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Refinish stock or not?

5K views 40 replies 20 participants last post by  JBelk 
#1 ·
I recently acquired an old German stalking rifle by Franz Kettner. It is a thing of beauty both as to the engraving and the fit of metal to metal. It has a Kersten cross bolt whch locks into twin lugs extending from the barrel breech and fitting into recesses in the standing breech. When the action is closed the cross bolt and lugs fit so precisely as to be invisible. The stock wood shows some normal scratches and dings as are unavoidable in a hunting rifle which has seen years of actual use. There is however one very irritating flaw, the name "Mersmann Beckum" has been crudely scratched into the wood of the cheekpiece.
I am thinking that I can sand our the scratches and refinish the raised cheekpiece only. I would not even consider refinishing the whole buttstock. I realize it may be difficult to match the wood color but I have had some experience in staining gunstocks and am very tempted to give it a go.
What do you gentlemen think, would it be worth the effort or would I be compounding the damage by trying to fix it?
 

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#3 ·
Irritating and then some.

His middle name musta been BUBBA. :eek::eek: I'd say the whole gun could use a little TLC, but stick to what you know, you don't want to make it worse by sanding down too much. Plus 1 on the steam, maybe leave some of the dings/dents/scratches rather than sanding too deep, don't sand the checkering, the name has gotta go but hopefully it's in a good spot to get rid of, unless he is someone famous? I'd probly re-do both stock pieces as well & go with hand rubbed tung or linseed oil. Nice rifle, good luck, & post more pics when done.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Refinish JUST the cheekpiece. It'll never perfectly match but at least you preserve the wood fit. Those guns were stocked TO the metal so there is no extra wood to sand without ruining the gun.

That's a Kerstner action just like my 201 Merkel.

Look familiar?
 

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#14 · (Edited)
That's for sure.



I'm wondering if someone has already re-finished it in the past & sanded it to the limit. Do as Belk suggested, & A BIG MAYBE, just strip the finish, re-stain, & hand rub to get the wood colors to match??? Your in a bit of a tough spot there. You won't make it worse by doing nothing. Hang it up with Bubba's name facing the wall.
 
#6 ·
Beautiful rifle, congratulations. On my last your in Germany I bought a couple shotguns from a very nice merchant in Stuttgart. The Simson Suhls were oh so nice.

I can't stand not knowing the cartridge your rifle is chambered in.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Beautiful rifle, congratulations. On my last your in Germany I bought a couple shotguns from a very nice merchant in Stuttgart. The Simson Suhls were oh so nice.

I can't stand not knowing the cartridge your rifle is chambered in
.
Ed click and zoom in on the barrel just below the front scope mount. Maybe you can decipher that. I don't know those calibers that well, but looks like maybe 7mm something. On second look, I don't even know if that's the caliber. Maybe it's 7x55 or maybe just some makers marks.
 
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#7 · (Edited)
Country---Maybe read my comment again. I SPECIFICALLY said NOT to sand the entire stock and said why. Is there something wrong with that?

BTW-- The two guns shown above my picture have different wood and that's why they're different colors.
 
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#9 ·
It seems to have been re-marked by Bubba. The caliber should be on the swell of the barrel below the action sides.

It needs a chamber cast and measure to be sure.
 
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#12 ·
Whoever scratched his name into the stock really did a serious dis-service to the rifle in the first place, so I doubt that refinishing just the cheek piece will devalue the rifle any more than it already has been. The main problem is going to be matching the part you do with the original.

Good luck with the project.
 
#26 ·
Since the gun is already damaged, it seems to me that no matter what you do, the gun is still damaged. The answer seems to be that either you leave it, and have ugly damage, or refinish it, and have nice looking damage. Since the gun is yours, please yourself.
Yes, that is pretty much the dilemma as I see it. For now I'll just enjoy working up loads and shooting it. I got some Hornady 25/35 brass and have been trying out 117 grain round nose, 87 grain spire point and 75 grain hollow points. Because of deep snow on the range I've only been shooting at 50 yards but have gotten a couple of groups under 1/2" and none over 1 1/2" at 50. I recently got ahold of some Sellier & Bellot 6.5X52R factory loads but the weather hasn't been good for shooting so I haven't tried them out.
Some more eye candy. This is a rifle I have for years longed to own but have settled for the Savage 219 30/30 as an affordable substitute. I finally decided that while I still can't really afford it I'm going to have it before I kick off.
 

