The First Gun Project Done in My Gun Shop

Pete Valentine has worked in and around guns and gun shops all his life. At Colonial Outdoors, he is one of our go to guys for rebuilding or refinishing a gun (among other things). In addition, he has a sharpening business.

Here is a project that you'll find both interesting and different from a hunting or fishing story.

Enjoy!

This is the first gun project done in my little shop.

The story started when I visited a gun shop in Fuquay and spotted a Remington 514 single shot .22 rifle on the floor behind the counter.

The poor little rifle was about as ugly as it could get. The stock was painted black, the front sight was broken, the metal was rusty brown, and the trigger was limp and function-less.

I felt kinda sorry for the poor thing and made a ridiculous offer to buy it. They accepted my offer, so I filled out the paper and brought it home.

I had almost finished building my shop, (Man-Cave), so I started refinishing the 514 right away.

The first step was to remove the stock and strip the black paint off. To my amazement, the stock was made of "A" grade black walnut.

It was a rich brown with distinct vertical fiddle-back stripes from tip to butt.

The stock only required about three hours of actual work to bring to factory new. The metal took many days and lots of polishing and rust-bluing

to bring it back.

I found an original front sight that was in my toolchest for decades just waiting for such a time as this. I repaired the trigger system and tested everything to make sure it was functional and safe.

When finished I gave the "new" 514 to my wife who suggested we go to the range soon to test it out. She loves the rifle, and shoots it well.

So far we have fired about 500 rounds through it and made adjustments to the extractor. It now works as good as it looks.