Laurel Mountain Brown tips?

[blixen]

I've come across a rifle that has a good bores and internals, but was allowed to rust and pit by a previous owner, which breaks my heart every time I look at it.

But the price is very low, so I'm thinking of using Laurel Mountain brown/blacking to cover the pitting and generally refinish.

-- I have browned black powder weapons and I liked the results, but they weren't pitted. Will the browning cover the pitting adequately or is this just a good-money-after-bad attempt?

-- The weapon is an early Remington 760 pump, will brown/blacking be a bad idea because I probably will have to leave some of the pump's functioning surfaces unbrowned?

[johnson1942]

would a good beadblasting to a matte finish even it all out before you finish it? if the owner of the beadblasting machine lets you do the blasting and you really go after some parts they tend to even out. ive had to do this and it worked. also if he hasnt changed the glass beads for a while they get a little gritty and that even gives it a better matte finish. i have a local blacksmith that lets me use the one in his shop and you may what to look around your area for the same.

[leftiye]

File evens out pits. Sand to level of polish desired. Laurel Mtn. is good stuff, but I have had action/barrels rus in the brown phase, maybe boil it and maybe that will help. It makes a great flat brown finish when put on once a day for three days without carding.

[oldred]

Just remember that if filing or sanding to remove pits the entire area must be reduced an amount equal to the depth of the pits, thus however deep the pits are is how much the metal will be reduced in thickness. This removal MUST be done over a relatively large area because simply dwelling on filing or sanding the pits will lead to low spots and a wavy surface that will look even worse than the pits, quite often it's best to leave any pitting that can not be removed by moderate sanding. Bead blasting is, IMO, by far the best approach and if the pitting is really bad then even a more aggressive blasting media than glass may be called for, in the case of significant pits it's almost always better to just blend the pits rather than try to remove them. As far as choice of browning vs bluing/blacking I have found bluing seems to hide the remaining pitting much better than browning because the pits tend to be very dark in contrast to the much lighter brown shade while they pretty much blend in with a blackened surface. The thing is with pits that the metal is simply gone and the pit is really just a hole so short of welding it nothing can be done to remove it except to remove the metal surrounding it.

[bhn22]

I'd have the gun sandblasted or a coarse media blast of some sort, then I'd parkerize it. Most pits won't show up well, and this is the reason so many old military guns sport a fresh park job. I've seen a number of original 1911 Colts done this way. Of course the sellers represent them as an arsenal refinish, and want collectors money for them, but the 1911s were all originally blued. I digress, but this is probably the simplest way to cover imperfections in metal.

[oldred]

this is probably the simplest way to cover imperfections in metal.


Short of painting it you're right because pits have to be really bad for a parkerize finish not to hide them, also with the proper procedure Nickel plating can be used to completely cover the pits. It gets a bit more involved than just plating an already good surface because a couple of more steps are involved but if done right the pits can be eliminated without reducing the metal in thickness.

[johnson1942]

i agree with the guys above that a coarser material can work wonders when blasting a pitted barrel of course on the outside. i remember years ago i had that same problem and instead of bead blasting i went to a auto body shop where they sandblasted metal on cars before finishing them. that did the trick and combined with a rustblue that was boiled when done it turned out real good. i agree that a very dark finish will hide better than a brown. good luck.