I need advice for my Winchester 1906 22 rifle

[ezryder]

Hi everyone,
I'm looking for information on how to restore rust damage to my Winchester model 1906 rifle.
I won't bore you with the details of how it got so rusted, but I pulled it out of long time storage just recently and found that the receiver was totally rusted shut! It would not pump, the hammer would not move and the trigger was frozen. Surprisingly, everything above the receiver was not damaged by rust.

I read up on rust removal methods and decided to try the
electrolytic method of rust removal using a 12 v battery charger and baking soda in water.

This worked extremely well. After treatment I was able to disassemble the entire rifle. The damage was limited to the exposed portions of the rifle. The bore was fine and all the inside components were fine.
I cleaned everything carefully and re assembled it. Everything works as it should. The action is fine now. I test fired it with no problems.

Only problem remaining is it's appearance. The pitting from the rust makes it look really bad!
Since my father bought me this rifle back when I was 8 years old, it's very special to me!
And I would like to make it look as close to like it used to look as possible.

I have photos available of it's current appearance, if they would help with suggestions.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Regards,
George Taylor

[muddober]

Originally Posted by ezryder

Hi everyone,
I'm looking for information on how to restore rust damage to my Winchester model 1906 rifle.
I won't bore you with the details of how it got so rusted, but I pulled it out of long time storage just recently and found that the receiver was totally rusted shut! It would not pump, the hammer would not move and the trigger was frozen. Surprisingly, everything above the receiver was not damaged by rust.

I read up on rust removal methods and decided to try the
electrolytic method of rust removal using a 12 v battery charger and baking soda in water.

This worked extremely well. After treatment I was able to disassemble the entire rifle. The damage was limited to the exposed portions of the rifle. The bore was fine and all the inside components were fine.
I cleaned everything carefully and re assembled it. Everything works as it should. The action is fine now. I test fired it with no problems.

Only problem remaining is it's appearance. The pitting from the rust makes it look really bad!
Since my father bought me this rifle back when I was 8 years old, it's very special to me!
And I would like to make it look as close to like it used to look as possible.

I have photos available of it's current appearance, if they would help with suggestions.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Regards,
George Taylor

George: Assuming you are going to refinish the gun yourself the main advice I can share is never use a file unless you are merely using it as stiff flat platform and you have it rapped it in some type of sand paper or crocus cloth. On the flats always sand with the length of gun where you can. Start off with 220 grit then you can go to 400. Always sand all the parts before changing the grit of the sand paper. In other words don't finish the flats with 400 grit until you have done all other areas of the same part with 220 grit. Also don't even think about using a drummel or like tool for finishing or cleaning up parts exposed to the eye. Unlike paint bluing will not cover any blemishes. My guess is that you will send it out the parts to be hot blued. If not let me know and I will explain that as well if need be. Many years ago I use to blue guns and while I blued various makes and models there are a few Rugers and Winchesters out there that passed for factory because I did everything by hand. That being said sometimes one has to live with a few of the deeper pits because you can only remove so much metal and if you concentrate or "dig" at a pit you will get waving in flat surfaces that I think look worse than pits. I would suggest that you don't try to use cold blue. I hope that helps and I would like to see photos.

Ron

[ezryder]

Hi Ron,
Thank you for your advice. I'm assuming that it would be best to use
emery cloth or wet/dry paper for sanding purposes?
As you can see from the photos, the pits are really deep. I doubt that any amount of sanding would remove them all. But hopefully it would look better than it does now.
Quite frankly, I'm amazed that I was even able to get it dis assembled!
I didn't realize it was possible to do a hot blue yourself. I would like to hear more about that, to see if it's something I want to tackle.
Attached are two photos.
(finally figured out how to do it!
Thanks for your comments,
George Taylor

[muddober]

