Jw-25 refurb

by Supaduke » 07 Apr 2016, 12:13 pm

Well over the last few days I decided that my norinco JW-25 "chauser" needed to be refinished. It started with a turd brown plasticy finish that looked like it had been slapped on by a blind man. The stock did not look very timber like at all. It has bothered me pretty much since the day I bought it. I had a day off because I was a bit crook (cough, cough) so I decided the day was as good as any to do it.

I started by sanding it back and removing the old finish. The timber was some sort of mystery Asian timber, way to soft to really be a gun stock, but one of the reasons norincos are cheap I guess.
Then did the trick of wetting it down then drying it straight away with a heat gun to make the wood fibres stand up. Sand again with finer paper and repeat.
Gave it a walnut stain.
Then applied several coats of linseed oil and turps.
Then several coats straight linseed oil.
Then several coats of equal parts linseed oil, turps and beeswax
Then a final hit with a lambs wool buff pad on the drill
All up took me a few days work, and I'm pretty pleased with the result. The stock actually looks like timber now. The process aged and weathered the stock too, giving it some real character. The rifle looks a lot more "mausery" now ( yeah it's a word) .

: Before; image.jpeg (759.46 KiB) Viewed 5824 times

: After; image.jpeg (1.14 MiB) Viewed 5824 times

: After with bayonet; image.jpeg (880.06 KiB) Viewed 5816 times

by Heckler303 » 07 Apr 2016, 9:08 pm

Nice work on it, norincos may be cheap but they are pretty good in the accuracy department. How well does yours shoot?

by Supaduke » 07 Apr 2016, 10:28 pm

It's definitely in the plinker class, accuracy is ok. Not bad. Not great. It's best work is rubber bouncing targets and clays at 25-50m. It's just fun having an open sight plinker that looks cool

by Gwion » 10 Apr 2016, 7:54 am

Good stuff. If the timber is that soft a good bedding job with a decent compound would likely improve performance.

Did you remember to finish the inside of the in letting as well?

by Title_II » 10 Apr 2016, 9:11 am

It really looks good, cheers on that

by gunnnie » 10 Apr 2016, 5:17 pm

Nice job mate.
Bought one of these about 10yrs ago for a pittance, mainly to have a rimfire on hand for the lady shooters in our military re-enactment group. Have put a few rounds through it and found it's quite an accurate rifle. At 100m it isnt hard to keep 5rds in a 6" circle.

by Supaduke » 11 Apr 2016, 10:51 am

Was oiled inside and out, the process has begun of building up the finish. When I have the time I sit down in the shed and rub in the BLO/turps/beeswax mix. Very therapeutic . Wood has begun to blend and darken, looking quite nice. I like to rub in the mix with a cloth, buff with a cloth and then once dried properly I often give it a hit with the lambs wool buff pad on the drill. Gives a really nice smooth semi gloss finish. Gun smells really nice now too . (Missus can't stand the stink) . I will see how it shoots now that it's been disassembled/reassembled. Might try a bedding job on it if I have somehow made it worse .

by Wm.Traynor » 11 Apr 2016, 1:28 pm

I used a lambswool buff in a drill and it is a Good Thing :thumbsup:

Would be interesting to see how long it takes before you reckon it's finished. The buff would help the BO no end.

by Chickenhawk » 13 Apr 2016, 9:37 am

bayonet and all

by Supaduke » 13 Apr 2016, 6:54 pm

I had the bayonet for my FN Mauser , it's a Chinese reproduction. Authentic ones are a shade overpriced for my liking. I was looking at the norinco and wondered "will it fit on there" and I'll be damned it slid on perfectly. There is something ridiculous yet very cool about a .22 with a bayonet. A mini zombie apocalypse gun . The finish is coming along nicely. The oil has had time to settle into the wood and blend in the stain. The timber actually has some reasonable grain to it. Overall im glad I refinished it, looks much better. That's the thing with BLO/Turps/Beeswax, it takes time to really come good. I have thought about the Tru-oil path on several occasions, I know it's a good product but I'm just not a big fan of really shiny guns, I can however see the appeal of them to others.