Typical Grandpa's old shotgun. Stevens 94B, 50's-60's, pot metal trigger guard. Had it blued, receiver turned purple. Rust blue will not stick to the receiver. Material appears to be cast iron with a nitride caseharden. Any suggestions for bluing other than cold blue?

Leave it alone. Any "restoration" you do on it just messes up the value.

The above statement is true but the gun needs collector value to begin with. These 94's don't have much in todays market. And since it was already attempted what remaining collector status is now gone.
Personally I would either put a light bead blast on the receiver and electroless nickel plate it. or polish it then scotch bright it in one direction. Kind of like a Ruger silver label.

Another option is find a shop that can blue stainless as this is usually the same technique used to blue cast receivers. Oxynate 84 is what Brownell's sells to do cast receivers.

I've had good luck bluing original cased receivers that were hot blued purple by first degreasing thoroughly by solvent wash in paint thinner, then boiling in lye. Then, use pilkingtons rust blue, and it will just barely bite. Go ahead and boil it after sitting one day, and brush off the scale as normal and apply again. Each coat will just barely bite, but it will blacken a bit more. After about 4 or 5 episodes, it is an acceptable black.

dave

I know nothing about this make of shotgun. But I know that Schultz & Larsen rifles made in the 60s & 70s would turn brownish purple with hot blue in the action area alone. Din Collings the Wellington gunsmith told me that he just put the rifle through the tank a second time & it came out fine.

Here is a new product that might do it:

http://www.birchwoodcasey.com/trutemp/index.html

Thanks for the replys. The Birchwood Casey stuff looks interesting. The Brownell stuff would also probably work. My home made rust blue would not stick. Just used cold blue with a coat of wax and hope it will wear gracefully. Gun will not be used much. Again, Thank you, Good forum.

Chuck

So will that Birchwood Casey stuff work on a post 64 model 94 Win receiver. I have talked to half a dozen gunsmiths and asked on several forums if there was something that would stick to the receiver on one of these and no one knew of anything that would work. I've tried a couple cold blues including oxpho blue from brownells and they wipe off with a rag. I had considered getting it treated with melonite or sending it to get the ion bond treatment.

quote:

Originally posted by hntr:
So will that Birchwood Casey stuff work on a post 64 model 94 Win receiver. I have talked to half a dozen gunsmiths and asked on several forums if there was something that would stick to the receiver on one of these and no one knew of anything that would work. I've tried a couple cold blues including oxpho blue from brownells and they wipe off with a rag. I had considered getting it treated with melonite or sending it to get the ion bond treatment.

BC's policy is to blacken a sample so you can see how it looks. You could send them a receiver and let them try it.