Engraving a lever action rifle - Question??

CUTTING METAL

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I am going to attempt to engrave my first lever action rifle and would like to know which ones you all would recommend. I had thought that I would start with a Marlin 336C and need your suggestions, etc. Any tips are greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Dick Sheehan
 

Mike Cirelli

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Dick I have herd good things of the Uberti guns. Their not American made but supposed to be a well made gun. Heck your a nickel cutter just grab what ever gun you got and start cutting:) Ron Nott was telling me that United States Arm makes a good gun but I don't know if they make rifles.
Good luck can't wait to see it done.
Mike
 

JJ Roberts

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Dick...You have Taylor & Co. importers of Italian made reproduction lever action rifles which I would recommend for your needs. I would stay away from anything made by US Arms..the only thing you can hot blue on those are the barrels, I don't know what the receivers are made of. I just received a Uberti Model 66 from a client in NJ which I will be working on soon. As far as Marlins...they still make a good gun, and they can be hot blued after the engraving is done. If, you have anymore questions give me a call on Sunday.

Keep up the good work.

Yours truly,
JJ Roberts
School of Artistic Engraving
Manassas, VA
www.angelfire.com/va2/engraver
 

Mike Bissell

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Dick- I have not had any problems engraving on Marlin 336's or Winchester 94's. I stay away from Winchesters 94 with a serial # 2,700,000 or higher. They are made from a casting process and do not hot blue. I have not done any research to check on if they stopped using this process or not.
 

FANCYGUN

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I beleive the early post 64 winchester 94's were actually plated. Stay away from them. There are still many good pre-64's around at good prices to be had. They can end up cheaper to buy than a Uberti 1873 clone. Be carefull on doing a repro 1866 . The brass frames are cast and can cause a problem. But they do look pretty when done. Engrave what you have and have fun with it.
 

Tim Wells

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The post 64' Winchester model 94's were made of powdered sintered steel which is steel powder melted together basically. It is grainy and doesn't engrave well and cannot be re-blued. When these guns were manufactured, Winchester had a blueing process specifically for that guns reciever and as far as I can tell through research I've done there are two camps. Some say they did this for about 10 years, the other camp says they did it much longer than that.

I have one of these that my Grandpa gave me as my first gun. It turned red on the reciever as they all do with wear. I wanted to engave it but found out about that sintered steel thing and just had it nickel plated. The reason was that years ago some gunsmiths would iron plate these guns then they could be re-blued in the usual fashion. The wonderful EPA has essentially brought the plating industry in this country to a minimal presence and the cost has dramatically gone up; just get something cad or chrome plated and you'll see what I mean.

I was told by the place I had mine plated that they stopped iron plating and almost no one iron plates anymore due to the environmental hassles. Winchester may have kept doing the recievers till they went out of business this way, I can't be sure but I bet Turnbull would know or maybe GraverTom. If I'm not mistaken, the Uberti replicas are all machined from solid stock however, the "Henry Arms Co" are cast and then brass plated and I'd stay far from them as an engraving canvas. Hope this was of some help.
 

Mike Bissell

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Mike - The post 1964 Winchester model 94's, I believe were iron plated and then rust or hot blued. When you remove or strip this bluing off by sanding or polishing and then try to re-blue it will come out a reddish color and not the desired blue/black color. Like I said , I'm not sure if they are still doing this or not with todays 94's
 

Tim Wells

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Winchester closed its doors for good in this country back in October if I remember right. Fabrique Nationale in Belgium owned the company for years and profits went down so they closed the plant and almost 200 people lost their jobs. There will be no more model 94's. There will still be a few high end models made in belgium but if I may be blunt; if they ain't made here, they're not a Winchester!

The Olin company that makes Winchester ammo owns the Winchester name and up till this year leased the rights for FN to use the name. Since they are no longer made here by American workers as they have been for well over a century and a half they may not have renewed the rights. I think I read the leased rights were good through 2007.

I wrote a heartfelt letter to OLIN pleading for them to deny them the right to call a foreign made gun a Winchester. To me that's nearly the same as calling another country America. I'd rather see the name die out with dignity than to have it shipped out like everything else these days due to corporate greed. Granted, they were owned by a foreign company and FN is a fine gun builder but they were made here, by us, in the same factory where so much American history eminated from. It's a sad, sad thing to me, I apologize for the "soap boxing".
 

Ken Hurst

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Mike, you are right re. iron plating. I worked for the custom shop and was told by Bruno Pardee (custom shop mgr) that they first copper flashed followed by iron plating. Ken
 

Mike Cirelli

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Thanks guys some good info here. I don't get the plating over pot metal. That seems like crap to me, like something a no name foreign company would do or how you would make a toy.
I agree with you Tim but it's not only corporate greed. It's consumer greed, governmental greed. I think the greed is shared by all, and if we don't wise up our kids will be learning English as a second language.
Sorry that stuff really cranks me on.
Mike
 

JJ Roberts

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Mike,
Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier. The post 64 Winchesters can be hot blued with Onynate #84 which can also be used for firearms made of stainless. I am only set up for Onynate #7. It is possible that the post
64 Winchesters can be slow rust blued. Like Marty said, "There are plenty of pre 64 Winchesters out there". While doing the gun shows I get a lot of offers. Wish I had the cash I'd be waiting outside the door, before they got inside. Keep up the good work everybody.

Yours truly,
JJ Roberts
School of Artistic Engraving
Manassas, VA
 

CUTTING METAL

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Winchester, VA
Thanks to all you engravers for your help and input about working on a lever action rifle. I will post pictures when it is completed. For the time being the rifle is on back order and I must wait on its arrival. Oh, well, I have plenty of time to refine my designs and ideas.

Regards, Dick Sheehan
 

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