Gunsmithing Rossi 92 and Boyd’s wood

[KYAggie]

I thought we had a lever gun section, but I can’t find it so I’m posting here. I have a Rossi 92 carbine in 44 mag. I hate the curved butt plate so I bought a Boyd’s stock set for it. They say that it will need minor fitting. Yeah. A little more than minor. I had to sand quite a bit to get the barrel ring to not crack the forearm. So much that I sanded through the very thin wood that’s suppose to be between the magazine tube and the barrel. I suppose I could have taken even more off the outside of the forearm, but I already had to take off quite a bit. I have no idea why they even bother to finish these stocks as I’ll have to strip and refinish it anyway after fitting.

My idea is to wrap the mag tube with one layer of painters tape, spray the heck out of it and the barrel with RAM 225 mound release, and carefully bed them with Acra Glass Gel. Then strip and refinish with Tung oil I have on hand. I might stain it darker before applying the Tung oil.

Any other great ideas that would accomplish the same thing?

If you look close in the picture down the barrel, you will see that who ever drilled the sight holes not only didn’t get them lined up with the top of the barrel, they aren’t even in line with each other. So much for my idea of installing a picatiny rail to put a red dot sight on……I know that would be sacrilegious anyway.

 

[CNJarvis]

Brown Acraglass is probably your best bet for that. Tung oil if that’s what you like, but I prefer something a bit more durable, like Brownells’ Acra-Coat for Wood.

It also looks like you have a bit more wood on one side of that fore end than the other, so you can still take a little off if necessary and even it up.

 

[KYAggie]

Thanks. I’ll definitely even it up. I’ve never heard of Accra-Coat, but will look into it. Ultimately, I would like a medium to dark walnut colored stock that looks like a oil finish.

 

[Makinchips208]

Sorry to hear of the issues. And I don’t know much about what to do with that. However i did have one of them in stainless steel. I sanded it and did tongue oil on it. Turned out nice.

Also did spring and follower from Steve’s Gunz, as well as shortened a couple of the other springs, polished the action. Made it smooth as silk.

 

[KYAggie]

I have the springs from Steve’s as well as the follower. I have his dvd too, I just have to find a way to play it in this now digital world.

I sanded it and did tongue oil on it. Turned out nice.

Any chance you have pictures of how yours turned out with the tung oil?

 

[Makinchips208]

I have the springs from Steve’s as well as the follower. I have his dvd too, I just have to find a way to play it in this now digital world.




Any chance you have pictures of how yours turned out with the tung oil?

Sorry I don’t. Original wood was quite red., almost like they had some red die on it. After the tongue oil it was more of a brown and much richer looking.
And I sold it during a lapse of sanity.

 

[KYAggie]

I hope that lack of sanity is not contagious . I would mess with the original stock, but I hate that curved butt plate and it would be very short if I cut it out, even with a new pad.

 

[KYAggie]

I Acraglased it yesterday. I sprayed the parts I needed to release three times with RAM225 and they thankfully came apart. I did have to use some persuasion with a rubber mallet to get the magazine tube out, but it did release. I did not wait 10 hours like the instructions said, but knocked it out after 5 hours when the extra mixture in the mixing bowel had set up. Here’s what it looks like now. Now I just need to strip the finish off this forearm and the rear stock and refinish them.

 

[KYAggie]

I couldn’t get a good shot down the mag tube hole, but I’m happy with how it turned out. I had put a layer of blue painters tape around it so it would not be such a tight fit when I reassemble it. It turned out to have a tighter fit than the original stock, but loose enough not to be a problem when putting it back together, which is exactly what I was going for.

 

[308pirate]

@Bigfatcock

 

[KYAggie]

On a side note. I broke the front band screw in the process. I called Rossi USA and they were useless. They couldn’t tell me where I could get one nor what the thread pitch is. Crazy. I’ll take the band to a local hardware store and see if I can figure it out. If not, I’ll recut them threads to something else to fix it. I can’t wait to see the face of the salesman in the local hardware store when I tell him what the band goes too; I’m 9 miles west of downtown Chiraq.

