Restoration Recommendations Needed
 

I recently recovered my 20ga. repro after having been stolen in 1999. Absolutely amazing to have it back, but it is in pretty rough shape. Areas of rust on the surface of the barrels and receiver. The stock also needs attention. I would like to restore the gun. Any suggestions of who to contact or advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Maybe you will get information at this link, good luck.
http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=18751

On our home page there is a links section that has several listings for reputable Smiths that can service your gun.

Rust bluing the barrels is relatively straight forward. Repros were originally cyanide case colored, and i do not know who might be able to replicate that these days if a true "restoration" of your repro is desired. However, tepro actions color nicely using traditional bone charcoal methods like ameriden Parkers were. The trigger plate bridge is soldered in on the repros, so they just have to be tack welded in place before case coloring is done.


Congrats on getting your gun back after all this time. I am sure there is a story behind thay saga.

Thank you very much.

Contact our member Brad Bachelder....he offers complete and correct finishes....You can see pictures of his work here. I know they have been posted in the past. SXS Ohio

+1 for Brad. Glad you got your gun back I had a LC Smith 28 gauge I had built up stolen this past year. Hope some day it shows up.

Thanks. I've been reading through past threads and Brad's name comes up quite frequently. He's now top of my list to contact. Appreciate the confirmation.

Brad is great.
Let us know who does cyanide.
I hope we hear your story of recovery and restoration. It would make a great Parker Pages article.

By the way the color so quickly rubs off and flakes off a Repro I wonder if it really is cyannide or simply some kind of metal stain?
It's not like the frame needs to be hardened with the superior alloys used in the '80's and '90's.






.

Might be some sort of a stain that mimics the look of cyanide colors. Whatevr it is, it is not a high enough twmp process to melt a solder joint.

Don't overlook Brain Dudley. I'm sure he can manage a proper restoration of your repro for you.

One thing I would have done if it were mine is to have the correct mullered borders done on the checkering. I would also go with a more traditional Parker finish on the wood rather than the hard urethane of the repro's

Keeping in mind that the Repros are a duplication of the late Remington Parkers and they didn't have mullered borders like the Meriden guns did.
If the owner wants the frame color case hardened in the 'bone charcoal' method then by all means have the borders mullered in the Meriden style.





.

Re: the 'durability' of the 'case colouring' ...

I've used one of my Repros, maybe 5x in Clay target competition. ( 150 shells at most )

Still amazed at how quickly the receiver has turned to silver !

Probably, why I baulk at using my other ( SCC ) Repro.

P.S. I'm Australian, in case anyone is wondering about my 'creative' spelling. Lol

On Repros that I use regularly I apply a light coat of Tru-Oil periodically. When I say light I mean light. I have found this to significantly protect the Case Color.
Bob Jurewicz

Brian Dudley should not be overlooked.

As far as PRESERVING case colors, I am happy to have the colors wear off as I use them on clays or on the beach. I buy Repros to use. I am proud to have the gun show the wear.
If I didn't want to lose any case, I would keep them in the safe. But I am not the norm and I accept that.

:corn:






.

In my experience refinishing Parker repros, the metal finish is not a result of any hardening process. It appears to be a photo film process. We strip these receivers with M.E.K. prior to polishing.

Brad