C-Z 457 refinish

[jednorris]

I have a C-Z 457 MTR that shoots great. I have read that many people owning this gun have found nice wood when refinished. I believe they dip this gun in mud before they ship it. I cannot help but wonder if there is beauty lying under the mud, but am afraid if I have the action removed from the stock for refinishing, I will never get my accuracy back. What is the consensus of opinion?

[cwtebay]

Not sure why you are hesitant? As long as you maintain action contact and keep the butt profile the same and your action screws will torque the same, it should be just better looking. Kind of like being afraid to wash your work horse because he pulls so well dirty.

Edit - I was working under the assumption that barrel float and bedding of all would NOT be affected by the cosmetic alterations!

[Mk42gunner]

I agree with cwtebay. Tightening bedding screws is not rocket science.

After you are done, you may have to shoot a box or two of shells to get it to settle down, may not need to either.

Robert.

[sigep1764]

Get a Wheeler Fat Wrench in inch pounds of torque. You can actually test how different torque values can affect the accuracy of your rifle. With wood, try to stay at 30 inch pounds max. More can crush wood fibers. Don't be afraid of refinishing, just takes time and patience.

[sigep1764]

I use CitriStrip for stripping wood. It's nontoxic and works wonders.

[jednorris]

I watched the video of how to use Citristrip and it took off several layers of paint. Do you think it would take more than one coat to remove the finish on a C-Z? He also put the item in a plastic bag to accelerate the process. Would Citristrip coming in contact with a plastic bag cause a problem? Do you think it could be done without removing recoil pad? How do you go about removing the stripper after it has worked?

[farmbif]

I'm no expert but a couple ways ive removed paint stripper. first put on chemical proof gloves then scrape the goo off with a plastic bondo spreader then scrub with fine steel wool. I'm not sure about citric strip but pain remover may goof up a rubber or plastic butt pad. I would remove it first thing. ive learned the hard way one thing you dont want to do when refinishing gun stock is to remove wood that will effect how it fits back on the gun or the fit of the butt pad. so anything other than super fine sandpaper used very lightly is a non starter. but then again I'm no expert. a gunsmith with lots of experience can do other things and grind the butt pad back to fit and everything will finish up great.

[oldhenry]

I agree with farmbif on removing the butt plate or pad before introducing any chemical to the process.

When it gets to the sanding part I always reinstall the butt plate/pad. Remove again when applying the finish.

Good luck.
Henry

[Minerat]

Last one I did, I used some old playing cards as scrapers. It was a laminated stuck with a plastic like finish so had to use a hard stripper. Once I got the finish off I wiped the stock with a mineral spirits soaked towel to clean it up and use 600 grit wet & dry to lightly sand the stock. I use Tung oil on a piece of crocus cloth to apply the 8 hand rubbed coats to finish.

[sigep1764]

Citrus strip is pretty mild, didn't bother my hands at all. I just wiped off the stripper with a paper towel after is sat for 10 to 15 minutes. No need for the plastic bag. Definitely remove the buttplate. Not for damage but you'll want to get the base of the buttstock stripped as well. On average it has taken 2 to 3 coats. Can be done in an hour or so.

[sigep1764]

You can see the difference from a stripped buttstock and a standard very old oil finished forearm in the thread for my Winchester WSL refinish.

[Wheelguns 1961]

I did this Winchester shotgun with citristrip and tru oil. I was surprised what was underneath that nasty finish.

[K43]

An FYI about removing the buttpad. If it's rubber, it's probably got small slits you can search for that were used to install (usually) two Phillips head screws to hold the pad in place. You can lube a screwdriver with lanolin or something similar and work it carefully down to the screw head. High end pads may have rubber plugs you can carefully work out.
It's always nice to have an oil finish and find nice wood. Even some Rossis have a little grain come out. Blah wood, well, stain it and accept that it's blah wood.

[sigep1764]

I second the use of TruOil. Wonderful stuff. I used a stain as well, a mix of Barn Red and Walnut.

[gwpercle]

A good finish to use is Min-Wax Tung Oil Finish .
It is harder and more durable than plain raw tung oil .
After using it to re-finish a set of antique oak table and chairs ... Which turned out beautiful ... I said , hey this stuff will make a great stock finish ! So I started using it to re-finish gun stocks ... And ... I like it better than raw or boiled Linseed oil ... and even Tru-Oil ... Tru-Oil is a linseed oil based finish ...
the min-Wax is similar but Tung Oil based ... and I LIKE IT !
Gary

[recumbent]

A friend of mine just refinished his 457 mtr and it turned out great. Really nice grain.

[Mr.doug]

The thing about the bag and citri strip is the stripper of the old days is gone. Citri strip
Evaporates very quick ( dries out ) so the bag will keep the old finish soft for scraping a lot
Longer. Witch let’s the stripper do it’s jod longer or it might take several coat to get the jod done.
For taking it off , I found that 01 steel wool works the best.