Need Ideas

[Boerrancher]

Yesterday my Father gave me 3 of my Grandfathers guns, that he had recently gotten from my Grandmother. Granddad has been gone for about 4 years now, and I guess Grandma didn't take care of his guns. One is a custom built 25-06, the other is an old style Flattop Ruger Blackhawk 357, the other is a Ruger 44 mag Super Blackhawk.

The pistols are not in too bad of shape, but the 25-06 has some mighty bad cancerous spots on it. Since I have been out of the loop for nearly four years, I was wondering if there was any new products that removed rust? I am also looking for suggestions on how to clean up these old guns and preserve as much of the original finish as possible. Any and all tips and techniques will be welcome. I just hope the bore on the 25-06 is alright. Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

Best Wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

[trk]

I've seen a friend restore many by using kerosene and steel wool. The kero acts as a lube to protect the finish and carry off the rust removed by the steel wool.

[Ricochet]

I'm leery of steel wool scratching the finish, even with a lube. My Colt Official Police is marred from having steel wool clumsily used to remove rust. I'd be more inclined to try something like the copper Chore Boy.

Dunno if it really has any special properties better than kerosene, but turpentine's an old favorite rust removal aid that I've had good luck with.

And after learning how rust blueing's done, I've boiled and carded rusted steel and gotten some pretty good results.

[mooman76]

Steel wool should be fine as long as it is real fine like nothing coarser than 0000 and rub lightly, don't scrub. Let the kerosene soak awhile and do it's work. I would say use some sort of rust remover but I am unsure if it would remove some of the bluing or not.

[725]

I've used 0000 steel wool and "Ed's Red" bore cleaner. Of course, take the barreled action out of the stock. If these home attempts don't work, a fine family piece would be a worthy candidate for a professional fix-up & reblue.

[HeavyMetal]

Used to be a product on the market that was very similar to the chore boy but it wasn't copper.

I have an old one on my bench but have no idea who was marketing it or what they called it, Sorry.

I'll suggest trying some of the sites like midway, I looked at Natchez no luck, and see if you can get lucky. It looks like the Chore Boy in silver, you'll know it when you see it. Used to be every gunshop in town had them hanging on the wall now those shops are gone so I have no idea where I would even find another one.

This thing ate rust like in law eat turkey at thanksgiving and it would not remove blueing!

However if the rust had gone through the blueing and pitted the metal not much to do but restore it with a Pro's help.

[mold maker]

I've bought several of those from Midway. Your right they eat rust like lumber jacks at supper.

[steif]

Hi,
If it's a good family piece it deserves to be treated good....lol...
I have had really good luck using a old method I was told about long ago,
just some plain oil or penetrating oil and a real copper penny. you know the ones dated before 1982....
it's tedious, but it works. on real bad spots it takes several days of soaking and scraping, but it has worked good for me.
of course, wherever there was rust will be bare metal with no blue left, personally I just oil the bare spots and leave it, but you could get some touch up cold blue and put several coats on to sort of match the finish.

And I was shown by the same person how to do a good cold blue, you know most of them say degrease, well he just put a heavy coat of oil on then the bluing, and rubbed well. after 3 or 4 coats it looked great! but that was a long time ago and I think he used 44/40 blue so I'm not even sure if they sell that anymore.
Thanks!

[quack1]

If the rust is rough and scabby, scraping the scabs with the edges of sheet brass usually works, then remove the brass marks with bore cleaner. The only thing is, if the rust is that bad, its going to be pitted underneath it. 0000 steel wool lubed with Hoppies #9 works well for light rust, but keep in mind if you rub too long or too hard you can start removing some bluing. Just rub enough to get the rust. Any chemical rust remover I know of will also remove the bluing, as bluing is just rust that is controlled to depth and color. If the bore of the 25-06 is rust free, a reblue job can have it looking like new and would be well worth it. A good bluing shop should be able to duplicate the original bluing, whether it was hot dipped or rust blued.

[MtGun44]

G96 and 4/0 (0000) steel wool are excellent. Do not scrub too hard
or you will thin or even remove the bluing. G96 seems to remove a lot
of rust with just a cloth, like a cleaning patch, too. In my experience it
is much better than Hoppes #9 for rust, altho I love #9 for bores.

Bill

[Boerrancher]

Thank you for all of your input. I don't think that this project is going to be one of those knock it out in an evening type of things. I will most likely work on them from time to time and have a chance to try many of the methods listed. Once again thank you.

Best wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

[Rustyleee]

One thing to consider is that it might have been in rough shape due to being used by granddad. In some circles that's referred to as "patina." you might want think about granddad before thoughts of a complete redo enter your mind. That's almost like washing history down the drain.

[leftiye]

I rebuilt my Grandfather's Hamilton watch from a basket case. There DID come a point where I had to ask myself how much more of the parts I could replace, and still have "my grandfather's watch."

[Firebird]

Brownells sells bronze wool (http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=7391&title=BRONZE%20WOOL) - same as steel wool but made of bronze. It is gentler than steel wool on the bluing. And use Kroil, CorrosionX or another penetrating oil for the lubricant. It will get under the rust and lift it off the steel, and yes the metal underneath may end up with the pitting revealed.