Anyone know what the thread pitch is on that screw? An internet search was mostly a bust, one person said it was 6-32, but it was a old thread. I’ll start there I suppose. I emailed Steve’s, but haven’t heard back yet.

 

[Bigfatcock]

@Bigfatcock

Spray paint is the answer for laminate.

ETA: I reread the OP and realized it’s not a laminate. I’d need to see pictures of it in sunlight before I can recommend a finish process.

 

[Jefe's Dope]

On a side note. I broke the front band screw in the process. I called Rossi USA and they were useless. They couldn’t tell me where I could get one nor what the thread pitch is. Crazy. I’ll take the band to a local hardware store and see if I can figure it out. If not, I’ll recut them threads to something else to fix it. I can’t wait to see the face of the salesman in the local hardware store when I tell him what the band goes too; I’m 9 miles west of downtown Chiraq.

Anyone know what the thread pitch is on that screw? An internet search was mostly a bust, one person said it was 6-32, but it was a old thread. I’ll start there I suppose. I emailed Steve’s, but haven’t heard back yet.

If you find a source for screws, specifically action screws, please share. I've lost what seems to be either a access screw or peep screw on the side of the action of one of my 92s. It doesn't seem to serve a purpose of holding anything together nor does it seem to affect function.

This one but it's on my blued version.

 

[KYAggie]

I’d need to see pictures of it in sunlight before I can recommend a finish process.

It’s walnut below the existing finish. The hand guard has a lot of the original finish left. The stock does not as I tried to strip it with High-Speed Ready Strip which didn’t work that great. It is the citrus paint and varnish remover one, but it sprayed out like a white gel and dried pretty fast, but didn’t seem to strip much of anything. I’ll probably have to sand it off unless you have another suggestion.

I’m trying to get a hand oiled medium to dark walnut look. If the wood is dark enough without adding color then I would go that direction. I have pure Tung oil from the Milk Paint Company and I realize it could take 5-7 coats and about as many weeks to get it done properly. Perhaps there is a better way, I’m open to all suggestions!

 

[Bigfatcock]

Citristrip gel. Apply it generously, and wrap in Saran Wrap for an hour.

Use plastic scrapers to remove the majority of the finish. It should scrape right off, but if you run into spots that don’t, then don’t force it. Apply more citristrip gel to those spots, let it work it’s magic, and scrape.

You should be removing 99% of the finish with the scrapers. Don’t heavy hand the scraping.

Once all is stripped, let it dry for about a week.

Then sand lightly. You should be able to start at 220. Use sanding blocks. All you’re looking to do is ensure the old finish is off, NOT CHANGE DIMENSIONS of the stock.

Once done sanding, wipe it with water to grain raise. Probably not necessary, but doesn’t hurt. Knock all the fuzzies off with a 3M final finish pad. I do not use steel wool.

Try some TRU-Oil in an unseen spot and see if that gives you the color you want. If so, then I’d recommend that finish since the stock isn’t highly figured. If you want to grain fill, then apply the Tru-oil heavy and sand it in with 400 grit. Sand with the grain at this point just to create a slurry. Once slurry is made, WIPE it across the grain. You may have to do this more than once….or just use Crystalac clear grain filler and skip all that shit.

I usually do my first 2-4 coats with a 2:1 Tru-oil/mineral spirits mix. Soaks in better. Put it on kind of heavy, let it soak in for about 5-10 minutes, and wipe off. Let dry overnight. Just don’t let it get tacky before you wipe it off.

 

[Bigfatcock]

Looks like their might be some nice color. Hard to tell with it dry. If you want it darker then it is now, then you’ll probably need to stain or dye it. A good mix for ho/hum walnut is 25/75 minwax gunstock/dark walnut. Gives it the more natural reddish-orange hue of air dried walnut.

 

[KYAggie]

Thanks for the advice! I’ll get the citra strip and use as suggested. If I use the Crystalac to fill the grain then I should go to the 2:1 Tru-oi/mineral spirits mix? Or should I only use Crystalac with Tung oil? I’ve never used Tru-Oil, but it should be easy fir me to find, I think just about any gun shop should have it.

