What to do with rusty 870 express?

[[email protected]]

I bought an old rusty 870 express today on a whim. It was $100 and it has the 20 smooth slug barrel with rifle sights. It has the wood stock which is in good shape. The metal on the barrel and some other parts of the gun is really rusty. Not, just some light surface rust but rust that has eaten the finish off in places.

What I want to know is, what are my finish options on the cheap? I want to make it look good again but I don't want to spend much money. I am thinking some type of spray paint would work but I want something that has some durability. I wouldn't mind a flat olive drab or a flat black. Is there anything I can buy at the the store that would work? Would I need a primer? I will remove all the rust before I paint of course.

Thanks.

 

[Regolith]

Take it to a gunsmith and have it re-blued. It might cost a bit more, but it will be worth it.

 

[[email protected]]

"Take it to a gunsmith and have it re-blued. It might cost a bit more, but it will be worth it."

I only paid $100 for it so that is not what I am going to do. It was not blued in the first place, it was that matte black park type finish.

A gunsmith would charge far more than I paid for the gun to reblue it. It would be about $200 for a refinish and you can buy new ones for less than $300 in the store. How would it be worth it?

 

[CWL]

Try one of the bake-on polymer gun finishes available from Brownells. It is the same finish that many gun brands use & market under proprietary names. Search for DuraCoat, GunKote, teflon/moly spray, Brownells own brand. I think it should cost you around $30 not including shipping.

You shouldn't need to use primer, but you will need to follow instructions to prepare the metal before spraying. This usually entails stripping the rust and finish to bare metal (sanding or bead blasting).

 

[Dave McCracken]

Call Brownell's. Their tech support folks are knowledgeable and helpful.

 

[WinchesterAA]

My 870 survived a housefire and several more weeks stuck in the water from the firemen, and several rainstorms...

heavy pitting on barrel and receiver, the whole gun was a big ball of rust...

I got a tip from these boards that rust-o-leum high heat grill paint is excellent for refinishing things. Costs about 4$ a can, one can did 3 guns.




before -




after -

 

[Browning]

How about sending it to Scattergun Tech/Wilson Combat and having them make it into a home defense shotgun? The have this package where they take old Remington 870's and turn them into a great HD shotgun complete with ghost ring sights.

Main Wilson Combat site.
www.wilsoncombat.com

Specific link for the work on your shotgun.
http://www.wilsoncombat.com/s_remingtion_steal.asp

It costs between $229 and $474 depending on what features you choose and what specific finish you want on it. I've read several articles where people have sent them really beat up shotguns and this came to mind as I was always impressed with the results and I've always thought abut doing this myself. I've just never had a junker Rem 870 to try it out on.

If you do this, maybe you could let me know about the results.

 

[W.E.G.]

Bronze wool is good for scrubbing the rust off, but without disturbing the remaining finish.

A real copper penny works good too on small areas of more severe rust.

As far as making it look "pretty," if you don't want to pay to refinish it professionally, its gonna have to be spray paint.

 

[Striker]

In my neck of the woods, a simple beadblast and parkerizing job runs about $55.00.

If that is to much, then as already stated Rustoleum paint will work to some degree.

 

[CZguy]

Call Brownell's. Their tech support folks are knowledgeable and helpful

+1

 

[Il Duca]

Sandblast it and Dura Coat it

 

[MD_Willington]

look for some guys doing an AK build party in your area, most times they will set up a hot blue or park tank for the receivers, make some buddies and get the park/blue done at the build party.

 

[Oldnamvet]

First job is going to be getting ALL the rust off, even in the pits. Do a search in the gunsmith forum of THR and you will find a thread on using a battery charger to remove rust electrolytically. I have done this on various tools and it works very well. The item has to be well degreased before starting that. As soon as you finish getting the rust off and get the parts dried, I would recommend using an air brush to apply duracoat (available from places like Midway and Brownells). Again, surface preparation is 90% of the success. Absolutely no grease, fingerprints, etc, before applying whatever you use. Done right, you get a really nice flat black finish that is quite rugged. Cost will be about $10 for a cheap air brush from Harbor Freight, another $25 or so for the duracoat material (if you use that). If you don't have one, borrow an air compressor and battery charger.