Rust on the Berrel and Blueing???

[Alaksa girl]

I have rust on my barrel and would like to reblue it!!! But I have heard it will never be the same!! :( any ideas on this???

[John Allen]

Depending on how bad the rust is you could do a light touch up. If it need a full blue you can get pretty good results with the cold blues but it is all about the prep. The actual blueing is only a small part.

[MtGun44]

Depending on how bad the rust is - you may need to polish out small pits to get an even metal surface
to reblue. Cold blue, specifically Brownell's T4, will do a very good job on a repolished barrel if you
heat it with a heat gun or REALLY careful use of a propane torch and apply the T4 with cotton balls
to a just sizzling temp barrel. Keep heating and applying for about 3-6 passes, then wipe with distilled
water on a paper towel a couple times, then dry and oil.

Polish with about 400-600 grit Wet or Dry sandpaper, long straight passes to get the scratch pattern
consistently down the length of the barrel. Then clean with alcohol and heat. Order a small bottle
of T4 from Brownells and try it. If you fail, try again, if you are not satisfied at that point, take
it to a gunsmith and pay the $$ or live with your job.

http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/metal-prep-coloring/metal-bluing/liquid-cold-bluing-chemicals/dicropan-t-4-reg--prod1085.aspx

Bill

[Win94ae]

I had a rifle with very bad rust and I can't tell after my first bluing job.

[nhrifle]

I am restoring a bunch of rifles salvaged from a house fire (no heat damage, just water) that are rusted worse than about any I have ever seen. There is no secret to a good refinish job, it's all about the amount of effort put into it before the bluing is done. A good part of the rust can be carded off and simply polished with various grades of sand paper. The deeply rusted/pitted areas may have to be draw filed. Take your time and do as good a job as you can polishing the metal as any imperfections will be magnified by the bluing.