Lyman Great Plains Rifle

[MtnMike2]

Thanks Gil and JR,
This project (as usual) took me much longer than expected. It was a Christmas present to myself and I started sometime around the beginning of Feb or so. I re-did some of the metal parts 3 - 4 times due to my inexperience and wanting to get it right. The stock finish is Pro-Custom Oil, which is Tung Oil with a small amount of Urethane for sealing, it has about 12 coats total. All metal was "browned" with Laurel Mountain Forge Barrel Brown and Degreaser (except the lock and trigger mechanism which came pre-finished). Both of these products are available from Brownells and Midway. I had to learn the hard way about browning; we have low humidity in Colorado and the chemical reaction really needs humidity to work - it's basically a rusting process. After the first attempt on the barrel that left it with an almost golden color, I went to WalMart and bought a cheap humidifier for about $25. For the dark coloring, I used 12 hour intervals and carded with 000 steel wool between coats. It took about 6 coats to get the finish I wanted.

Mike