# Stevens 940A 20ga refinish project



## cruzthepug

Over the holidays I was at my parents house and guns and shooting came up and during the conversation my mother reminded me that she had a old shotgun that my grandfather had given me back when I was a kid. I had forgotten about the old single shot and the last memory of seeing it was over 20 years ago. She dug it out from the back of a closet and it was in horrible shape. All the wood was dinged and scraped up, rust covering most of the metal, what appeared to paint scattered around. She also found a old box of 20ga shells. Although in rough shape everything appeared to work. I brought it home took it apart and cleaned it a bit and took it to the range with me the next time I went and it fired and worked fine.





































I didn't find much information online about the old gun, best I can tell it was made sometime in the early 50's. I did find a parts breakdown so at least I could see all the parts. First step was to find the products to do the job. After some quick searching I ordered a bluing remover and re-bluing kit from Blue Wonder. Then I completely dis-assembled the gun. All the internal parts looked good and the only part I needed to replace was the front sight bead, it was usable but banged up and for $5 and easy fix. I then sanded the finish off all the wood and got it back smooth and used some 500 and 1000 grit to remove the rust off all the metal.










Now to the re-finish. I work for Sherwin-Williams at a Chemical Coatings Facility (we supply coatings to any type of OEM's) so I took the stock and handguard to work and stained them with a mahogany stain followed by 2 coats of a conversion varnish, which will make a durable, solvent resistant finish. My order from Blue Wonder arrived on Thursday so last night I set out to give it a try. First the remover, no big deal. apply the gel remover, lightly scrub with the supplied brush and let stand 4-5 minutes, rinse with warm and then apply a coat of stabilizer to neutralize the acid in the remover. Next is the blue. Apply the cleaner with a paper towel then heat the metal to ~140 degrees. I have no idea how hot I got the metal, just heated it with a heat gun and guessed. While the metal is hot apply the Blue Wonder. It will take multiple coats (5-15 it says), I put on about 10 coats to get the color I wanted. When you have the color you want apply the developer and let stand for 1-3 hours. I waited 1 hour the applied the lubricant and was ready to put it back together. It will take the blue finish a couple of weeks to cure so no other somvent or lubricants during that time.

Re-assembled everything and here's the finished product. I probably have spent in time and money what the little shotgun is worth but now it's something that I'll keep forever and my grandfather would be proud of. The underside of the receiver had had engraved his name, so I was very careful not to disturd that.


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## rfawcs

Nicely done; a family heirloom anyone would be proud of. Congrats!


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## Barryd

Nicely done. Now you have one to pass down at some point in time.

Barry


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## cruzthepug

Thanks, it really was a fun project.


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