I've about wrapped up my latest project. This is my fourth rifle project and since I've still got a lot to learn I've been going over my mistakes and would like to learn from them.

The Rifle is a "Classic" Model 70 in 338 Win Mag. It has a Shilen No4 contour 26" barrel. The stock is a California English blank from Richards Microfit that a buddy gave me a great package deal on with the bottom metal included. I added the Ebony forend tip and did my first ebony inlaid grip cap. I Rust-blued the metal work.

I did a few experiments with it and didn't like a couple things that I did. Here's a few Pics......

[url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=138353&c=500&z=1"][/url]

[url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=138358&c=500&z=1"][/url]



The forend may be a touch long. It's 11 1/2 from the front of the receiver but is maybe OK with a 26 in barrel.

The barrel contour is pretty thick and the rifle ended up a little heavy.

I chickened out on doing a Mullered border, I want to look at some more first hand and practice them a little more before cutting them. I also had thought about a Fluer-de-Luis pattern but had heard they were more traditional for the lighter calibers.


[url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=138356&c=500&z=1"][/url]

I probably won't use the flush mount swivels again. I think they make too big a hole in the wood and don't look as good as the talleys IMO.

I need to reshape the staddle on the Blackburn bottom metal as my trigger relief flutes come a little to far forward.


I polished some of the internals but would appreciate any hints on what other smiths do on model 70s.

[url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=138414&c=500&z=1"][/url]



The cheekpiece I think could be a little smaller and/or maybe shape the lower flute a little more upward?

The front of the comb is a little too upswept, I may go ahead and reshape it as soon as I'm im the mood for a little refinishing.



[url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=138417&c=500&z=1"][/url]



I also didn't care for the style of crossbolts I used. I would like to figure out a good way to use internal crossbolts and not cut holes in nice pieces of wood on the outside. Or at least cover them with ebony plugs. Other ideas?


While Rust Bluing I made the mistake of letting my water level get to low in the boiling tank and it made some splotches on the top. They came out 98% but not 100%. Nobody else has noticed but I know they are there and how to prevent them next time.

I need to learn to metal checker and build up a pad on the bolt release and checker the push button on the floorplate release.


In closing, I still consider myself a beginner and so would appreciate any constuctive criticism from some of the experienced gunmakers that frequent here. Thanks........DJ

It is nice to see someone who can finish a project and make it look good.
I can't seem to do that

At a glance, without some real up-close pictures, it appears that you've done a fine job.
My biggest hangup is the wood-to-metal fit. Without that being done well, the rest is up for grabs, but your choice of wood, caliber, and action were great.

All and all, it appears to be a well balanced assembly.

I would agree with you on the sweep up on the cheekpiece, as it tends to add a little better lines to the stock.

The forend with the 26" barrel is fine for length, although it might be a tad long for a shorter barrel.

Your color scheme is excellent between the the recoil bad, action, and ebony tip. They compliment themselves quite well with the excellent piece of English that you chose.

How many rifles have you built seriously? It would appear that you're surpassing what most "beginners" would be at this point.

In closing, the only other thing that I see as potentially lacking in cosmetics would be the scope. The overall size of the scope has tendency to detract from the rest of the rifle, but this is purely from a cosmetics standpoint, and not from a functional one.

Other than that, great job, and keep up the good work. Post some more pics of the detail work you did, especially the checkering.

Did you rust blue before or after installing the barrel? Any bolt knob embelishment/checkering? Good work.

Take some close ups, so we can see how good the wood to metal fit is. I like that sucker alot. It appears to have the perfect balance of everything, forearm length is fine with that barrel lenght/contour. Really nice job. A jeweled bolt with a blued extractor would really make it pop.

I like it, it looks well proportioned in shape and color. Let me know when if you want more practice. I'm willing to risk a stock on someone who cares about what they're doing.

DJpaintles:

I would pretty much parrot what Matt Williams has said. I really like that stock blank.

It looks to me like you are about ready to take the plunge. Have somebody machine the inletting into a straight grain (cheap) piece of Black Walnut. Shape the outside of the stock to your liking for a pattern on your next project.

