Cleaning Up My Model 721 .30-06

[gsaun039]

As I have discussed elsewhere, I inherited a Remington 721 manufactured in September 1955 and modified by Remington in April 1957 according to the barrel codes.

And I have removed the visible rust on the right side of barrel and I'm still working on what I can remove with respect to the residual pitting.

One of the items that rusted was the chrome steel ball on the bolt and a small exposed area on the body of the bolt. Initially, a combination of oil and 0000 steel wool took care of the rust but left the area where the chrome steel had rusted blackened and not shiny. The bolt body area still has its satin finish with a slight visible blemish where the rust was.

For the ball on the bolt handle and other reflective (shiny) sections of the bolt handle affected by the rusting, I have used Autosol metal polish with 0000 steel wool to polish and largely restore the reflective nature of the bolt handle and bolt ball.

However, I am hesitant to do anything with the small area on the bolt body. Now that the rust has been removed and I've stopped the rusting, I may just leave it alone. But I am open to suggestions. The area affected is only about the size of a No. 2 pencil eraser.

Added photos:



Underside of bolt handle ball after rust removal and application of polishing compound. The shine on the top is restored but pitting is evident where the rust was more prevalent.



Residual "stain" after removal of small amount of rust on the chrome steel bolt. Looks like a "running man". I'm hesitant to do very much on this part of the bolt

[gsaun039]

I've pretty much completed the cleaning of the barrel exterior. The rusting that looked so bad when I first retrieved this rifle cleaned up pretty well with a combination of removal techniques.

Now, to the internals. The last time (to my knowledge) that this rifle was fired was in the early 1970's (1973 if I recall correctly). I cycled through 10 rounds of Remington ammunition (180 grain cartridges as I recall) because a friend of ours had borrowed the rifle for deer hunting, taken a shot at a deer during hunting season and hit the deer. Unfortunately, the deer bolted after being hit. The good news was the deer only went about 50 yards before it dropped. But when our friend pulled the bolt to extract the expended cartridge and have the next round in the chamber, the shell didn't and wouldn't extract. Turns out it was a reloaded cartridge and it had apparently expanded too much to be extracted.

Anyway, the 10 cartridges I fired cycled without an issue. After firing the rifle, I cleaned it and put it back on the gun rack in my bedroom at my dad's house. And that's where it stayed until about 2010 when my dad decided to place it and the other guns out of sight.

I decided to run some bore cleaner down the barrel. I was a little concerned with the first patch I ran down the bore after brushing the barrel. But, by the fourth patch, it was coming up clean. So, that was good news.

I hope to get out to the range this week or next to cycle some rounds through it.

[gsaun039]

Life has a way of getting in the way.

Update on cleaning up my 721.

After cleaning all the metal works, I kept thinking about the wood. Other than some areas where the finish had been in contact with "moisture," mostly on the side of the rifle bag that was on the "bottom" when it was put up, the stock was in pretty good shape. It had a bit of character from some of the scratches that had occurred passing through the woods near Front Royal, Virginia on those deer hunting weekends. But there were no serious gouges or anything like that.

I did wipe the wood using wood soap and then followed up with a good "rinsing" without disassembling the rifle. There wasn't a lot of dirt accumulation on the wipes compared to the 127 year old shotgun or the other 94 year old rifle I'm cleaning up. So, the question came down to how much refinishing of the stock was really necessary. As I looked more carefully at the stock, it appeared that maybe sometime back in the rifle's history, my dad or someone else dis something with the finish on the stock. It looked like someone had applied just a little too much of something like tung oil and it had formed a "drip" on one place on the stock. I had noticed this, too, when I removed the butt plate and saw the discoloration of the metal edge (which cleaned up with steel wool).

On a hunch, I took some boiled linseed oil and "painted" it on with a fine brush to allow some of the oil to seep into the wood wear the moisture damage had occurred and to get a sense of whether I could repair the finish without going through a complete refinish. Lo' and behold the damaged areas disappeared with just a thin coat. I left it on overnight to see where the oil absorbed in and where it was still "shiny." But I also realized that it would take such a small amount of Tru-Oil to touch up the stock and that was the option to take.

I did that several days ago. A couple of really thin coats to touch things up and then let it dry. Great stuff. Lives up to its reputation. And I'm quite happy with the results.

Next steps include remounting the scope and aligning it.


Left side of stock where most of the moisture damage was


Different view of the left side of the stock


Right side of the stock. No real damage, just touch up


Right side of stock and barrel where the worst rusting on the barrel occurred

[Mainspring]

That Remington is cleaning up really really well.

[gsaun039]

Weaver K4 - 60B Scope mounted









Now ready to take to the range to see if I can hit the broad side of a barn.