Originally Posted by ezryder

Hi Ron,
Thank you for your advice. I'm assuming that it would be best to use
emery cloth or wet/dry paper for sanding purposes?
As you can see from the photos, the pits are really deep. I doubt that any amount of sanding would remove them all. But hopefully it would look better than it does now.
Quite frankly, I'm amazed that I was even able to get it dis assembled!
I didn't realize it was possible to do a hot blue yourself. I would like to hear more about that, to see if it's something I want to tackle.
Attached are two photos.
(finally figured out how to do it!
Thanks for your comments,
George Taylor

George your gun does not look all that bad to me especislly if you can get your hands on a vertical belt sander you will want to sand your flats on the drum/roller and not the belt unless it is backed up. You can buy the bluing salts from Brownell and perhaps the buing tanks as well. I hope you plan to blue more than just this on gun because I haven't check prices in 40 years and you might be in a grand or more for thr stuff you will need to do it right.

[ezryder]

Originally Posted by muddober

George your gun does not look all that bad to me especislly if you can get your hands on a vertical belt sander you will want to sand your flats on the drum/roller and not the belt unless it is backed up. You can buy the bluing salts from Brownell and perhaps the buing tanks as well. I hope you plan to blue more than just this on gun because I haven't check prices in 40 years and you might be in a grand or more for thr stuff you will need to do it right.

Hi Ron,
Thanks for the reply. I was surprised to hear you say it didn't look all that bad. I have a machine (hobby)shop where I maintain my vintage racing motorcycles, so I have a belt sander.

I checked Brownell and your right. Too much money for a one shot job.
The A W Peterson Gun Shop is not far from me. I'll check with them about bluing.
Thanks for your input!
Regards,
George

[muddober]

Originally Posted by ezryder

Hi Ron,
Thanks for the reply. I was surprised to hear you say it didn't look all that bad. I have a machine (hobby)shop where I maintain my vintage racing motorcycles, so I have a belt sander.

I checked Brownell and your right. Too much money for a one shot job.
The A W Peterson Gun Shop is not far from me. I'll check with them about bluing.
Thanks for your input!
Regards,
George

Hey George,

You are welcome. I would also suggest that you look at this companies bluing work before having them do it, because anyone can make the gun blue but very few can do it without pulling holes and numbers by trying to buff everything off sanding being the answer. Believe it or not your little gun is probaly not going to be worth as much as it now after you are done bluing it unless it is done really right. Playing with those old motorcycles I am sure makes you hep to what I am taking about. As for your gun not looking all that bad if compared to new it is horrible but you and I should be so lucky to look as good as your gun if we were 103 years old. At least all of its parts are still working.

[ezryder]

Hi Ron,
Thanks for the advice on checking out the quality of their bluing. I'd like it to look as good as possible, even though I plan to keep it. To me, it's very special since my dad bought it for me when I was very young.
I know from the date of manufacture that my dad bought it used.
I'm wondering if it was a gun that came from some carnival, since from reading up on it, I found that it was real common to find in the shooting galleys from years ago.

"As for your gun not looking all that bad if compared to new it is horrible but you and I should be so lucky to look as good as your gun if we were 103 years old. At least all of its parts are still working."

That is funnee Ron! And your dead right! I'm seventy now and nothing works like it "used" to! Has something to do with my life style over the years!
I've been involved in motor sports since I was 8 years old. I'm heading to Daytona International Speedway in a couple of weeks to race my vintage bikes.
I've been racing there ever since the speedway opened in 1959. This is my 50th year of racing there. I've raced boats, cars, and motorcycles at the speedway (yes, they raced boats in the speedway in '59 and '60, in lake Lloyd within the speedway.)

When you get as old as I am, everything in your past seems like it just happened "yesterday". hehe

Regards,
George
gwt@2oldracing.com

[muddober]

George: Usually the carnival guns were 22 short only and they almost always will show a lot of wear and there will be some evidence of being hooked to a small chain. Your gun from the front of the receiver looks far to good in my opinion to be a carnival gun. I have two model 06's one of which is the first gun I ever blued the other is very nice but it appears that someone splashed orange juice or like substance on it and it took the splash marks to the white. I am more than capable of refinishing it but I have decided to leave it alone. Good luck on your racing, I have been 190 miles per hour on the water when I ran a blown alcohol hydro. I cannot believe how dumb I once was, the scary thing I am the only one who thinks I am a little smarter. Also I am no kid at 63.

