EXHIBITION GRADE
RESTORATIONS
Brubaker Arms Manufacturing, LLC is one of the most qualified gunmaking / gunsmthing shops to handle all your fine gun maintenance needs. When it comes to reproducing authentic finishes, our services are a good cut above the market and are sought for nationally.
We specialize in restoring family guns with a particular emotional value for their owners.
Our work is all about building a legacy and helping others preserve their legacies.
We restore long guns and hand guns alike.
We are passionate about preserving the American legacy of quality craftsmanship and the long forgotten art and mastery of gun making - and this includes showroom grade firearm restorations.
We offer a variety of precious and hard to fins finishes, among which (but not limited to):
Color Case Hardening
Slow Rust Bluing
Belgian Bluing
Factory Bluing
Browning
Charcoal Bluing
Last but not the least, in our efforts to dust off the gems discovered by other craftsmen before us, we invested over 13 years in research and re-development of the Traditional Colt Bluing process. This bluing is a charcoal bluing, but as opposed to the charcoal bluing practiced widely, the Traditional Colt Bluing is a very special kind of finish. Colt went in the grave knowing the secrets of his finish, and there are only a few pages that describe this process, written by lay persons who happened to observe the activity in Colt's shop.
We have the audacity to call one of our charcoal bluing services Traditional Colt Bluing because we were able, after years on investment and countless hours of work, to reproduce the finish to the highest standard.
(A lot of charcoal was hurt in the process...)
As far as we are aware, no other shop in the US offers Traditional Colt Bluing - although some do offer charcoal bluing - because this finish is so special and so hard to reproduce but it looks so distinct, that it would be hard to claim it without being able to execute it. The footage below illustrates this very well.
REAL REACTION:
Colt 1902 Exhibition Grade Restoration Firearm Reveal Client's Genuine Reaction Traditional Colt Bluing
FULL FIREARM RESTORATIONS
(Rifles, Shotguns, Antiques, Handguns)
STEP 1. MECHANICAL CARE & SAFETY
We start with making sure there are no functional issues with the firearm. We conduct a detailed diagnostic clean, during which we inspect all parts for significant wear, bending, cracks, and replace what needs to be replaced. If the parts are obsolete, we manufacture them in-house, in batches as small as 1 (or we can manufacture additional spare parts if the customer chooses to do so), and fit the parts by hand for a perfect function.
Diagnostic Clean
Complete disassembly, clean all parts, examine for wear / potential breakage; we quote replacement parts (if there are any necessary), in order to bring the gun in A+ condition. If your firearm is in good condition and does not need any refinishing, this would be a maintenance service recommended at least twice a year, provided you do basic cleaning yourself.
Obsolete Parts Manufacturing
If you have lost or broken obsolete parts, it can be an absolute hassle to find replacements. In some cases, it is impossible to find replacements on the market. Worry not; we offer reverse engineering services, machining custom one-off parts (and possibility to produce industrial quantities), manufacturing and profiling leaf spring, hand fitting manufactured-in-house obsolete parts.
Ribs and Barrels
At Brubaker Restorations we offer complete barrel TLC services – from re-solder ribs, forend lugs, reprofile dents, straighten or adjust barrels, refit hinge lug pins, swap barrels, install liner in the barrel, change obsolete calibre to market available calibre, re-contour front or rear receiving ring
STEP 2. ACCURACY (RIFLES)
True bolt face, true receiver face (and recoil lug on Remington type actions), lap bolt and inner lugs and recoil lug, chamber to minimum head space, bed action to stock and free float barrel (glass bedding or pillar bedding packages available), set trigger to 3lb or otherwise specified. Our customers report significant accuracy improvement.
STEP 3. METAL CARE
Metal Texture
We then proceed to prepare the metal for refinishing. This part of the process is the most important part of refinishing the metal. The original finish is carefully removed; all pitting and rust are removed as well, and all machining marks are corrected with hand-polish. This polishing process can take as little as 5 hours for firearms that have no rust or pitting, and as long as 25 hours for rifles that are very rusty. The average time is between 10-15 hours of hand polishing for all machining marks to be removed. The firearm is polished to the grit the customer chooses (matte texture, satin texture, semi-gloss, high-gloss or, true mirror; when paired with Charcoal Bluing, mirror polish will replicate the Traditional Colt Bluing. Metal Textures avaiable: Matte, Satin, Semi-Gloss, High-Gloss, Mirror Finish (TRUE mirror fiish)
Metal Finish
After the metal is prepared for new finishing, we then proceed with the finish of choice – from Slow Rust Bluing, to Slow Rust Browning, Charcoal Bluing, Traditional Colt Blung, Color Case Hardening, Salt Bluing, Belgian Blue / Express Blue, Anodizing,
STEP 4. WOOD CARE
Wood Integrity and Gunfitting
Install adjustable butt plate, install stock cross bolt, inletting and finishing of semi-finished stock, install adjustable comb hardware, Repair cracked stock.Custom Stock - Make custom pattern for client based on precise measurements and designed to fit the physiology of the customer; Duplicating stock to about 95% inlet, Hand inletting for modern and antique firearms.Total Stock Restoration, Stock refinish, Stock refresh, Weatherby finish.
Wood refinish
If the firearm needs a new stock, we will carve a new stock, and fit it manually.
For details about how we do this, please read more about our gunfitting services.
If the stock doesn’t need to be replaced, we keep the original stock in which case we completely strip off the original finish. If the stock has a lot of oil and dirt build (usually happens around the action screws and rear of the action), we use some whitening compound to soak the dirt and oil out of the stock. Regarding dings, we do a really good job at steaming them out. We then use an Alkanet Root seal stain to bring out the character of the figure the wood and refinish the wood with an in-house made oil blend. We then recut all the checkering.
STEP 5. FINER DETAILS
Engraving and Engraving Restoration
We offer new hand-cut engraving and laser engraving. We offer in-house hand-cut engraving of the highest quality, for those who respect tradition and craftsmanship. In addition to new-cut hand engraving, we offer engraving restoration services.
Brubaker Arms Manufacturing, LLC is equipped with cutting edge technology for analysing the residual markings left on the metal after the original engraving had worn out. Our engraving restoration process, led by a licensed Architect with 10+ years’ experience in restoration in Europe, includes but is not limited to: Historical analysis: typology, similar examples. Photographic analysis of the object to restore; pattern analysis; measurements and reconstruction; hand sketches and AI generated patterns. Scaling the pattern and re-composing it according to the surviving traces on the object to restore. Final sketch. Pattern transposed to engraving area.
Checkering
Recut Checkering, New Checkering, Custom Checkering, Traditional Patterns, Personalized Patterns, Family Monograms
STEP 6. APPRAISALS
Firearm Appraisals - for insurance companies or manufacturing companies.
Before and after restoration.
Before and after fire / smoke / steam damage.