Flood damage browning BAR "restoration"

[platham]

So, I keep an eye on Facebook gun traders in Louisiana as well as tn and a couple others.

I just picked up what I believe is a Katrina gun. It is/was a grade IV Browning BAR in .270. I'll post pictures of the cleaning, restoring , shooting and anything else I think about for it.

please feel free to offer advice, give hints, ask questions, call me nuts for taking on this project, etc..

The first pictures are what I got from the person selling the gun, he will hopefully provide me with a few more so that a better idea can be had of what condition the gun was actually in when I got it.








scope cleaned up nicely, it originally had a yellow tint to the lenses and was rather nasty. After some 0000 steel wool and gun oil and a lens pen for the lenses, it cleaned up nicely. the last ring has one of the screws rusted in place and stripped out so I have not been able to get it out. if I can get the screw out the rings and scope mount should be salvageable for use if I can get new screws. would help the budget of the gun significantly.

the scope is very clear and works great, I'd be willing to put money that this gun was submerged for at least some period of time and this scope came out fine.....and they say leupold is over priced....



these are pictures I took at home after scrubbing a small amount at the shop while waiting for a few things. a much better idea of the condition is seen here. I believe the gas block, gas piston, and 2 or 3 other small parts are the only things that will need to be replaced. the charging handle will also have to be replaced as we broke it while beating on it with a hammer to get the action freed up.











this gives you an idea on the stocks, the salt water destroyed the fore end, but I believe that the buttstock is salvageable, so I am lucky there. I have also learned that boyd's gunstocks make stocks and forends for the BAR so I may get a set from them. I'm pretty sure it would be a lot cheaper than trying to get new ones from browning.



most of the small action parts soaking in break free CLP, the entire trigger mechanism is freely moving though I may have to replace one spring.



I got some Evaporust from school today as well (in school for machining), I have it soaking on the gas block area. the red rag was soaked with it then the entire thing was wrapped in plastic wrap. if it works well, I'll get a bottle for myself and also soak the bore with it.





as far as plans for the gun, my goal right now is to get it shooting. After that I will get a full set of stocks for it (I'll use the original stock and shoot it without the forend for function testing). After the stocks and shooting it a bit more to confirm functionality, I will see about refinishing. right now I'm jumping between a few different things. so if anyone wants to comment on what finish I should do

option one is to bead blast the entire thing and parkerize it (lowest on personal scaled, but functional nonetheless)

option two is to bead blast it and matte blue the entire thing.

option three is to bead blast the barrel and matte blue it and try to leave the receiver as is

option four is to bead blast it and then cerakote it, using stainless cerakote on the receiver and all receiver parts with the stainless cerakote and use socom blue on the barrel and all parts that were originally blued.

option 5 is any mix of the above lol

I'd love ya'lls opinions on it, the cerakote is winning so far in my mind. Any bead blasting I do, I will take into account the engraving and try to preserve as much as possible. if I go cerakote I may just polish and sand everything and not bead blast it.

I've got a few more posts on another forum, I'll transfer them over as well. in a few minutes. I'm happy to answer any and all questions on it

Edited August 1, 2015 by platham

[platham]

Trigger assembly is apart, I'm not going to take the safety out as it works fine and is completely free moving



And let the soaking and scrubbing begin.




Yay, more evaporust. I'll remove it Monday to see how it did, I'm going home for the weekend so can't check it then lol



Had to improvise a soaking container with vacuum sealer bags and the cord to keep it around the entire gun.  I first thought about using PVC pipe for it, but it turns out 2" pvc it too small to fit the barrel with gas system.  and 3" would have taken too much evaporust, so I improvised

Edited October 10, 2014 by platham

[Guest kingarmory]

I would seriously consider glass/soda blasting everything to make sure you get the rust out of the little pits, otherwise it will come back to visit later.  Got a helluva project ahead of ya, keep posting progress pics :up:

[DaveTN]

I would seriously consider glass/soda blasting everything to make sure you get the rust out of the little pits, otherwise it will come back to visit later.  Got a helluva project ahead of ya, keep posting progress pics :up:

^^This.
A glass bead blaster with super fine glass bead would make short work of that.

[platham]

I unfortunately don't have access to a glass bead blaster during the school year so I'll have to wait until next summer to do that. Right now it's just gonna be soak and scrub scrub scrub and repeat as needed

[KahrMan]

That is a great gun.  Hopefully you can get it back in shape.  I am really interested in how it turns out.

[Grand Torino]

You sure have your work cut out for you. Keep us posted.

[platham]

The gun comes out of the evaporust solution this evening after I get off work, I'm hoping it removed enough rust to be able to unscrew the gas regulator and all that on the gas system Edited October 14, 2014 by platham

[platham]

Here it is with a light rubbing with 0000 steel wool and gun oil after removing from evaporust

[Guest kingarmory]

That crap hanging on the bottom of the gas block should be the ferrule for the handguard, you should be able to remove it.

[platham]

You wouldn't happen to have a picture of own taken apart would you?

And ya, "should" was the key word lol

I think I may just take the entire gas block out of the dove tail.....

Edited October 15, 2014 by platham

[Guest kingarmory]

http://www.gunpartscorp.com/Manufacturers/Browning-33164/Rifles-35561/BAR-38573.htm

[A.J. Holst]

I knew all those car ads were good for something.

Keep posting the as you go photos, can't wait to see your finished project

[Guest kingarmory]

I think I may just take the entire gas block out of the dove tail.....

 

 

Yeah, if that block is as rusted inside as it is outside, it ain't gonna work anyways.  I would keep an eye out on Gunbroker or Ebay for some spare parts for this build.

[platham]

well here is my new dilemma, I don't have a clue what the inside is going to clean up like, and here is why (oh, I am copying posts from another forum to here so if it seems a little odd at times that's why....only want to write it once). The bore looked super rusty but once I got it clean it was fine....so who knows

So only thing I did tonight was pull a .30 cal bore snake through the bore (on another note a .308 bore snake will fit through a .270 if you have 2 people pulling....and it gets the bore very clean lol)

Anyways, I tried to get a picture of the bore and this was the best I could get. After the evaporust and the bore snake it actually looks really good, especially compared to what I was expecting lol



Oh, and do y'all think that a little bit of heat will hurt for trying to get the gas block off or at least the screws and bolts in the gas block? And I'm talking heat gun rather than torch

Edited October 16, 2014 by platham