 

[Bigfatcock]

Tru-oil is a pretty damned good finish. Easily applied, easily repaired, and available.

I’ve used crystalac with all oil based finishes. Just ensure you let it dry all the way because it’s a water based grain filler.

If you use crystalac over an oil based stain, ensure the stain is fully dried first.

You can actually use the 2:1 tru-oil/mineral spirits for either method of grain filling.

I use the thinned tru-oil for the first 2-4 coats to ensure it soaks deep, and it helps the chatoyance. You see as you apply additional coats that the mix goes further and further. You are BUILDING a finish. I’ll usually finish with the last 2 coats applied uncut.

I use a high quality brush to apply the uncut finish and sand between coats for an extreme high gloss. If I just want the rubbed look, then I’ll just rub in a full strength coat last, and hit it with a 3M final finish pad.

 

[KYAggie]

Here is what the stock looks like with water on it and yeah, it’s very smooth in the areas with no finish, not much if any of the grain has raised. It might have had the grain filled at Boyd’s. Not sure if the stripper will mess that up or not, but it has to be stripped anyway.

 

[Bigfatcock]

Here is what the stock looks like with water on it and yeah, it’s very smooth in the areas with no finish, not much if any of the grain has raised. It might have had the grain filled at Boyd’s. Not sure if the stripper will mess that up or not, but it has to be stripped anyway.

View attachment 7921435View attachment 7921436

That’s pretty close to what it’ll look like once finished if you don’t color it. Do a test spot on the stock with the oil and see if that is the color you want.

 

[KYAggie]

So will Tru-oil give it about the same color as water, or will it be slightly darker?

We were typing at the same time. I’ll test it.

 

[Bigfatcock]

So will Tru-oil give it about the same color as water, or will it be slightly darker?

It’ll be a little darker, but not much. Try it on a spot on the inside of the hand guard or stock and see what it looks like.

 

[KYAggie]

Will do, I’ll pick some up and give it a test next week after the stock dries from stripping. I’ll post pics again when I do it.

Thanks again for the all the help!

 

[Bigfatcock]

No problem. Can’t wait to see the finished product!

 

[308pirate]

Tru-oil is a pretty damned good finish. Easily applied, easily repaired, and available.

Word

 

[KYAggie]

Here’s where I am so far. I stripped the stock with Citra-strip with the suggested method; it worked much better. Sanded with 220, though it had 320, but didn’t, so I skipped on up to 400 then 600. I’m wetting it with a wet paper towel, letting it dry, then going over it lightly with a 3M final pad. I’m on the third iteration of that. Here are some pictures with it wet. I‘ll have to test the color, but I’m leaning toward the 25/75 stain mix above; it’s really brown with water on it and could use a little red tint and darling up. We shall see.

 

[Bigfatcock]

Do some testing in an inconspicuous spot with the stain mix. The dark walnut stain is very strong so you may have to modify ratios.

I’d also knock it back to 320 grit. I usually only go that high (600+) on the super oily hardwoods since you just polish those and don’t need a finish. For woods like walnut I only use as high as 400 grit for endgrain so it doesn’t absorb so much and end up darker than the rest.

Looks really good so far though.

Below is 100% minwax gunstock on a refinished mossberg stock:

 

[KYAggie]

I’ll get some 320 and knock it back. I did notice it starting to kind of polish parts of the stock. If I understand you correctly, if I leave it like that, the “polished” areas will not absorb as much stain and the stock will look splotchy. Is that correct?

That Mossberg stock looks nice! I would not have guessed it would be that dark from 100% Gunstock stain. Definitely going to do some test spots inside the hand guard. I‘ll grab some Tru-oil this weekend.

In the meantime, I took the action apart, put in a Stevez extractor spring and smoothed up the action with 400, 600, and 1000 grit paper as well as 220 and 600 grit lapping compound for the areas I could not sand. I could not believe how rough it was and how many burrs there were that needed addressing. I just need to lube it and put it back together. Should be interesting to see if all my work made a difference.