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#15 ·
Find out who Bubba was and attach a small bio to the gun rack. Since you already know he's a bubba it would be easy to just make something up....like, "At the age of 32, he learned to write his name and destroyed most of small village where he was the primary idiot..."
 
#16 ·
I can't get out and hunt anymore so I've taking to refinishing old guns.

I've done several Mauser's and an old Vetterli. The name in the gun doesn't look to deep, if it were me I'd sand it right out of the cheek piece.
What I did with the Mauser's was to sand most of the dents out, bleach the stocks white and stained them. After that I mixed stain with True oil, put on 3 or 4 coats sanded them and than 3 or 4 more coat. I let them dry and finished them with pumas and last I used rotten stone, they came out with a great satin finish. Didn't have to sand all the finish off, the bleach took care of it. You can get wood bleach from Sears web site.
 
#18 ·
If you did anything to it, I agree with you to only refinish the cheek. You do run into the problem of not being able to match it with the rest of the stock, but you have some edges and such that will hide some of that.

Do you know who the person is? You should research it first. Maybe you might dig up some information that will change your mind about removing it. Highly unlikely, I know. In fifty years from now, it will be referred to as "part of it's history"

I guess it could be used for identification in case of theft... Wasn't that what was recommended sometime in the past? Ruin your gun with your name scratched in the stock so you can possibly get it back...

Just slap a plastic stock on it... problem solved!:rolleyes::eek:
 
#20 ·
If you strip it.

You will be committed at that point, & it's NOT a piece for a beginner. Even with good skills, there isn't room, near the metal for sanding. I THINK you would just have to live with some of the dings/dents, but could get rid of the name. No margin for error if you decide to go for it. At least by doing nothing, you can blame Bubba. You would be a hero, or a goat.
 
#28 ·
Yes, I was wondering about that as well. I posted on the German Gun Collectors site and was informed that "Beckum" is a town or region and "Mersmann" is a common last name in that area. Of course, that makes even less sense to have scratched into a gun stock.:D
 
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#25 ·
The internet makes research quick and easy. I have like new, 1935 Browning Superposed with a factory engraved in script name near a rear corner. A simple google search turned up a shooting club by that name in Switzerland at the time. Makes sense.
 
#32 · (Edited)
Try to wipe the varnish away with a cloth drenched in alcohol. Most likely it is shellac, with is soluble in alcohol. Alcohol also solves linseed oil.

Before you sand the cheek rest, I would suggest a wet cloth and a hot smoothing iron. The steam rises the dents and hopely most of the inscription.

Use abrasive paper only on the flat of the cheek rest. Finish the whole stock with just fine steel wool and linseed or alcanet linseed oil.

P.
 
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#33 ·
Thanks I will give that a try. For now I've decided not to decide. I've enjoyed shooting it and with the weather become more hospitable I will shoot a lot more. I want to really do a complete load work up with a variety of powders and bullets. It seems to shoot as sweet as it looks.
 
#34 · (Edited)
Beware trying to take that gun apart unless you know trigger plate actions!

Coyote Joe-- That gun is not heat-treated for a lot of shooting and can become loose on the face in less that 200 rounds. The test is to take the fore-end off, hold the gun by the butt with the barrel hanging down. Gently wiggle it side to side and fore and aft. You can feel any looseness starting. Once started it accelerates fast. They gave that one every chance of outlasting you, though. That's a Kerstner top lock with double under bites, same as the 300 series Merkels.
 
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#35 ·
Thanks for the information, I guess this rife and I will wear out together. I've probably already put close to 200 rounds through it, still snaps shut and locks like a bank vault. I have already had to do a little work on it, removing the buttstock and trigger plate. As received the set trigger pull was truly a hair trigger and un-set the pull was under one pound. I'm accustomed to double set triggers on my muzzleloaders and know how they are adjusted but this one could not be adjusted any heavier and it was questionable even for bench rest shooting. I filed the hammer sear notch which got the unset pull up to three pounds and likewise reworked the triggers and got the set pull up to three ounces. I like the set trigger for range testing but will never set a trigger when hunting as I'm always a bit nervous so I like to have a good 3# trigger unset.

As a side note to anyone who's interested, I received a notice from Midway USA that they have the new Hornady FTX 25 caliber 110 grain bullets in stock
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/7...-_-Service_Emails-_-ProdArrival-_-ProductLink
 
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