Browning Broadway Salt Issues

I have a nice Browning Broadway that has a Salt wood Stock. I have had the receiver cleaned and reblued but I can see that I need to do something with the wood or it will rust up again. Does anyone have a replacement stock, useable condition, not fussy or can the original stock be sealed so the Salt wood no longer attacks the receiver parts. Grease on the parts only delays the rusting a little. Any advice would be deeply appreciated... Don

 

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The wood cannot be saved and should be burned to prevent it from ending up back in the wild. Wenig is probably your best bet for replacement wood at this point. Any used wood should be treated as suspect as you may be replacing salt wood with more salt wood if you're not careful.

 

There are some steps you can take to try and mitigate the damage caused by the salt in the wood:
Sealing the stock: You could try sealing the inside of the stock with a product like Zinsser Bulls Eye Shellac, using a small natural bristle brush to apply it. This may help create a barrier between the salt wood and the metal parts.
Rust bluing: Another option is to rust blue the metal parts that come in contact with the stock. This process can provide some protection against corrosion.
Glass bedding: You could also consider having the stock glass bedded, which creates a layer of epoxy between the wood and metal parts.

 

However, note that these methods may not be foolproof.

 

Probably you should consider sealing the wood with products like Tru Oil or Zinsser Bulls Eye Shellac, or using rust bluing to convert the red iron oxide into a stable, black form that can help prevent further damage.

 

Could you please explain what a salt wood stock is , I have never seen one that I know of. Maybe a picture if it’s not to much of a problem.

 

Not allowed to post a link, so copy & paste it is. ....Copied from the 'net:

"The best discussion of the Browning salt wood issue is in Ned Schwing’s “Browning Superposed” book (Krause Press, 1996). According to Schwing, in the mid ’60s Browning needed a better supply of high grade walnut for it’s guns. A California contractor had a large inventory of good walnut taken from clearing power line right of ways. Demand for Browning guns was at an all time high and the usual kiln drying process for walnut was too slow to produce what was needed. Rapid kiln drying also produced cracks in the California walnut.

Morton Salt had developed a salt solution drying process successfully used in the furniture industry with good results. This cured the walnut much faster than the kiln method. Browning tested it and there were no problems, so Browning bought the process in 1965. “In an area roughly the size of a football field, five-foot by five-foot by eight-foot stacks of stock blanks were covered with salt. The salt was supposed to leach out the moisture and dry the wood quickly. The process did accomplish its purpose but the moisture that was drawn out of the blanks on top of the stacks ran down into the blanks below, resulting in a brine solution that soaked the lower wood blanks.” (Schwing, pp 246) The retained salt reacted with the gun metal with the finished stock was installed. This caused the rust associated with “the salt wood problem”.

According to Schwing’s interviews with Browning’s Harm Williams and Val Browning, all the salt curing was done in the US and affected at least 90% of all Browning stocks from made from 1967 to 1969. The problem continued to show up until 1972, but in smaller numbers. It was then that the entire supply of walnut blanks was burned and replaced with traditional kiln dried wood.

To detect salt wood on 1966 to 1972 guns, first check for outward appearance of dark or discolored spots. Check every place that wood meets metal, as on the rear of the forend and at the head of the stock. Rust on the metal will be apparent if there is a problem. According to Schwing, the definitive test is to remove the butt pad/plate, scrape away a little wood from the exposed butt and apply a 1% solution of silver nitrate to the fresh wood. If the silver nitrate remains light purple, there is no salt. If the silver nitrate turns white, you have a salt gun.

If you can prove that you are the original owner of the salt gun, Browning used to replace the wood for free and will probably still do so. If you bought the gun used, you are on your own. I got a used Superposed 410 with salt wood some time ago. Browning charged me about $250, if memory serves, to replace the wood. It wasn’t free, but it was certainly a bargain price. I don’t know what the numbers today are.

By the way, Browning wasn’t the only one to get taken in by the salt wood walnut curing process. I’ve heard that some other gun companies did also, but weren’t quite as up front about dealing with it."

 

Your forearms may well be salt wood also. Sealing it never works in the long run and will eventually continue to destroy the gun.