Restoring an old defense pistol?

[bigo5552000]

So my dad gave me an old Iver Johnson Defender .22 manufactured I think between 1889-1895. My great aunt used to carry it back in the 50's. The finish is very bad condition as you can see from the pictures. Most of the rust seems to be surface rust with very little pitting. oh buy the way this pistol has been sitting in a drawer in Florida for about 50 years. I have the original hard rubber grips just not shown here. The hammer will cock, but when you do the cylinder does not advance. The cylinder is not ceased. I can rotate it very easily with my fingers. The trigger works correctly, but the pin you pull to release the slide is ceased. I think a little WD will fix that! I just wondered if you guys thought it would better to restore it or leave it original? I thought it might be fun to restore it! its a cool little gun. any ideas how hard it would be? has anyone on here ever attempted this? what problems do you foresee?

thanks bigo

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[southarkrob]

being that it has family attachment...I would leave it alone and use it as a conversation piece.. Just my opinion...Robbie

[rhinokrk]

So my dad gave me an old Iver Johnson Defender .22 manufactured I think between 1889-1895. My great aunt used to carry it back in the 50's. The finish is very bad condition as you can see from the pictures. Most of the rust seems to be surface rust with very little pitting. oh buy the way this pistol has been sitting in a drawer in Florida for about 50 years. I have the original hard rubber grips just not shown here. The hammer will cock, but when you do the cylinder does not advance. The cylinder is not ceased. I can rotate it very easily with my fingers. The trigger works correctly, but the pin you pull to release the slide is ceased. I think a little WD will fix that! I just wondered if you guys thought it would better to restore it or leave it original? I thought it might be fun to restore it! its a cool little gun. any ideas how hard it would be? has anyone on here ever attempted this? what problems do you foresee?

thanks bigo

I bet you can acquire a nice set of grips for it.

[bigo5552000]

i was thinking i would make some for it or put the originals back on..

[rocky]

You can clean it up with gun oil and cleaner. As for heavy wire wheeling or such , I guess it depends on what you plan on for the end use of the gun. It might be worth researching the price (antique) before digging into it, too.

[dnowell]

I know it's conservative advice, but I'd suggest having a real gunsmith look at it. Given that it has sentimental value and you seem to want to actually shoot it, having a professional look it over is probably a good idea. Make sure it's someone with experience working on old guns, too.

[bigo5552000]

bump!! more opinions!!

[phreddy]

It depends on what you want to do with the gun. Antique guns can lose value when restored incorrectly. Do you just want to clean it up for a keepsake or actually shoot it? If you just want to shoot it have a gunsmith look at it and then go for it. If you are concerned about the gun's value as an antique, more research should be done on the potential value of the gun and what types of restoration won't hurt the value.

[bigo5552000]

i wanna shoot it! im not worried about the value they aren't worth much!

[Rob P.]

i wanna shoot it! im not worried about the value they aren't worth much!

Then you ABSOLUTELY need a gunsmith to look at the revolver and tell you if it is safe to shoot. Based on your posts in this thread I would suggest that you absolutely not attempt to evaluate or repair the weapon yourself.

[bigo5552000]

oh i was not planning on it! i was gonna get a smith to do it!! any suggestion on what i should do to it??