I have another rifle to show that I did a freshen up on. Didn't have to have any bluing work done at the gun shop on this one. It was left in a closet with a rug on the floor that was damp and the only thing that was affected was the wood and the Metal butt plate. It had some mold /mildew on the wood and the butt plate was rusted bad. I stripped the stock and refinished it to as close as I could to what it looked like when I cleaned the mildew off. It gave me a starting point and where I needed to be on the finish look I needed to end up with. The mildew had stained the wood bad. This rifle is a very little used 1956 Win. 75 in the seldom seen Sporter version of the heavy 75 Target model. It came with the factory grooved receiver for scope mounting. Haven't yet located a replacement butt plate and that is why it is not a good fit because so much metal was lost due to getting the rust removed. Had to shorten the stock 3/16" to get rid of the black ring where it sat on the carpet and the moisture penetrated the wood really deep. I did a complete recheckering of all four panels and had to order the tool for the Winchester width border that didn't match my border cutters. Left the finish slightly grainy to match the original look of the rifles from this time period and the way this looked when I started. It turned out nice and my Son-in-law was very happy with it. Needs a better scope. He won't shoot it any way. This is one of my favorite Winchesters and I am not a Winchester guy but would take this one in a heart beat. NCG may have seen a few of these in her travels to gun shops.
Checkering turned out nice. Borders were rough and chipped out and were a challenge to get them right
These were a big step down in prices from the original 52 Winchester. Personally other than the 52 being worth more money I like this 75 better than the reproduction versions of the 52's I had. This 75 Sporter is quality enough to have had a machined trigger guard but the price point wouldn't allow that I guess.
