Should I restore it or strip it?

[wilianknow]

I have a Iven Johnson M1 carbine paratrooper model. It has light rust and some light pitting. Should I restore it or just use the receiver and build a new M1?

 

[threefiftyfour]

 

[Ljungman]

OK, what is the rifle to you? not being a smart ass just asking...check yourself...if you want to keep it as a piece of shooting history please leave it alone. If you mean to create a new firearm out of it then do so at your leisure. Some folks would crap their pants to see someone tear up a nice M1 by "restoring" it. that removes the historical value at times. but if you plan on rebuilding any way..go for it. I have a "new" gibbs 1903 and i know its not original but i shoot it anyway...same for my old 50's era 8mm Hakim that looks like it was left in the desert before being shipped to me. Im a bit of a history junky and like my old rifles the way they were intended to be used. That way my peers and myself can fully appreciate our new fangled AR's and mocked up AK's.

 

[wilianknow]

I will post some pics as soon as I can. To me the gun might mean something more to someone than me. I don't want to make it worthless. I do enjoy shooting and reloading the round.

 

[mike8170]

Iver Johnson has no collectible value, so I would say go for it.

 

[Colt556]

Since the Iver Johnson was a commercial venture and most, except the early models, were made with non USGI parts I'd vote to refinish it. If the pitting and wood aren't to bad you could just shoot it as is or have the metal blasted and Duracoated or paint it yourself with BBQ Paint or some of the newer spray paints available. The wood is easy to strip with the Citrus type strippers and then just rub in some boiled linseed oil thinned with turpentine. Whatever you decide basically just do with it as you want and enjoy it.

 

[kalboy]

Since the Iver Johnson was a commercial venture and most, except the early models, were made with non USGI parts I'd vote to refinish it. If the pitting and wood aren't to bad you could just shoot it as is or have the metal blasted and Duracoated or paint it yourself with BBQ Paint or some of the newer spray paints available. The wood is easy to strip with the Citrus type strippers and then just rub in some boiled linseed oil thinned with turpentine. Whatever you decide basically just do with it as you want and enjoy it.

Yup, like Colt556 says it's whatever you prefer to do, as a commercial gun with no historical value it's ,...well just a used gun. If it works well I'd say make it look good too.

 

[ar1973]

its yours who cares what every one else thinks I once bought a gold plated winchester cinteniel edition 30-30 that had never been fired from the original owner who had put it in a closet for 30 years, he said it was to nice and collectable to shoot . that weekend we went to the rang guess what I pulled out yep old shiny he offer to buy it back just so I wouldnt shoot it too late already ran 3 rounds out of it before he could finish his sentence.

 

[Hookeye]

Well since it doesn't have collector value........I'd opt to make it look more GI, maybe parkerize it

 

[10ring1]

I vote to restore it.

 

[wilianknow]

I like the idea of parkerize it and d a folding stock.

 

[Clay]

OK, what is the rifle to you? not being a smart ass just asking...check yourself...if you want to keep it as a piece of shooting history please leave it alone. If you mean to create a new firearm out of it then do so at your leisure. Some folks would crap their pants to see someone tear up a nice M1 by "restoring" it. that removes the historical value at times. but if you plan on rebuilding any way..go for it. I have a "new" gibbs 1903 and i know its not original but i shoot it anyway...same for my old 50's era 8mm Hakim that looks like it was left in the desert before being shipped to me. Im a bit of a history junky and like my old rifles the way they were intended to be used. That way my peers and myself can fully appreciate our new fangled AR's and mocked up AK's.

its just an aftermarket M1, not a USGI M1.