I've always wanted to have my grandfather's inexpensive shotgun restored. It's a old Stevens double barrel. I have never came across anybody that does this work. My grandsons will get this in time making it their great great grandfather's gun. Anyone know where to get this done? Thanks.

OOOH What model stevens is it? It may not be as INEXSPENSIVE as you think !!!!!!!!

IF and only if you are handy man then you can do it yourself . Google each process. The stock and fore arm refinishing is easy enough . You can get kits to re-blue the metal. The cold blue procedure has improved a lot over the years. I just redid an old western auto 20 gauge back in the summer.
I ran into one issue on this gun. The receiver was aluminum and the blueing solution wouldn't turn it. But the Stevens' 311 or 311 C should be all steel.

Nice job on the wood refinishing, jbyrd. That's a very well figured piece of wood, too.



Charlie

Depends on what's wrong with it and how much you want done to it. I had a vintage Parker that was in really rough shape that I had restored. There are not a lot of people out there competent to do really fine restoration work on quality guns. Yours is sentimental value and you know going in you'll never recoup your money. Doug Turnbull is a name you might want to check out.

Its not too hard to do yourself.I redid my old 30-06 savage bear killer that I abused for years.Glad I did when I seen the wood underneath the old original finish.



Those tiger stripes shimmer and dance when you move the gun around.Never knew there was wood like that under the cheap factory paint.

That is pretty sharp! Can't believe they covered that up to begin with!

Yes, Exactly!

The wood on mine is walnut and I did redo it when I was in high school. 50 years ago. My dad stored it in a closet and one barrel is rusted bad on the outside near the receiver. Yep it won't be sold I don't think. jbyrd63 I don't find a model number. Nice work Boco. Posco I will check him out.

These old eyes ain't what they use to be. Got it out in the sunlight and found the model number. It's a 530a. I did send in for a quote to Turnbull. I can do the wood but comfortable with the bluing.

Also check out Ahlmans of Minnesota.Their website now,says 2-3 months.It used to be 2-3 weeks.I had them checker a rifle for me,a couple years ago.The price was very reasonable,the work was great and I had it back in 2 weeks.There time estimates are usually right on.

Well Turnbull got back to me. Starting price for restoration started out at $3700. Still checking.

Scary, isn't it! Twenty, thirty, fifty thousand dollar shotguns are out there and they're more common than a lot of guys know. They'll go higher than that. Turnbull would probably be one of the guys you'd entrust that type of gun to. I had a guy out of Ct. do my stuff and it broke my heart when he quit taking in private work. Nowadays he only does work repair/restoration work for British gun builders.

I used to work at Turnbull. Expensive, yes. But the quality is top notch. This is an old Stevens (Sears & Roebuck) that I bought for 20.00 a lifetime ago. Working there, I had it fluffed up to look better than when it was new.

Also customized my Marlin Guide Gun back in 2010. Over $ 2,000 to do this work if I did it now.

thats cool,ahlmans is about a mile from me,i know most of the guys out there,good bunch of people

You still need to hire someone to do it for you, but that price is paying for the name. I bet there are guys in your area that can do the work and you'd be very satisfied with the results for far less money, $6-800 would be fair IMO. Turnbull is the place people use when they have super high dollar guns or more money than sense.

If it's a side by side, just be sure they're going to rust blue your barrels. Saw a few "restorations" that used hot blue. Barrel ribs come undone at those temps with the hot blue salts.

American Bluing & Guns LLC

Remember, Gun screws have hollow ground slots (parallel) so you cannot/should NEVER, use regular screwdriver’s since they are tapered and can easily twist/flip out of the slot damaging it.
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