Update..
I finally got around to having the steel worked over and reblued by Tincanbandit. Amazing what he did, you couldn't tell this was a scratched and pitted barrel. Looks even better in person. He freshened up the rings, trigger, bolt and hardware as well. I treated it to a nicer scope, looking forward to putting a few through it again.






1953 Winchester Model 70 Featherweight .308

This was my great grandfathers hunting rifle. The story goes that him and his brother bought matching M70's in '53 and my mother says she has a picture of them both with their new rifles somewhere. At some point in time he decided to brush on a coat of varnish over the stock, but didn't remove the barrel so it was all over the receiver and barrel. Looked like crap with dents, scratches, stains and runs on the stock.
Since the original finish wasn't original anymore, I wasn't worried about decreasing the value by giving it a proper refinish.

Before pic



After pics (the bright sun made the wood look lighter than it is. It's more like the color of the butt in the 7th pic)

Wow, that rifle looks amazing!

Outstanding! Nice restoration.

Thanks guys. Probably 25+ hours(but only $6) into that stock! Now I know why people are charging $300+ for hand rubbed oil stock refinishing.

You have to find that picture........

I plan to, and I'll keep it with the rifle. I'll also at some point have their shot glasses they took on hunts. It's a giant silver bullet that opens and has three silver shot glasses inside for a little class at the hunting camps.

I remember your first thread on this rifle. Happy to see you kept it and restored it.

It will serve you and your grandchildren's children well.

That turned out great. Nice work!

Bump for updated pictures..

So oddly enough I bought a 1953 M70 in 308 from a guy a few years back in Shelton. What are the chances it is your uncles rifle? The serials should be close if they were bought around the same time?

Ready for another 60 years!

Every time that I see one of Casey's finished projects I get starry-eyed.
Beautiful work.

thanks! I got some tips from Dreddi and Art's Gun Shop (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBFbDyD7KMo) regarding the glass bead blasting of the receiver and bolt handle, worked out really well and pretty closely mimicked the factory finish

I'm really curious what you used on the stock because I'm hoping to achive that level of finish with my remington 720. This also makes me want to have TinCanBandit reblue the action.

I used Tru Oil cut with mineral spirits. I used the method described here..
http://www.woodworking.org/WC/GArchive9 ... unfin.html
Clean the wood with citrus stripper, Wash it good and clean again. This will get all the old oil out of the wood. Steam any dents out as needed with a wet towel and an iron. Tape off your checkering and leave the tape on until the end otherwise your checkering will fill with oil and look poorly done. Proceed with the steps in the article, cutting the Oil with Mineral spirits and using an old school pink eraser for a backer of your sandpaper to prevent any gouging.
After I was satisfied with the finish, for the last coat I removed the tape and used a soft toothbrush to flood the checkering with oil.
It took several weeks and 20 or so coats..
Here is a mid process picture.
Let me know if you have any questions!