Hi,
I'm in the process of developing a load for my new Pedersoli Kodiak Express Mk VI .58 cal double and I had a pretty nasty surprise when I properly cleaned the gun for the first time. It turns out the barrels are not blued but either painted or "cold blued" (which is a form of selenium dioxide coating and has nothing to do with real bluing).As with all my other guns including a Pedersoli side by side smoothbore 12ga shotgun I used a soft brass wire brush and a solvent based cleaner to clean the nipple area. Imagine my surprise when the "bluing" disappeared and left me with an area of light steel around both nipples! (see photos below)
Now, to anyone who might suspect my brass brush is not really soft brass, but brass plated steel I can show this photo of my Pedersoli side by side double barrel smoothbore 12 ga which is around 2 years old and was cleaned with the same brush and solvent in a same way at least 7-10 times:
There is not even a scratch on it.
Also, when one looks closely with a naked eye, it is evident that the finish is different on both guns. For example on the blued smoothbore one can clearly see the tool marks made when the nipple depressions were milled into the barrel. Real bluing will show slight imperfections like that. The same tool marks were not visible on the painted barrels until the paint was removed during the brass brush cleaning. This further suggests some sort of coating that filled the tool marks.
Now, I don't blame Pedersoli themselves too much. Their website only mentions blued barrels in the Kodiak Express long barrel section - this is a new model with a different sight and a shorter barrel. Their print catalogue also doesn't mention anything about bluing in the Kodiak Express Mk VI section, and does mention it in Kodiak Express Mk III. See picture below:
However, the local Pedersoli distributor in their description had a clear mention of blued barrels on their website. I bought the rifle from them and I'm asking them for a partial refund due to their error. I'm writing this post in part to make people aware, the new Kodiak Double doesn't have blued barrels and in part to ask for advice on the best method to fix this.
I'm considering trying so called cold bluing, then if it doesn't help perhaps trying something like Mark Lee Express Blue #1 as sold by Brownells as it doesn't require temperatures as high as hot bluing which could damage soft solder used to join the barrels together. What do you think?