I visited my local gunshop last week and they showed me a Spanish side x side 12g shotgun that was screaming out for a little TLC and a new home. The gun is a Spanish Lanber IBARGUN, made by Zabala Hermanos in 1972, and at $150 I decided that it would be a good project for me (pics to follow). The finish left a little to be desired and someone had shortened the butt stock a tad, but as it turned out the stock, once I fit a 3/4" or thereabouts recoil pad will be just right for me.

One of the selling points is the Greener lockup on it and the fact that it is still very tight. My shooting buddy gave me a hand to dismantle the action and what we found was astounding...this gun seems to have done very little, if any, work...the action is pretty much devoid of wear marks. The barrels are damn near perfect on the inside, with very minor surface rusting on one side of the outside with no pitting anywhere. The chambers are 70mm which suits me right down to the ground.

I have decided rather than bust a gut to get it out and shoot it, I am going to make it a bit of a resto project and prettify it by taking all the factory finish off the stocks and hand rub some walnut stain, followed by a few coats of acrylic clear lacquer to waterproof it for the field. The barrels I might just hit with a bit of bluing paste to retain a bit of the patina that it has developed, but I'll play that by ear for the moment.

Spanish shotguns don't have the greatest reputation and their looks being very basic, but I'll see how thing pan out and with some luck it will come up nice.

All in all, a nice project to throw myself into, and for the price I reckon I am going to end up with a pretty reasonable gun.

Where's the picture??

Waiting.... waiting...

Still waiting for the pictures!

Sorry guys...my mate pulled her apart before I could get a pic, so things will have to wait a wee while till I can finish the staining etc the stock and rebluing the metal bits and pieces...then put it all back together again.

I hit the wood with some paint stripper (easiest way I could think to get the existing finish (shellac I think) out of the chequering. When I cleaned it off I thought the chequering looked a bit ordinary so I spent about 3 hours carefully recutting it by hand with a single blade chequering tool. I'm proud to say it looks a heap better now...at least there are points on the chequering. I haven't cleaned things up in the pic yet, hence the little furry bits you can see, but once finished I think it should look reasonable.

Going to stain the wood with a dark walnut stain...hand rubbed in of course...then hit it with a few spray coats of a satin acrylic clear lacquer. Should give it a modicum of waterproofing should I get caught in the rain when out hunting wabbits.

The bluing system I am going to use is a four part system. Don't have a name for the product, but my mate who does a few shotgun restorations (and he's a furniture restorer) swears by the stuff. If it's even half as good as he claims, then I'll be happy.

Seems you took my "get a project" comment seriously eh.
Looking forward to the photos and comments.
Have fun.

nothing wrong with spanish shotties Mate...... heaps of them are still around after hard lives,yip some were cheap n nasty.
I see Lamber was one name you gave...they make a very nice U/O
70mm shells are making a come back over here with probably 30% of duck shooters using them again in preference to 3" or 3 1/2"
falcon make a really good 35grm load of #4 steel that pond shooters rave about and sp 36grm lead #3 is the best rabbit load ever made.
I still use a Spanish Astra cyclope single that would be older than I am.
and for what its worth nothing beats a SxS for a r unning bunny or bird flying across your front they just seem "right" somehow

Great buying Vince
Belmont have a SxS Sporting Clays on the 19th
Great place to get the barrels hot

tikkat3 wrote:

Great buying Vince Belmont have a SxS Sporting Clays on the 19th Great place to get the barrels hot

The 19th is out of the question mate...my grandson has the Kokoda Challenge (a 50km walk) in the Gold Coast Hinterland (around Beechmont/Canungra) that day mate...but I'll certainly look at making it a date another time.

Well, I've finished doing a resto/refurb on the woodwork. I used a product that I believe is made in the US...Minwax Wood Finish stain in Gunstock 231...

I particularly like the reddish look of the colour, as opposed to straight walnut which is sort of dark brown. I finished the wood off with the Minwax Spar Urethane in a satin finish, rather than a full gloss.

I pulled the action apart, found a couple of little things that were a bit rough, so I smoothed them out and put it all back together and refitted the metalwork to the woodwork. Came up a treat if I do say so myself.


All I need do now is rub the barrels back with either steel wool or a scouring pad and re-blue them to finish the refurbishment.

Looks good so far!
I have a few that could use your craftsmanship...

PaulS wrote:

Looks good so far! I have a few that could use your craftsmanship...

You know mate, it's funny you should say that. I was talking to my mother-in-law, or mother-outlaw as I affectionately call her, and said maybe I should do a gunsmith's course and she said, why not...is there a call for gunsmiths these days?

Not sure about me having any real craftmanship mate...it's been a bit of a steep learning curve as I've never done chequering before or dismantled a shotgun action like this one. To make things more difficult, my mate pulled the action apart and the bits from each side got mixed up, and as these guns come from small factories they are basically hand fitted. Sooo...there are minor differences in the parts from side to side. I ended up dismantling the action about a dozen or more times swapping individual parts back and forth until I got everything working the way it was meant to work. I'm really looking forward to putting a few shots through it to 'prove my work', then get into the bluing of the barrels.

Looks great Vince, nice work.

Ya know being a gunsmith might make you a real popular guy in a couple years if the anti's keep going like they are. On the other hand they might put your face on some wanted posters.

Oh good job Vinnie!! Minwax is good stuff and the spar varnish will last and last. I put that on my wood floors in the house about 20+ years ago, still looks great. I you get a blueing kit it'll come with a rust remover and some steel wool, I bet those bbls will come out real nice. I did my Dad's shot gun years ago and it's held up wonderfully. That'll be a new gun for ya!


Suz

Looks good Vince! I'm looking forward to the "bustin' birds" report.