I started this project late summer '20. The shotgun was covered with a light brown rust inside and out. The only thing that looked good was the inside of the barrel after a little scrubbing. This Excel .410 was made somewhere about 1929 and it got a lot of use. The barrel is stainless steel but the receiver and most other parts are iron. The iron parts had to be rust blued or they'd turn purple. The original receiver finish was case hardened, but I could not afford to do that with this one. It still has all of its character marks... don't think I want to remove them... its history is still there to see...

All parts except the butt stock are original and have the same serial number. Having the stock split like in the first picture is common and I am looking for suggestions on how I might reinforce it. I'd love to find other Excel, Champion or Iver Johnsons to recondition... this one will be getting more field time....

Impressive work!

Thank you !! ... I really enjoyed giving the wood some life... that is a $35 Walnut stock... the forearm is Maple and original...

Cool story bro! Seriously, very nice work. I'm a wanna home gunsmith smith and I'm impressed too.

As for reinforcement, I would think you can try some cross bolt at some strategic places, maybe like 2.

That's beautiful!

You did a real nice job with it.

Wow! Great job. The old girl looks amazing.

x2 nice job.

man that came together nicely!!

Looks good.

Why would the stock splitting be a common occurrence on those guns?

u did great

Good stuff sir

The main reason these stocks split is repeated recoil. From the examples I have seen it appears that over time the "wings" split. This shotgun had broken twice and pieces were missing from the first break. The second larger fracture was epoxied and then had 5 pins to try to keep it together. One guy I was watching put a steel pipe into the stock, going from the back of the receiver to the butt plate. I think that was an attempt to transfer the energy further to the rear where it could be disbursed across a broader surface. I've been looking at escutcheons as a potential way to hold the wings together... not sure if that would work... looking at it though...

Thank you all for taking a minute to look and your complements are very much appreciated. Truly.

I was able to use Tannic Acid and Iron Nitrate and heat, a very old process, to bring out color in the wood. That really was fun. The internals of these things are deceptively simple, they were the "working man's shotgun". I feel like I have a small piece of working history... I'm seeking my next project, probably going to hit up a coupled of pawn shops and see what I find.....