Firearms and Flex Hones – Refinishing Stevens Shotguns

Stevens shotguns aren't as flashy as Cadillac stretch limousines, but their durable double-barrels have something in common with brake rotors. Both types of machined components can use flexible honing tools to improve internal surface finishing and remove loose, torn, or folded metal. As gunsmith Jeremy Chan explains on his Nerdgun blog, using a flex hone tool to "polish out the inside of a barrel" on a Stevens 5100 shotgun was an important part of a gun restoration project that allowed one father to pass along this classic firearm to his son.

"Chanman", a student in the Custom Firearms program at Trinidad State Junior College, was handed this project by a friend who wanted the gun re-blued and the stock repaired. "The gun was rusted inside and out," the gunsmith explains, "and had some major pitting and dents on it". Though hand-polished up to 220, the metal on the 16-gauge shotgun was in rough shape even for a weapon that was probably built in the 1930s. The J. Stevens Arms Company of Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts introduced this shotgun as the Model 5000 in the 1920s, and changed the designation to 5100 from 1931 to 1941.

Cleaned Up Very Nicely

"The front of the barrel was one of the worst parts of the gun," Chan writes in his firearms blog, but significant visible rust affected the inside of the barrel, too. Although the gunsmith didn't mention what tools he used to refinish the front, Chan notes that the inside of the barrel "cleaned up very nicely," as the image which accompanies this blog-entry shows. For more pictures of this and other gun restoration projects, please visit Jeremy Chan's Nerdgun blog, which documents his "work and progress" through the Custom Firearms degree program at Trinidad.

Brush Research Manufacturing wishes "Chanman" continued academic and professional success as he applies what he learns from his second semester of coursework in machining, metal finishing, tools and fixtures, firearms conversions, and custom pistol-smithing. We hope, too, to read more about how he's using flex hones to refinish and restore other classic firearms like this coach gun.

References

Nerdgun - A Gunsmith Student Blog

Shooter's Forums

Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank Brush Research for contributing this blog entry, which originally appeared here.