Poor 870

[crazysarge16]

Recently, my dad has been helping his sister clean out her house. To say she is a hoarder would be putting it nicely. She hasn’t thrown anything away since the 1980s. She’s been like that for awhile, always refusing family offers to help clean out the house until recently. Sad part is she is only doing it now cause the daughter she took care of her whole life due to physical/mental disabilities has passed away. She went to look for some paperwork, couldn’t find it and at that point realized she needed help. My father and his two brothers agreed to help out and pitched in and got a dumpster. They’ve been working for days getting stuff cleaned out of the house. On the plus side, a lot of it inside the house is stuff brand new in the bags.

They knew she had a few guns inside the house because her late husband used to hunt with them. They were expecting to find a few older shotguns and 22 rifles, which they did.

Probably the worse is this 870. It was my late uncles main hunting shotgun for awhile according to my dad. They hadn’t seen it in years, and it’s probably the worse out of everything.

My dad asked me what he should do in attempt to try to clean it up. I told him first to heavily disinfect it, since we have no clue what was in that house. After that, to spray it heavily with ballistol and let it sit overnight. Come back next day with some paper towels and just wipe it off to start.

Im trying to talk my dad into doing an electroylsis tank, since that would be the best method to remove the majority of it in my mind. We had one at the house I had built but think it got tossed.

Anyone else have any suggestions?

 

[Jerzsubbie]

I wonder if soda blasting would do the trick in this case. Haven’t done it myself but I’ve seen it done and i believe soda is less aggressive than normal “sand”.

 

[Spartan]

Other media like crushed walnut shells

 

[dman24]

A copper scrubber or copper penny will remove the rust without harming the finish. The new frontier metal cleaner pad will also. I used one of them to rescue my Grandpas 3030 but it wasn’t as bad as yours. You will likely have to refinish it in some way after the rust is removed. It appears that it has ate away at the finish.

 

[GymB]

I’m scared for the condition of the internals.

I’d tear it all the way down before doing anything. Best case would probably be to prep for cerakote, how are you with draw filing and polishing?

 

[contender]

Disassembly,,, then a soak in "Evaporust" to remove the rusting. Clean & polish. Reblue as necessary. Or, as noted,, cerrakote, or even parkerizing.

 

[Pogue]

Lightly scuff it with some scotch bright. Wipe it down a pre cleaner, spray some clear over it, wait for it to dry and hang it over the mantle with its patina. I know sentiment make people go to extra lengths sometimes, but the values not solely in its functionality.

 

[CarolinaColtCollector]

I’ve doused stuff like this in hoppes before and cleaned it with a #0000 steel wool pad. Though a copper pad would probably work just as well.

 

[DrScaryGuy]

I’m scared for the condition of the internals.

I’d tear it all the way down before doing anything. Best case would probably be to prep for cerakote, how are you with draw filing and polishing?

but you won't need to stake those shell latches if they're rusted in place

 

[Jabroni]

Evaporust. Soak it overnight. Itll remove all rust (and any bluing). Super cheap and easy option, no elbow grease needed.

 

[powwowell]

Those pictures make me sad. My first "nice" firearm was a 1967 Remington 870 Wingmaster. Absolutely Gorgeous. 30" full choke barrel. It was my do all hunter. Squirrels, rabbits, doves, ducks, even deer. Shot the shell latches loose, a few times. Staked them back, on the kitchen table. Sold it in 1972 to help finance a Remington 1100 purchase. I still have the 1100, and still miss the 870! I don't hunt any more, but I sure would like to have that 870, beside the 1100 , in the safe.

 

[Etruett]

I would love to have that gun for a restoration project.

 

[Bunsen]

@crazysarge16 that looks like an ideal project to have Cerakoted. If you're still in the Quay the guys at FG&G can put you in touch with a great coater in the area, Big Oak.

I have a S&W 637 that was stolen and recovered. It doesn't look as bad as your 870 but it's going to get a new finish once I get around to disassembling it.

 

[Grits]

I bought a 870 Wingmaster of a guy on the old forum that was from the BCSD. The gun had been coated. On one side of the receiver you could see where the gun had laid in some liquid and had rusted pretty bad. Still functional.

On this gun, deal with the rust then coat it. It'll still do the job.

Sent from my SM-J320V using Tapatalk

 

[crazysarge16]

My dad has been slowly working on this, they didn’t finish with his sisters house until the other week. Then he spent the past weekend helping me move and this weekend fixing stuff around my new house.

He was able to completely disassembly the 870, made a little container where he could let the parts soak and left it for a few days.

came back a few days later, oil was dark brown/black. Pulled everything out and then wiped everything off really good. Then slowly started just use brass 0000 coated in ballistol to get the rust off.
So far, it’s cleaning up really nice, though does have some pitting. My uncle was known for being rough on his stuff, my dad said even before he cleaned the barrel it was filfthy from probably never being cleaned

Barrel is of legal length, my dad nor his brothers remember exactly why or when he did this. They remember him taking it with them hunting, but not that the barrel has been cut.
plan is to get all the rust cleaned off, check function, test fire, clean it up again leaving it really well oiled, and return to her. Will probably give her a case to keep it in so hopefully doesn’t rust again

My dad is probably going to end up with it one day, at least he hopes. She still hasn’t made up her mind. But on the plus, she did give him a cool little Italian 25 ACP that’s seen better days

 

[crazysarge16]

Only part we’ve replaced was the magazine tube spring and follower, mainly because the spring had lost tension and my aunt had asked if possible if we could make it easier to see it was unloaded.