[ezryder]

That means most likely mine was not carnival then. I don't see any signs of being hooked to a chain. And it's long rifle bore too. That's good news!
Fastest for me has been 180 on the "walls" of Daytona riding a Yamaha TZ750. I'm not up for that any more. I'm happy riding
my 1972 Yamaha TD3 250cc GP bike.

I don't have a manual for my 06. And I'm wondering how to remove the wood grip from the pump action.
Could you enlighten me on that?
Thanks,
George

[w1spurgeon]

George, hope you don't mind me jumping in here.

I have several 1890 and 1906 Winchesters. They are great guns and I enjoy tinkering with them almost as much as I enjoy shooting them. One of the best things I did was purchase (from Amazon.com) the book "Winchester Slide-Action Rifles" by Ned Schwing. It is soft cover, about an inch thick, and includes EVERYTHING you might want to know about these guns, including parts lists, DOM, every possible configuration, original special-order options available from Winchester, plus disassembly/reassembly instructions. I find it invaluable as a reference book.

Hope this helps.

[ezryder]

Hi w1spurgeon,
No problem "jumping in". I appreciate the information!
Thanks for the help!
Regards,
George

[Andreas Pocsatko]

Gentlemen:
Would any of you know if the first model 1906 (short only - the one which was used mostly at Carnivals) ever had a butt plate of wood? Mine is pretty beaten up, not a lot I can do to the receiver, magazine, barrel, but I trying to spruce up the stock a bit. Took some kind of dark varnish off, sanded with 180, used my wife's steam iron to lift some of the nicks, sand again with 220, getting ready for 400, 600 grit, steel wool and oil. The lower corner of the butt is well worn, the wooden buttplate actually sticks out a bit. That's why I think it's a replacement for the original which broke and the gun was used without a plate for a while. BTW the lower side of the butt has a hole (i.e. chain to secure gun to counter at Carnival?) I got this gun in a trade for a modern single shot 22 long, some forty years ago when I was a kid living in Brazil. Any clarification is appreciated. Andreas

[muddober]

Andreas: While I am certainly not the last word on Winchesters I have been collecting and working on them for years and I have never seen or even heard tell of any Winchester with a wooden butt plate. Every model 06 I have ever seen has had a hard rubber butt plate with two engraved screws. I hope that answers your question.

Ron

[Andreas Pocsatko]

Ron,
thanks a lot. This confirms what I had suspected. The gun looks pretty bad, but at least still shoots reasonably, i.e. mechanism is good, accuracy so,so. My Brazilian "Amadeo Rossi" - .22 short, long, and LR - Winchester pump action knock-off makes up for it.
Rgds. Andreas

[Rob54]

The Model 1906 you have there is a expert model with a Nickel plated receiver the serial number on the receiver will end with the letter B. Holmstead arms has an place to look up the year of Manufacture. That gun restored can fetch a handsome price to a collector. In the condition it is in now it will fetch $400. If it is all original like the picture shows its worth a lot more than you think.

[old semperfi]

sorry about your loss,i have had a problem like this b-4,but it was not my fault.with the pitting in receiver i doubt that it can be removed with out damage to gun,any fire arm that has been refinished has and will lose value to a collecter.if looks are all your after then you may want to paint receiver and heat dry.if paint is built up enough then you may be able to lightly sand out (lightly)to where no pits will be seen.i have done this b-4 on some other rifles.it is important not to get in a hurry if you decide to try this.also a paint stripper can bring it back to present condition if wanted.i really do not advise a belt sander of any type or grit your choise. sorry i can not help more old semperfi