Rossi Rifleman

Rossi 92 .357 20" barrel I refinished the stock in tung oil to get a nice sheen and bring out the grain. I am proud of her and cannot wait to get more to try other finishes like true oil as well Steve ( stevesguns) loves true oil so I think that is my next project in either 45LC or .44 mag carbine.
before pic

after 7 coats hand rubbed tung oil not pure tung- Fromby's low gloss

That is a beauty! Well done!

Very nice, What did you do to strip off the old finish?

The Rossi finish is a dark cheap type of stain not sure exactly what it is I think as steve ( stevesguns) even said to me that it has a high acid content as most ROSSI rifles rust alot on mag tube and under the barrel where the forearm contacts the wood another good reason to refinish your wood as it will handle climate change better, and be less likly to absorb moisture and leach it onto your barrel and mag tube. I used the fromby's because it is a mixture of tung oil and varnish to help seal it and protect the metal and wood better in my opinion only not fact. Watco makes some good finishes as well but true oil will be my next one.
Well as you can see in the first pic the stock was dull and plain. So I broke out the mineral spirits after removing the stock and forearm I started wiping them down(with the mineral spirits) this lightened the stain a good amount I let it dry a day lightly sanded to smooth not remove material 800 to 1000 grit wet dry paper for this another good cleaning with mineral spirits this degreases it and will help the oil soak into the wood better. Makes the grain really come out. Then went with Formby's low gloss tung oil followed the insrtructions and smoothed in between coats with steel wool OOOO very lightly and continued to hand rubb coat after coat the sheen gets better and better with each application. For very little work these stocks can be really nice looking.

Down right BEAUTIMOUS! Now I gotta get busy!

Wow! That does look much better! I have a '92 in .44 mag, stainless, and the fore end was poorly made, so I've been working to make it a little better. I was wondering what I should do about refinishing, and, now I know! I'll probably use Watco (because I have it, and I'm familiar with it), but I really like the look of your stock. I hope the wood on mine is half that interesting.

I'll tell you, the .44 mag is a handful (shoulderfull? Is that a word?) with full power magnum loads. Brace yourself, when you first fire it. It'll back you up.

I telll ya the watco is just as easy I have used there watco teak finish on some of my outdoor guns beens it was a finish designed more for boats and their decks I figured it would be GTG for a good firarms finish. I have seen and had great resulys from WATCO products. take before and after pics so we all can see and learn.

Wow! That turned out GREAT! Really brings out the figure in that stock.
Dan

Well done! I have a 92 357 Mag I'm working on now. Did the action mods and added the safety replacement rear sight from SteveGunz, but didn't refinish the stock. Your results have me rethinking that decision.
My forend is also poorly made, as mentioned buy another poster. Still haven't figured out what, if anything, to do about that. Mine has a three inch section of wood between the magazine tube and barrel missing. I have considered removing all of the wood between the two - any ideas on how that would work?
Tony

Even mine was splitting in that area very little meat left ater they bore it out for the mag tube and barrel. I wouldn't remove anything unless you have to I thought about useing some wood glue in these areas to maybe make it stronger but all in all when the barrel band is in place it is held securly so you could probably get away with removeing it as long as the forearm seat the part which seats against the reciever is GTG. I still recommend leaving what meat there is as it helps support the tube and barrel if you should ever impact it on somthing hard less chance of the mag tube bending as easy with extra support rather than a cavity between the barrel and mag tube. I didn't do anything other then refinish my stocks after some finish sanding to lightly remove some markings left all over the stock