CLEANING-TUNE UP ?

[Matt Michael]

CLEANING-
I have a old 12 ga hammer with damascus barrels. They are a really brown color. Should I leave them alone? I was thinking a light cleaning may really help the way they look. Any suggestions on how to clean if thats the rout to take?

TUNE UP-
My gun functions fine but i would like to have it looked at by someone more knowledgeable than me. Does anyone know of a gunsmith around Cincinnati Ohio? I guess the thought of sending it off doesnt apeal to me. I would rather find someone local.

[Richard Flanders]

Can you post some pictures here? That would help everyone to judge how much restoration to do. No one will say much without seeing pictures.

[Matt Michael]

I dont know how well you will be able to see the barrels. I took these with my phone.

[Bruce Day]

G grade barrels, looking as made.

[Steve Huffman]

Your gun Bruce ? Ive been looking for a nice G.

[Richard Flanders]

That hammer gun is in pretty good condition and doesn't look like it needs too much help to me. You could spend some money on the barrels and the twist pattern would come out more or you could just lightly clean it with 0000 steel wool and Hoppes and wax it up an shoot it. You wouldn't be wasting money having Dale Edmunds do the barrels if you want to make it look a lot nicer. If it is as clean as it looks in these pics I'd be tempted to do that.

[Richard Flanders]

Your gun looks like it has twist barrels. This is what they could look like if refinished.

[Matt Michael]

Richard

Thanks for that photo. Yes that looks like my barrels only yours are nicer. I may try using the 0000 steel wool.

[Richard Flanders]

Be gentle with the steel wool. If you can find bronze wool that might be better. If you scrub it too aggressively you'll end up with no pattern at all.

[Matt Michael]

We may have some here where i work, Thanks for the info

[Drew Hause]

This might help Matt
http://www.lcsmith.org/faq/surfacerust.html

[Matt Michael]

i checked out the info on the LC Smith site. Thats interesting, I'm not sure what im going to use yet. I dont know if you would call it surface rust. The barrels are smooth. Just looks to me like 100 years worth of dirt and grime rubbed into the barrels.

Its a good shooter nothing special. I was thinking of letting someone refurbish it. What would that do to the value?

[David Holes]

If those were mine I would not use anything but oil and a soft cloth.