Connecticut Preparedness

[hooligan]

A friend of mine has a couple of WWII rifles he would like to have cleaned up and restored, who would you trust with a couple of family heirlooms? One is Italian cavalry model & one is German 98 both are clean and ready for some lovin'. Any suggestions?
Thanks

[blueshirt23]

Hooligan,
Any harsh cleaning of the metal and wood or "restoration" will kill the collector value. It's the easiest way to turn a $2000 all original k98 into a $600 gun. This is going on the assumption that the guns have never been dicked with. The best thing to do is remove the action from the wood and wipe the metal down with a light coat of oil. As for the wood, take an old tee shirt, wet it with some plain water and wipe it down. Let the stock dry for a few hours and reassemble. If the wood is really dry, maybe use some Howard's Feed & Wax. It is one of the few products that doesn't strip the wood of the finish. Anything else will be too harsh and do permanent damage. Again, just my 2 cents.
Chris D.
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[Grouse]

Good info.

[GreggAndrews]

Hooligan,
Any harsh cleaning of the metal and wood or "restoration" will kill the collector value. It's the easiest way to turn a $2000 all original k98 into a $600 gun. This is going on the assumption that the guns have never been dicked with. The best thing to do is remove the action from the wood and wipe the metal down with a light coat of oil. As for the wood, take an old tee shirt, wet it with some plain water and wipe it down. Let the stock dry for a few hours and reassemble. If the wood is really dry, maybe use some Howard's Feed & Wax. It is one of the few products that doesn't strip the wood of the finish. Anything else will be too harsh and do permanent damage. Again, just my 2 cents.
Chris D.
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ON THE HEAD.

Wipe down, oil stock, oil moving parts as necessary. Clean as you would anything else. Oil, rag, & a little elbow grease.

This being said, you can go hawg wild on a Carcano, as it doesn't seem like there is a LOT of collector value on even the less-common variants. The Mauser? It depends.