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Rebluing security shotgun barrel - anyone have tips?

JCinPA

.270 WIN
I'll begin a YouTube marathon, and be thoroughly confused in short order, and I'll probably make it harder than it needs to be, but ... any and all advice/tips welcome!

Anyway, I found out vinegar removes bluing.

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Had a small rust spot on the underside of the 930 security barrel I just installed my XS Big Dot sight on, and thought, "vinegar removes rust!" Put a kleenex on it with vinegar, then went to shower and shave. Ooops. Big old brown patch now. I slathered it pretty well in Birchwood Casey Barricade for now.

It doesn't need to be super pretty, it's a working tool, but I'd like it to not look like s4it. I've seen Brownells Oxpho Blue, Birchwood Casey Super Blue, BC Perma Blue, and several other products. Any notable differences? I have a heat gun and don't mind using it, but I don't want a super involved process, either.

And should I tough up or do the whole thing? Here is what the damage looks like.

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I'll have to remember that.

Edit to add: (do the whole thing)

I personally like about 3 or 4 coats of birchwood casey gun blue. Oxpho is the same stuff though.

But the birchwood casey, has one product that is a gun blue paste. It's in a small toothpaste tube.

That's the one that I like the best personally.

Here's one project I did a while back. Restoring an old bolt action 12 gauge. it was literally a wreck. (seriously, it was in the trunk of an old car at a junkyard-topic here http://mossbergowners.com/forum/index.php?threads/i-have-this-old-gun.18812/

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After
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Wow. Lot's of YouTubes on it. Pre-heating barrel, hot water dunking. There's a lot more to a good job than I thought.

I think I'll do it in patches rather than the whole barrel. I'm too OCD, I'd have to buy a dunk tank and all that crap or I'd never be satisfied. At least I don't care much about the quality of the job. :D
 
Well, I watched this video


And went with the Perma Blue. Of course the guy wants you to use Birchwood Casey degreaser cleaner, rust and blue remover, and Barricade rust preventative in addition to the Perma Blue. I love Barricade and always have it in both aerosol and the handy single-use, foil-wrapped packets. I also noted from watching other videos that heating the barrel with a heat gun may give better results. He also notes that the less time you leave the bluing on before rinsing in hot water, and using multiple coats is best. So I ...

1) cleaned using a rag, hot water, and Dawn dishwashing soap

2) prepped using CRC non-chlorinated brake cleaner and 0000 steel wool

3) heated barrel with heat gun

4) rinsed in hot water in well under a minute

5) more steel wool and repeat twice, for 3 coats

6) covered with Barricade and left it overnight to cure

It's not perfect, but it's plenty good for a working tool! I'm happy. You saw the mess above. Here it is now.

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You can still make out the spot I damaged but overall, I'm very happy with the results I got. There is still a small rust spot I may touch up later, but I won't do the whole barrel this time. Or maybe I will, it seems to smooth out the finish with more coats. Anyway, highly recommend this product. My tips are.

Heat it a little with a heat gun or hair dryer. Don't go nuts, and do not use a torch.

Do coat it in barricade or other gun oil and leave to cure overnight. It seems to make a difference.
 
I to have used the Birchwood Casey Perma-blue paste and I love it because it stays where you put it and it doesn’t evaporate quickly which means it blues quicker.

Otherwise I will only add to what has been given that there are always microscopic pits in the metal, and the treatment determines whether or not they Will appear to the human eye as visible rust pits in the future.

I always tell people that wire brushing and sandpaper is for the rust you can see. and acid is for the rust that you cannot see. The rust in microscopic pits of the metal.

Yes vinegar does remove rust. What people don’t remember is that bluing is just another form of rust. Rust, in the form of bluing, provides protection from oxygen in the atmosphere, which would turn your Winchester into a brown bess pretty quickly.

Once you strip off the bluing your metal will start to rust immediately, but it first forms in those microscopic pits and it’s not visible that it has happened.

This is why you want to do the entire barrel in one dip, Then quickly dry it completely and treat it before any rust can start to form. Even so it will form in those pits but the bluing will kill it pronto.
 
Yeah, but I'm not going to buy a bluing tank, and all that. The process in the video worked for me to my expectations. Exceeded them, actually.

Not disputing anything you've said at all. The liquid stuff worked for me, rust happening "immediately" is kind of an academic issue when you apply the stuff, rinse, dry, use heat gun all in a steady process. This is good enough for my purposes. I'm kinda OCD anyway, I made a conscious decision to be careful, but not OCD on this job. Thanks for the tips. My rust spot was there originally, not as a result of this process.
 
It looks a lot better than it did. Good job on that.

I still need to remember about the vinegar removing gun blue.

What kind of vinegar was it exactly?
 
Just store bought white vinegar, food stuff. Maybe it wouldn't be a problem if I did the whole barrel or used the blue/rust remover products. But, even not doing that, it looks good enough for my purposes, for sure. It's not an heirloom piece, it's a home defense shotgun, doesn't need to be pretty.
 
Having removed the blueing, though, the process to reblue went really, really well, IMO. There is no doubt in my mind that if you did bother with the blueing/rust remover first, and did, maybe 4-5 coats, using this method with the heat and rinsing, you may get a factory quality blue finish. If I were to do it again, I might use the BC blue/rust remover, although I'd stick with the Dawn dish soap and CRC brake cleaner.

I'm really happy. And looking at your own stunning results in post #2, I'd not hesitate to take on this job again on a gun I valued more highly. Just takes a little attention to detail, is all, not complicated at all.

EDIT: And having used my product, the success you had with yours, the praise Brownell's Oxphon blue gets, I've concluded the product doesn't matter much. It's cleaning, wearing gloves, heating a little bit, and attention to detail in the process ... any moron can get decent results with a little care. I'm proof of that! :D
 
Yeah, I agree. Attention to detail is important. The chemicals are going to do what they're supposed to do.
 
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