Rusty Shotguns

Picked up three 12 gauge shotguns from my wife great aunt . Two Mossberg 500, one pre 1968 no serial numbered, 0ne 1973. One High Standard model 60. Remington 721 30/06. Great barrels on all guns very little wear on the insides. Wood in very good shape. Ben sitting in basement for nobody remembers how long. Didn't even know she had them. Problem is that all have heavy rust on outside, minor rust inside. I'm going to strip all down to bare metal and refinish, not reblue. Don't need them so going to grandkids when done. Will let the pick colors of coatings. Hopefully not pink. After all this typing my question is on the insides what do I treat with to prevent new rust on rails and tubes?

Since you are stripped off all the rust and going to refinish them.
Just soak them in Vinegar mixed with Hydrogen Peroxide.
Let them soak for a couple hours.
Straight Vinegar will work too but a little slower.
I strip rust and bluing off guns all the time.
Especially if I am going to Slow Rust Blue them.
Just polish the metal by hand and wipe them down with Acetone before you refinish them.
Are you going to Ceracoat them or just Sprey Paint them ?

Soaking parts in vinegar at this time. Shotguns probably paint. Rifle will go to grandson and ceracoat. The out sides are the easy parts. I'm wonder what I can use to keep new rust from forming on and in the tube and rail. I can't see using paint for the insides.

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Originally Posted by MEHecker

Soaking parts in vinegar at this time. Shotguns probably paint. Rifle will go to grandson and ceracoat. The out sides are the easy parts. I'm wonder what I can use to keep new rust from forming on and in the tube and rail. I can't see using paint for the insides.

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Allow me to make a recommendation. I restored an abused Ithica Mod37 I found in the same condition. I looked into my options for the do it yourself refinisher and setteled on Brownell's Alumahyde. Worked great, pretty easy to do, and is very durable.
https://www.brownells.com/tools-clea...aluma-hyde-ii/
You have a choice to either bake the finish or let it cure over time. I baked mine in the oven and it didn't stink up the house at all.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MEHecker

Soaking parts in vinegar at this time. Shotguns probably paint. Rifle will go to grandson and ceracoat. The out sides are the easy parts. I'm wonder what I can use to keep new rust from forming on and in the tube and rail. I can't see using paint for the insides.

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Just soak a patch in oil and run it up and down the bore a few times.

Just plain oil on bare metal prevents rust once the rust has been removed.
The only caution is if you use regular spray paint.
Some paints can be taken off with oil if not cured long enough or baked on to the metal.

After all this typing my question is on the insides what do I treat with to prevent new rust on rails and tubes?
...if you don't plan to use them now, wheelbearing grease, or wax, may protect them over time better than oil, like ol'style cosmoline_

Up looking at the wood on the shotguns, to nice to paint over. Little more work but I think I going to try to refinish a least one of them. If goes good I will do all. Was checking web sites on coverings. Ceracoat is to evolve for me at this. Aluma-Hyde looks good, I think I can do it without problem but the colors don't work for me. Looking at the Duracoat Dura-Blue. More money but like the way it looks. Question is minor pitting. Will it cover or do l have to fill in. Getting more work but I'm retire so have the time.

I polish out most minor pitting or I just bead blast the gun and it makes a little more Matt Finish when I slow Rust Blue them.
I did find that Dura Coat did well for hiding minor pitting also.
Dura Coat over a bead blasted gun also looked good

To protect metal from rust: Eezox, Fluid Film, Boe-Shield (I think that the name of the stuff). Boe-Shield is the spray penetrant from the Boeing Corp. It's used in the extremely harsh environment of commercial airplane maintenance. Might have to research it on the computer. After doing what penetrating oil does, it dries and leaves a very thin wax covering. That denies exposure to the air and hence moisture / oxidation. Great stuff. Fluid Film is a super rust preventer. It's an aerosol oil. I get it from wherever John Deere stuff is sold (probably elsewhere, too). Finally, Eezox is another great rust preventative. Have to search around to find it. Can't go wrong with any of the above.

I also think that the simplest and most effective action is to polish the metal by hand and wipe it with acetone!

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I salute you for your initiative, and your goal of gifting them to your grandchildren - Kudo's ! ! :drinks:

Suggest if you want to save time, dissemble and degrease, then just sand blast the outside (no bead blast) to remove the rust in pits, then spray a double coat of Cerakote on it, slow turning 1/4 turn at a time, all done while wet. Cerakote will not stick to itself when dry. The Granite Black looks like a semi gloss finish with 2 coats. It is a process I use, the double coat, on hard hunter's guns, turkey, ducks, etc. Holds up to weather real well.

The inside of the barrels is another matter, a plastic cup wad in a shell helps if pitted. If the pitting is bad, measure the wall thickness and smooth the barrels a bit, with a barrel hone, being careful to leave enough wall thickness to handle 7-12k for low brass light loads.

I just sent a Marlin 336 barreled action and related parts over to Vang comp for Cera-Koting. This gun has just enough exterior rust to create some small pits on the upper surfaces right in the view of everyone and their dog. So it had to be blasted to prep it for Cera-Kote./ The beauty of this process is that the blasting with Aluminum Oxide will blend the small pits into the rest of the surface, and that surface will be all the same color so any remaining pits will be filled in and less visible in the end.

I can do Cera-Kote on small piece parts like handguns and cook them in a Toaster Oven, but I don't have a big enough oven to do Long Guns so I have to farm them out..

I did a CZ 82 a few years back and it came out nice. The Cera-Kote is really easy to spray but having a consistent Surface Profile underneath is Key to getting a consistent finish. The CZ 82's all have a painted finish from the factory and since all of them were carried by the Czech Police for years, none that I have seen have perfect finishes. All of them have chipped paint and some are way worse than others I Grit Blasted mine with Steel Grit and the Surface Profile came out nice and consistent. And the painted result came out about as close to perfect as you can get.

The point I am making here is that if you have or can get access to a Blast Cabinet that is the best way to deal with Rust. And You don't have to use the Cera-Kote product. If you are on a budget you can spray with Exhaust Manifold paint which is similar to Cera-Kote any way. You will have to cook it in an oven to get it to stick to the metal like Cera-Kote does. There is also several Spray Paint finishes for guns that are sold by Brownell's that anyone can do at home that don't require "Force Curing."

People don't know that in order to remove Cera-Kote you must blast it with Steel Grit. Beach Sand won't touch it. When the stuff is properly applied it is ON THERE! As such, it is an excellent product for refinishing guns and other things that will see high and hard usage. You can't really "Re-Blue a gun that has a bunch of Rust Pits, but you can reduce the damage with a product like Cera-Kote that fills in some of the pits and make the end product look presentable.

I had my NRA Sporter Replica Cera-Koted because the Never Fired Brand New Barreled Action from 1943, was Parkerized Three Different Colors ! Now it is all Graphite Black and looks nice in it's Burgundy Red Stock. The Enfield was already made into a Sporter by Parker-Hale of England after WW2 I just bored it to a new caliber (.35-303) and Restocked it with Boyd's Wood for $100.

Please Note: These are all "Generic Guns." "Shooters." if you will. They look nice but are not high end guns, they were just regular "Common Man" guns that were brought back from the dead and given new life, and will still be around for another hundred years unless the Commie Democrats take this country over, which is kind of what these guns were made to prevent in the first place !!!

Randy