New to collecting. Would like some advice.

Hello everyone,

I am very new to collecting and would like some advice.

I have rescently acquired 2 rifles:

1937 S/27 Mauser K98 and a 1944 Long Branch No4 mk1.

I would like to clean up the K98. All the metal seems to be in excellent shape. some parts like the take down disks and the nose cap seem to be painted? or coated in a dark material. The bore is is excellent shape. smooth bright and razer sharp.

However, the stock seems 'rough' This is partly my choosing as I like the 'it's been used' look. The stock furniture has a finish that seems to be flaking off. So since I will be shooting this rifle I want to refinish the stock.

Any advice would be greatly apprechiated.

Dave

Dave,
It sounds like your K98 is one of the 'Russian Capture' rifles. They had a shellac applied to the rifles after being rebuild in typical Soviet fashion.

If you want to keep it true to the RC finish, you can shellac the rifle to make up for the flaking finish. If you want more of a German look, you can strip the shellac and use an oil finish on the stock.

I'm no expert on stock refinishing, hopefully our more knowledgeable members will chime in.

If you choose to make the gun more presentable and representative of a WW2 era rifle (as opposed to the "Russian Capture" example that it is now), I would recommend the below steps. There is a whole moral debate over leaving the RC finish vs. collectability loss if stripped, etc. Personally, I am in the camp that the Russian rifles are not really all that collectible in their current state. If you restore them, they still won't be very collectable, but they can make great shooter K98k's and frankly, I'd rather not shoot an ugly rifle ;)

Consider some RC's can be had as little as $250, but can be parted out on e-bay for more than that AND you'd be left with a receiver worth about $100 for a future custom project. But I digress...

The finish on the wood is almost invariably shellac. You remove shellac with methylated spirits (also known as methyl-hydrate). This is denatured alcohol.

Apply it LIBERALLY with an old paint brush to a small area until the shellac gets gooey and starts melting off. Use a plastic scraper that won't damage the wood and lots of old t-shirts or paper towels to remove it all.

For the black painted metal, use an acetone-based stripper - preferably the gel type so it doesn't run everywhere. Avoid getting the stripper on the wood.

I can only add to this that a complete disassembly will make all the cleaning / refinishing steps much easier.

Lou