but even with one extra round of bluing, the trigger block is slightly lighter.

I have a Maccari tune kit, seal, and buttons I installed this evening and I'm trying ultimox for the first time.  Cocking slot has been smoothed out and end cap bearing surface has been polished. It seems the tube received some crazy aggressive cross hatching at some point in the past so I made a PVC mandrel that held wet/dry sand paper and ran it with a drill with 220 then 360 paper in soapy warm water. The hatching is to deep to remove with this process, nor did I try.  The ID is still tight on the seal so I've decided to run it like it is for a while. If it seems to eat seals quickly,  I'll need to hire the services of someone with a sunnen hone that can remove the groves front to back and fit a Maccari bullet seal, which is a bit over sized. (I hope)!  I really don't think this is a job for a three stone brake hone. 

For now, I'm waiting for a muzzle weight and latch and safety springs before I can finish reassembly.

[T-Higgs]

Here is a before and after of the compression chamber. I did not run the sandpaper covered mandrel for very long for fear of going to far. 

[Charles Outdoors]

Nice project. I really like how the stock came out.

[ptpalpha]

Now that's how you restore a rifle!  Very nice, and way to go on not short-cutting the process.  I can't wait to see the rifle all put back together (please post many pics).
Now, onto the compression chamber pics--obviously I'm looking at cross hatching in there, but are the deep gouges from the factory job or do you think they were caused after she left Germany?

Here is a before and after of the compression chamber. I did not run the sandpaper covered mandrel for very long for fear of going to far.

[T-Higgs]

That's a great question Paul!  When I opened the gun, I was convinced it had not been opened before UNTIL  I degreased the tube , then wow.  I feel like its factory, just a feeling but the hatching matches the hatching that I would consider "normal". Like a bur or two were caught in the factory hone?  I did get it at a pawn shop for 140$ SOO , who knows? It's a bummer though. I will work it out. I very anxious to fire it across the crony and monitor it's FPS and deviation for an extended period. I'll take pics for sure.

[CMBob]

Very nice job!  I have tried to refinish beech stocks in the past and had a lot of trouble with them getting blotchy.  The best luck I have had is with water base stain and using a pre-stain conditioner.  You said you used lemon oil does that keep the grain from getting blotchy and what product did you use or just straight lemon oil.  Have you ever tried mixing stain and finish together and spraying to get a more even coat?  Any information would be appreciated.

Bob

[T-Higgs]

Bob, no lemons wear injured maimed or even squeezed in the filming of this thread.  I don't use lemon oil. "Lemon yellow" was the color name of the dye or penetrating stain I used as a background color before I used the red/brown water based stain to go over the yellow. It add depth, dimension and highlights to grain when used correctly. A picture of the product is in the post along with a pic of what the stock looked like after staining it yellow. It can help add interest to boring wood grain.

As far as adding color to clear and spraying, yes, I do it all the time.  It has many uses.  When your trying to match an existing color and your very close, you can bend the color some by adding what you need to your clear. It's called shading. Think about the color wheel, if your piece is too red and you need it to be more brown, to kill some of the red you would shade with green (yellow/blue).  If your piece was too ornge and need to be more brown, you already have red and yellow so you would shade with blue.

It is also handy for making blotchy wood look more even. If your stain is chemically compatible with the finish you are spraying, you can add color to your finish and it makes to piece more evenly colored. There is a lot to know when doing this. How much color you can get away with without compromising the finishes integrity. It can start to look muddy or painted. When you get a scratch in the finish, you scratch through the color instead of just the clear. You have to be careful how you spray because overlapping adds twice the color and can leave lines. Lots to consider.

I use commercial products made by Gemini ,  mowhawk , tri-clad. Generally not things you find at lowes.

I hope that helps some. You can pm me with specifics if you need to.
Regards
Tim

[LAalex]

Nice job all the way round.  The stock looks very nice.  Looking forward to hearing how she shoots.  You used a similar method on the tube that nced uses on his.  I suggested the brake cylinder hone in the other thread.  My reason being that less experienced people (i.e. me) might be less likely to make mistakes that can't be fixed.  You obviously have a higher skill level than that.  Please keep us up to date.  I have to confess to a little envy when I read one of these posts where someone finds a diamond in the rough for a cheap price at a pawn shop.  All I ever see at those places are rusted out old single shot shotguns.

Scotty

[chalenger]

A beautiful and technical project.Thank you for sharing

[MikieG]

What bluing products did you use and where did you get them?

[T-Higgs]

Classic rust blue from Brownells.

http://www.brownells.com/userdocs/learn/Inst-598.pdf

[T-Higgs]

Well, my parts arrived and I finished reassembly. Maccari R1 kit, Maccari SS seal, 4 old school buttons, new safety and lock up springs, and lubed with ultimox. This is the first buttoned piston gun I have handled and wow, what a difference! Cocking it sooo smooth. The rifle definitely fires with some authority. Fast, no buzz, very smooth but with quite a bark. Might draw attention fro neighbors, but it is a magnum. It went from shooting 12/13 FPE to 17 FPE. I recorded two shot strings first off so as to watch how things change during break in and over time.

JSB exact .20 13.73gr.                H and N FTT .20 11.42 gr.

          740                                 830   
          734                                 838   
          736                                 825   
          747                                 835   
          750                                 831
          744                                 842
          739                                 850
          736                                 838
          749                                 840
          736                                 842

    SD 5.86                           SD 7.17
    ES 16                               ES 25
    FPE 16.74                         FPE 17.77

The JSB I the most accurate of the pellets I've tried.  Here are 3 pics of target I shot in my basement at a measured 15 yards. I was trying to be funny with the tin lid and shoot the middle of the zero in "20" but I missed the first time 😡 proving once again I'm not that cool or good. Oh well, it keeps me humble.

Pics of the finished product will come later. I still have some bling to do and I am in the market for a good scope. Something better than my trophy XLT.

By the way, it is amazing, to me, how mush installing a muzzle weight/muzzle break affects POI!  Some 16/18 clicks vertical at 33 yards! Hmmmmm?

[Sfttailrdr46]

Tim that is an amazing job and the photo journey of your project was an interesting how to do it read I'm sure that the final un-vailing will wow everyone that has followed this project great job