 

[Bigfatcock]

It looks a good bit redder in bright sunlight. The wood also started darker.

To answer the question on the 600 grit, yes, you are correct. However, the water absorption on your stock looks pretty even.

 

[KYAggie]

Got around to staining the stock today. I did a test of stains inside the hand guard and determined I liked a 1:3 ratio of Minwax Dark Walnut to Gun Stock. I’ll let it dry a week before applying Tru-oil. The grain did not raise at all when applying the stain; it’s smooth as a baby’s butt.

 

[Bigfatcock]

Looking good!

 

[KYAggie]

Looking good!

Thanks! I have a question. Can I still fill the grain after staining by putting Tru-oil on and lightly sanding with the grain with 400 grit and if so, should I use the 2:1 mixture Tru-oil:Minersl Spirits or full strength Tru-oil? I am very please with how it’s turning out so far. It’s so smooth, I’m not even sure I need to fill the grain.

 

[Bigfatcock]

Thanks! I have a question. Can I still fill the grain after staining by putting Tru-oil on and lightly sanding with the grain with 400 grit and if so, should I use the 2:1 mixture Tru-oil:Minersl Spirits or full strength Tru-oil? I am very please with how it’s turning out so far. It’s so smooth, I’m not even sure I need to fill the grain.

Yes, you can still fill, but be easy on the sanding so you don’t cut through the stain. Full strength will work.

If it feels smooth, and you like it, then don’t grain fill.

 

[Modoc]

In reply to your question about the missing screw on the left side of the receiver, it is a plug screw to alow acces to the pin that holds the lever in the bolt. There should be a punch hole on the right side that allows you to drift the pin out though the hole that the screw came out of.

I like how your finish is coming out. I refinished the stocks on a pair of Browning ‘92’s because their plastic overcoat was cracking from hard use (Cowboy Action Min Match Guns). My finish was Minwax Medium Walnut followed by Truoil. Not as nice of a finish, but they got used hard.

I have several 1892 Winchesters, both original and Reproduction and the wood between the barrel and magazine tube is thin on all of them.

Enjoy your woods rifle.

 

[CNJarvis]

Lookin’ good!

I had to correct some sapwood on the stock of my Win. 94 AE and wound up using that same ratio but with red mahogany instead of gunstock.

 

[KYAggie]

Update. I finally got around to putting the Tru-oil on the stock. I cut the first coat 2:1 with mineral spirits. I’ve sanded with 400 between coats. It’s quite glossy. The first picture is after the 4th coat; the second picture is the opposite side after the 4th coat and after hitting it with a 3M final finish pad. I’m wanting to get it to a matte oil rubbed look if I can. Even after the 3M pad it’s still quite glossy. I suspect I should continue to sand with 400 grit and put on more Tru-oil to build up and level the surface. Perhaps the gloss is coming from micro low areas due to grain, that the 3M pad is not touching.

 

[Bigfatcock]

Leave it glossy AF to get more poon tang.

 

[KYAggie]

. That’s funny. Yeah the glossy stock makes it look like a kids BB gun; but it’s not.

 

[Bigfatcock]

. That’s funny. Yeah the glossy stock makes it look like a kids BB gun; but it’s not.

I’m a huge fan of gloss. Always have been.

You could hit it with some 0000 steel wool. Now that a finish is on it, you don’t have to worry about steel particles being embedded in the wood. Wipe it off really well afterwards, and hit it with some paste wax.

 

[KYAggie]

Finally got it finished and put back together. It took 7 coats of Tru-oil. I then knocked the gloss off with 0000 steel wool and waxed it with Renaissance wax. I’m very pleased with the result, can’t wait to get it out to the range. It should be much more comfortable to shoot with the pad; it had a steel crescent before.

