ruggedruger
Single-Sixer
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2009
- Messages
- 462
Got an old Stevens 311 from someone awhile back. The gun had been sitting, exposed in an old house, with no A/C for years. When I picked it up, for example, it was a humid summer night and all the windows were open. It is fairly rusty, but not covered. The gun had this terrible, opaque finish on it. Almost a stain, almost a paint! I figured it wasn't a 'tenite' stock though I'd never seen one, and it didn't seem walnut, so I assumed birch.
It has a serial # that starts with the letter "D", followed by six numbers. I've read to different stories: 1) That a D prefix means it was built in 1954. 2) That pre-1968 guns only had a date 'code', and no letter in the serial #. The code would be a letter "D" for example, enclosed in a circle or something like that. So, really not sure when this gun was made.
The receiver is case-hardened. The rest is blued.
I disassembled the gun, and sprayed a coat of Citrus Strip on the wooden parts, finding two different woods. The buttstock, which I cleaned up first, appears to birch. The foreend came out darker and it appears to be walnut. (Note: I still have a few pieces to clean up, and neither has been sanded at all, just the stripping has been near done).
I had originally planned to buy a walnut stock set at some time, since I figured this to be birch. I really don't have the money at the moment to go that route. If I stick with the current setup, how could/should I stain the two pieces? If it was all walnut, would you just go Tru-oil? Should I go that route and stain the stock to match for now? Maybe I should just go ahead and buy the stock in walnut since I have the foreend. That'd make a nicer gun for sure.
I will have some other photos to add, along with questions, regarding the metal portions of this gun, and those will come later.
> Is there such a thing as "real" case hardening and otherwise?
> There appears to be a small crack in the stock where it meets the receiver.
> Also, the wood of the stock is wider than the receiver and needs to be sanded down to fit properly.
That's a pretty plain-looking foreend. I never guessed it was walnut underneath.
This is about as bad as the rust gets:
A comparison of the wood grain of the two pieces.
It has a serial # that starts with the letter "D", followed by six numbers. I've read to different stories: 1) That a D prefix means it was built in 1954. 2) That pre-1968 guns only had a date 'code', and no letter in the serial #. The code would be a letter "D" for example, enclosed in a circle or something like that. So, really not sure when this gun was made.
The receiver is case-hardened. The rest is blued.
I disassembled the gun, and sprayed a coat of Citrus Strip on the wooden parts, finding two different woods. The buttstock, which I cleaned up first, appears to birch. The foreend came out darker and it appears to be walnut. (Note: I still have a few pieces to clean up, and neither has been sanded at all, just the stripping has been near done).
I had originally planned to buy a walnut stock set at some time, since I figured this to be birch. I really don't have the money at the moment to go that route. If I stick with the current setup, how could/should I stain the two pieces? If it was all walnut, would you just go Tru-oil? Should I go that route and stain the stock to match for now? Maybe I should just go ahead and buy the stock in walnut since I have the foreend. That'd make a nicer gun for sure.
I will have some other photos to add, along with questions, regarding the metal portions of this gun, and those will come later.
> Is there such a thing as "real" case hardening and otherwise?
> There appears to be a small crack in the stock where it meets the receiver.
> Also, the wood of the stock is wider than the receiver and needs to be sanded down to fit properly.
That's a pretty plain-looking foreend. I never guessed it was walnut underneath.
This is about as bad as the rust gets:
A comparison of the wood grain of the two pieces.