Rust on Barrel

[Brittany]

When to the Phoenix gun show today, got a great buy on a 54 cal Hawkens, with adjustable tang sights. The out side of the barrel has some rust about 6 inches down from the muzzle. Tell me the best way to dress this up.

Thanks Charlie

[mooman76]

Try some well oiled 0000 steel wool. Rub lightly.

[Motor]

If you keep it wet with WD-40 or a simular product it will penetrate the rust and make it come off eaiser. Like mooman76 suggested I'd use 0000 steel wool.

If your not satisfied with it after that you could probably have it reblued. The cost of rebluing should not be too bad. You may even want to have it all reblued.

[Lead Fred]

WD-40 would be the single worse thing to use, the water will get trapped between the oil and the metal.

Naval Jelly works well

[Motor]

WD-40 would be the single worse thing to use, the water will get trapped between the oil and the metal.

Naval Jelly works well

What water? WD-40 (Water dissplasement - formula #40) does not contain water and in fact seeks out bare metal surfaces. What in the world are you talking about.

[retread]

Bronze wool with any type thin oil.

[bubba.50]

if you want to remove only the rust & keep the blue on the barrel go with 0000 steel wool and a light oil like 3-in-1 oil. naval jelly will eat the blue slap off yer barrel.

[waksupi]

You could heat up the barrel, pour boiling water over it, turn it into rust blue, and oil it.

[oldred]

WD-40 would be the single worse thing to use, the water will get trapped between the oil and the metal.

Naval Jelly works well


You have got to be kidding!!!!

Navel Jelly is what would be the single worst thing to use on that, it would DESTROY any and all bluing it comes into contact with -it would INSTANTLY strip it clean right down to the bare metal! WD forty is a penetrating solvent and a light oil compound that will penetrate into the rust and loosen it allowing it to be removed by using 0000 steel wool as has been mentioned already. How much damage will remain after using this method will depend on how heavy the rust is and how long it's been on there, if it's only light rusting it may not even be noticeable after it's rubbed with the steel wool. If a rust removing product like Navel Jelly, Must-For-Rust, etc is used what otherwise might very well have been only minor and hardly noticeable damage will surely be severe indeed and will require a reblue job to repair!

[Squeeze]

Theres a steel wool pad called big45-frontier metal cleaner. Its like a steel wool pad, but it will not harm bluing. Ive been using it for well over 25 years. just rub that with some Hoppes and it wipes it right away. Ive had guys tell me its just a normal non scratch kitchen pad, but I cant bring myself to try THAT on my guns. I first saw the frontier deal at a gunshow. One of those sales guys had a stand and a big demonstration spiel. I was sold and picked up a few. It feels wierd to start rubbing your gun with the nasty looking pad, but one use and youll be sold. Its available a a bunch of places, search for it. It will make a believer out of you too

[dondiego]

+1 on the steel wool pad. I also use real copper pennies made before 1982 with a little oil. Removes rust and not blue. After you clean up the rust, degrease and use Brownell's Oxpho- Blue and you will be amazed. Retread's brass wool would also be a good idea.

[georgerkahn]

I agree re the big-Frontier! Buffalo Arms purveys it, and I can readily think of a zillion other ways to make a $5.00 bill disappear not so productively: http://www.buffaloarms.com/Big_45_Frontier_Metal_Cleaner_it-1025191.aspx?TERM=frontier
I use and heartily endorse a product called G96 -- rub barrel with a G96 dampened cloth, followed by gentle big-Frontier is "my" treatment for rust ranging from minor, to most severe. Their web-site is http://www.g96.com/products/gun-treatment/#
Hope this helps -- it works for *me*!
BEST!
georgerkahn

[725]

Bronze wool and oil. Once you work it out, keep it oiled.

[Zouave 58]

You might consider using Kano Kroil which is the best penetrating oil out there and is sold by Brownells as well as one of the small hand wire brushes Brownell's sells for hand carding rust blue. The combination seems to have the right abrasiveness to remove rust while leaving the blue intact.

[oldred]

Bronze wool and oil. Once you work it out, keep it oiled.


Exactly! It's kind of a misnomer to say that the steel/bronze wool will remove the "rust" since technically it won't, all it does is remove the brown rust residue which is the already completely oxidized iron. We all tend to think of that as being the rust but it in fact is actually just the left over residue from the real rusting process which is still going on, this is the surface of the metal between the brown residue we see and the bare unaffected metal underneath. This transition layer is the actual rust and it is the partially oxidized iron that is still actively trying to combine with Oxygen and unless it is chemically removed (or mechanically ground/sanded off) or converted into an inactive compound the rusting process will continue but there's simply no practical means of doing that without removing/damaging the bluing also. The good news is that as long as the Oxygen is kept away from it the rust will not continue to convert good metal into that ugly brown residue, oil is a good solution to that problem but the oil film must not be allowed to be removed. Once the area has been cleaned up then always keep it oiled good otherwise those same spots will once again start to actively convert your good barrel steel into brown iron oxide!

[725]

oldred
Being a married man and father, it is so nice & rare to have somebody think I'm right. You made my day. Thanks.

[Squeeze]

ever hear of that old backwoods method of filling a tub with about ~20-1 water/ molasses and soaking a rusty gun? It works as a kind of electrolysis cleaning, Just much slower. It works, Ive seen it. anywhere from a few days to a few weeks soak. the water gets a bubbly film that grows darker as the metal gets cleaner. Some of the traditional guys use it for old antiques

[oldred]

Navel jelly? Evapo-Rust? Molasses soak? Fellas the OP asked about removing a small area of rusting on the barrel not completely stripping the darn thing down to bare metal which is what those methods would do. You must remember that bluing is a form of oxidation as is rust also so any chemical treatment that removes oxidation in the form of rust will also strip bluing!

Right off Evapo-Rusts web site,


"EVAPO-RUST will remove sacrificial oxide coatings and is perfect for removing weapon finishes such as Bluing, Parkerizing, Zinc Phosphate, and Browning"

[Squeeze]

theres a man with a firm grasp of the obvious.

[Toymaker]

Why blue? Why not brown it? I browned the two long rifles I made and they look really great. It's an easy process, authentic and easy maintenance. Best of all, you have no worries about the outside of the barrel rusting.

[oldred]

Why blue? Why not brown it?Best of all you have no worries about the outside of the barrel rusting.


No worries about a browned finish not rusting???????? A browned barrel has little or no more resistance to further rusting than a blued barrel, particularly a rust blued barrel. Neither finish is particularly rust resistant it's just that the blued/browned surface tends to hold oil and thus keep Oxygen from interacting with the surface, remove that oil or allow a corrosive substance to contact the surface and rusting WILL occur regardless of whether it was browned or blued. New rusting may not be as obvious on a browned surface but there is just as much concern about new rust on it as with any other Oxidation finish, leave that barrel dry of oil and allow moisture and/or corrosive powder by-products to come into contact with it and that browned surface will be just as ruined!

[bigted]

nother thing to contemplate here is the old rollers and such that never had any finish on em at all. just kept oiled and they [some anyhow] remain perfect to this day after a hundred + years of use and abuse and still are not rust buckets.

I also use WD-40 to lightly rub off the rust results. then I use a good gun oil such as rem oil or such and keep em oiled and rubbed. works like a charm. same as those guns that never had a finish applied to em ... they also are kept oiled to negate the ability of the rust taking over ... this IS the result of not keeping your weapons oiled and dry ... with ANY finish.

[Hang Fire]

WD-40 would be the single worse thing to use, the water will get trapped between the oil and the metal.

Naval Jelly works well

Naval jelly will also remove any bluing left in the area, or elsewhere.