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Remington 511 .22 restoration
https://www.waguns.org/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=82894
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Author:  SPLATT [ Sun Jul 16, 2017 12:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Remington 511 .22 restoration

First off a shout out to Casey(Tincanbandit) on the job he did on the bluing,it looks phenomenal.

A Remington 511 that I inherited from my dad. He bought it when he was in high school in the late 50s to hunt squirrels on the farm in Minnesota. I got it from him in about 1998ish for camping trips. It had been in storage since about 1965 when my dad was drafted and was in rough but not bad shape considering how it was stored for most of its life. It had some surface rust with some light pitting but nothing real deep and the stock showed wear and tear in the finish but no dents or penetrating scratches. I told him I'd clean up the rust and reblue it. So I got it all cleaned up and got the cold bluing kit and redid it. Well as a lot of you know cold bluing an entire gun usually has less than desirable results. I decided that it functioned well enough so I just left it as is and shot it as is.

Fast forward till about 4/5 years ago I was going over it after a range session and was a bit disgusted with how it was looking. Minus the rust it looked worse than when I got it. So I pulled it apart and started sanding and polishing out the metalwork and then it ended up getting shoved aside while I worked on other projects. About 3/4 months ago I came across it while doing work on my other guns and decided that it has to get done ASAP. So I finished polishing up the metal parts and dropped them off with Casey for bluing. While the parts were off being blued I turned my attention to the stock. I'm not a wood worker so I hit up my brother in law for advise on refinishing the stock. With the information from him and other sources I stripped it down and refinished it. All the parts came back together this past Thursday and I got to work reassembling it all.

Everything is original to the rifle with the exception of the scope and rings. The scope my dad had on it is a 3/4" J.C. Higgens 4x which I find a bit difficult to use with as in has a very narrow eye relief. I topped it with a Leupold VX-1 2x7 28 scope in Burris steel rings.

I only wish he was still around to see how it turned out but we did get to go shooting once about a year before he passed.

Well enough with my life story here's the pics.
http://imgur.com/8pJK65k
http://imgur.com/SsXIZLV
http://imgur.com/hgtJvSA
http://imgur.com/EdEOWyU
http://imgur.com/Qt9g1MW
http://imgur.com/3ivcKrD
http://imgur.com/sueCYYe
http://imgur.com/PVkTX1z

Author:  edogg [ Sun Jul 16, 2017 12:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Remington 511 .22 restoration

Man that's sweet! Looks brand new!

Some people frown upon refinishing vintage guns. But I say that if it's an heirloom like yours, clean it up and make it nice.

I've got an old Marlin 30-30 from the late 1800's that was my great grandfather's rifle. My dad had it reblued and I'm glad he did.


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Author:  SPLATT [ Sun Jul 16, 2017 12:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Remington 511 .22 restoration

edogg wrote:
Man that's sweet! Looks brand new!

Some people frown upon refinishing vintage guns. But I say that if it's an heirloom like yours, clean it up and make it nice.

I've got an old Marlin 30-30 from the late 1800's that was my great grandfather's rifle. My dad had it reblued and I'm glad he did.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



If it had been in better condition when I got it I would have just cleaned it and left it alone otherwise but it needed attention. 30 plus years being poorly stored didn't do it any favors and it probably would have been in worse shape if my dad hadn't coated it generously in motor oil before it went into storage. It spent at least 20 years in our garage attic in a cotton sheath of sorts he had made for it.

Author:  edogg [ Sun Jul 16, 2017 12:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Remington 511 .22 restoration

Yeah there's definitely a line between patina and needs refinishing.

To contrast, I also have a Winchester 94 built in the 50's that I inherited from a good friend when he passed away. It's got a little patina on it and the bluing is worn but it's nowhere near the "needs refinishing" line.

But if it did need that kind of work, I'd strongly consider having it done.


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Author:  MadPick [ Sun Jul 16, 2017 2:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Remington 511 .22 restoration

Wow, that looks great!

The wood looks phenomenal. Nice work!

Author:  GeekWithGuns [ Sun Jul 16, 2017 2:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Remington 511 .22 restoration

Ditto that gun has cleaned up real nice. There's nothing like a beautiful rimfire bolt action gun. Really nice work on the stock and bluing, the whole shebang looks great.

Author:  SPLATT [ Sun Jul 16, 2017 5:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Remington 511 .22 restoration

I'm real happy with how it turned out. I don't think this gun looked this good when it was new.

Author:  usrifle [ Sun Jul 16, 2017 5:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Remington 511 .22 restoration

Nice work brother, your dad would be proud of it and you. :thumbsup2:

Author:  TINCANBANDIT [ Sun Jul 16, 2017 6:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Remington 511 .22 restoration

Nice work on the stock! it looks fantastic!

Author:  sportsdad60 [ Mon Jul 17, 2017 6:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Remington 511 .22 restoration

Great work! Love these old rifles!

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