My recommendation to anyone buying a Boyd’s stock for a Rossi is to get it unfinished even though it costs more naked. It’s worth it as the fitting that will be required will mess up the factory finish anyway and you will end up spending time stripping it. Besides, the finish I put on it is much betterthan the finish Boyd’s put on it.

 

[Bigfatcock]

Finally got it finished and put back together. It took 7 coats of Tru-oil. I then knocked the gloss off with 0000 steel wool and waxed it with Renaissance wax. I’m very pleased with the result, can’t wait to get it out to the range. It should be much more comfortable to shoot with the pad; it had a steel crescent before.

My recommendation to anyone buying a Boyd’s stock for a Rossi is to get it unfinished even though it costs more naked. It’s worth it as the fitting that will be required will mess up the factory finish anyway and you will end up spending time stripping it. Besides, the finish I put on it is much betterthan the finish Boyd’s put on it.


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Outstanding job!

 

[KYAggie]

Outstanding job!

Thanks! I certainly appreciate all your guidance, it was spot on. I learned a lot doing this stock and will be working on a Garand stock next.

I worked on the action too. I can’t believe how rough the internals were. I used 400-1000 grit sandpaper as well as 200 and 600 grit lapping compound. It’s very smooth now and trigger is butter smooth.

 

[buggz]

GREAT thread, been seesawing on a local purchase of 45LC Rossi R92 with cracked foreend stock.
STILL undecided, sigh...

 

[Bigfatcock]

Thanks! I certainly appreciate all your guidance, it was spot on. I learned a lot doing this stock and will be working on a Garand stock next.

I worked on the action too. I can’t believe how rough the internals were. I used 400-1000 grit sandpaper as well as 200 and 600 grit lapping compound. It’s very smooth now and trigger is butter smooth.

For the Garand stock, I’ll point you in the direction of @pmclaine.

 

[KYAggie]

GREAT thread, been seesawing on a local purchase of 45LC Rossi R92 with cracked foreend stock.
STILL undecided, sigh...

That’s an easy one; if the price is decent, GET IT! If you like the stock it has, Acraglas Gel it to repair the crack. If you don’t, get a Boyds unfinished set for it. These are fun guns to plink with and stuff a 250-300 grain gas checked hard cast bullet in front of a stiff charge of H110 and they make a fine deer or black bear gun under 100 yards.

 

[MK20]

I've got the octagon barrel 24 inch 44 mag. It is very accurate and I love it.

 

[308pirate]

Finally got it finished and put back together. It took 7 coats of Tru-oil. I then knocked the gloss off with 0000 steel wool and waxed it with Renaissance wax. I’m very pleased with the result, can’t wait to get it out to the range. It should be much more comfortable to shoot with the pad; it had a steel crescent before.

My recommendation to anyone buying a Boyd’s stock for a Rossi is to get it unfinished even though it costs more naked. It’s worth it as the fitting that will be required will mess up the factory finish anyway and you will end up spending time stripping it. Besides, the finish I put on it is much betterthan the finish Boyd’s put on it.


View attachment 7965582View attachment 7965584 View attachment 7965583

Looks awesome

Years ago I bought a beater 16 gage Ithaca Model 37 from 1947. I tore it down and sent the metal to get reblued and re-did the furniture with Tru-Oil. It turned out just as good as yours.

I always thinned the Tru-Oil for every coat that kept the shine down.

 

[KYAggie]

I've got the octagon barrel 24 inch 44 mag. It is very accurate and I love it.

Nice! I have a case hardened EMF 45 Colt with the 20” Octagon barrel. I’m just getting around to reloading for it.

I have not shot this 44 mag much; that’s about to change. The holes for the rear sight are not aligned to each other nor are the top dead center. The front sight actually looks a little canted to the right, just slightly to my eye, leaving me thinking tge barrel might not be aligned properly. Oh well, I’m going to shoot it first to see if any of that matters. Hopefully it’s accurate and I can forget about it.

 

[Mike Casselton]

GREAT thread, been seesawing on a local purchase of 45LC Rossi R92 with cracked foreend stock.
STILL undecided, sigh...

I'd be all over it if the price was acceptable.