And yet another project....

[mazo kid]

Yep, I'm a sucker for guns on the cheap that need help. And this one definitely needs help! The guy I bought it from said it was rusted tight and he didn't exaggerate. When I first pulled it out of the box, I thought "this doesn't look THAT bad". But....she is rusted tight.  So, into the basement she goes and gets a bath in Kroil (until my Oil of Wintergreen gets here). When I bought it I was thinking it should be worth much more than I paid just for a couple parts. Anyway, here she is.

[mazo kid]

The gun is a Pietta, date code of 1996, 36 caliber. and away we go....
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[99whip]

I'm a sucker for projects too.  Looking forward to seeing it after some TLC.

[DoubleDeuce1]

It looks like it might be a fun one. The grips look to be in good shape. How is the bore? 

[mazo kid]

I haven't even looked at the bore; the seller said it was very rusty. I don't care, as I might make it into a smoothbore if it won't clean up.  Here it is after more than 2 hours of work:

[mazo kid]

The barrel was rusted to the arbor pretty good, and the loading lever ram was stuck tight. I was able to pull those screws and then after letting the Kroil work a bit, I put a crescent wrench ( ) on the ram and twisted gently at first and then it came right out. The barrel was the hard part, took a lot of persuading to get it to the point where the locating pins were free of the frame. Then the same twisting and pulling.

[Hawg]

Even if the bore is pitted it still might be a good shooter.

[G Dog]

Great project mazo. This is a very interesting thread.  Good pictures too. I love the look of old flat patina brass.

[Mad Dog Stafford]

Were the nipples hard to get out?

[omarkw]

good candidate for a barrel reline and maybe a conversion cylinder. mark

[mazo kid]

Yep....possibilities. Sam, I don't have the cylinder off yet.

[mazo kid]

I was able to get the trigger screw and trigger, bolt screw and bolt out yesterday. The hammer screw is moving a bit, so will keep soaking and twisting on that. Cylinder is still stuck fast but I keep soaking that every couple of hours. If I can just get it to move a tiny bit, I am sure it will eventually come off.

[DoubleDeuce1]

My nephew picked up an old Winchester rifle from about 1880-ish. We took it apart as far as we could, but there were several pieces that were frozen solid. Mostly it was the screws and pins that held the lower part of the action/ lever and shell carrier together. We cleaned them with brake cleaner first. It did remove some of the junk and rust. We ended up putting all of the pieces into a bath of Kroil for over a month. We used a small impact drill to remove some of the screws. That worked like a charm. Larger pieces we heated with a torch and then cooled the part down with some ice. A couple of good whacks with a dead blow hammer and it all came apart. We scrubbed everything, re-assembled, and it functions like butter sliding around in a hot skillet.    

[Hawg]

I love the look of old flat patina brass.

It didn't take the grip frame on my navy very long at all to look like that but it's taking my G&G forever. It's still as shiny as the day it came out of the box.

[mazo kid]

Do you think it may have a protective coat of something....varnish, etc?