What are you waiting for?

Nice job
the rifle looks balanced, from forarm to barrel. I,myself, don't like allen head actiona screws, but that's your call.

I would like to see some closeups of the checkering and the bottom metal fit... I think that you are far better than beginner, and i've seen work that your's PUTS TO SHAME... and the fella doing it tries to charge for it.

If the checkering is as well done as it appears, i believe you may wish to focus on that area as a speciality

jeffe
(who can draw stick figures without a compass and ruler)

I agree that the barrel contour looks a bit "beefy" compared to the rest of the gun. It is still a fine looking rifle and I think you are too modest regarding your abilities. I would like to learn checkering just hesitant to make the plunge and jump in. I am just starting finishing and refinishing my own stocks. I would like to be at the skill level you are now demonstrating.

If this is your 4th project, I'd say you're learning fast. Very nice.

That is a beautiful rifle you've put together for sure. You are too hard on yourself ...but then again true artists are never fully satisfied with their work.
If I were to do anything to it I would put a set of irons on it, and maybe a bit smaller scope.
That's just me, though.

Keep up the excellent work.

I have seen a lot of custom rifles on this forum and have to wonder what they were thinking, but you my friend got it right!
sincerely shayne

Thanks guys, I appreciate the comments. Matt it really is my fourth rifle that I have stocked in wood. I've bedded several including a few fiberglass stocks. And had checkered a few rifles for buddies.

I agree that wood to metal fit is critical. One reason I had put off finishing this rifle for 2 years was that I had inherited a couple overcuts. The guy that I got the blank from had started to rough in the bottom metal with a dremel tool instead of chisels and inletting black. You can see in the next pic the front left where I had to fill in.....

[url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=138569&c=500&z=1"][/url]

I inletted the barrel channel and thought that it was OK for a free floated barrel....



[url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=138553&c=500&z=1"][/url]



It was my first inlayed grip cap and I thought that it came out Ok. Next time I may try a bordered pattern, but since it was my first Ebony checkering and first at 28LPI I settled for a pattern to the edge which is MUCH easier.....

[url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=138549&c=500&z=1"][/url]

Unfortunately my photographic skills won't yet allow me to get a real detailed picture of the checkering but hopefully you can get a better idea of the pattern with this pic.......

[url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=138555&c=500&z=1"][/url]

I hope all this stuff isn't too boring and/or takes too long to load.

I have 1 more project in the works that started from a pre-inletted blank. As soon as I finish it the next project is going to be from the block. It seems like every pre-inlet I get is overcut somewhere and so I want to try one where any overcuts are my mistakes and not someone elses.

Another thing I should do for my M-70's is to replace all of the extractors with Matt's. As soon as I'm a little more flush that plan is in the works. I'm really picky about how a rifle feeds and I'm sure that these would be a great improvement. After filing and tweaking this rifle will now feed emptys smoothly and of course loaded rounds even better.....

I wish that I could checker fast enough to make it worthwhile financially. But you just can't charge enough for the time it takes. Rust-Bluing is even worse. Fortunately I have a pretty good job that pays the bills and can do this as a hobby that maybe I can retire too and enjoy. So I've got a few years to refine a lot of stuff.

Thanks again guys, I appreciate a learned constructive criticism as much as a compliment- that's how we learn.........DJ

Oh yea, I haven't done any metal checkering yet but plan to in the future I agree that bolt knobs look nicer with a 4-panel checkering job. I also think that they look neat a little more swept back. Learning to weld is on the list.

I rust-blued the action with the barrel on. You do have to be extremely carefull about drying the barrel out at each carding cycle. This action took 11 cycles.

I thought about sites and thought they would look good but didn't do it for 2 reasons. One I wanted to get the thing done after procrastinating for 2 1/2 years. Waiting for sites might have put the project off until next year in my off work season. Secondly I had left the barrel long at 26 inches thinking that you can always shorten it later if you want and I think irons look a little better on a 24" or shorter barrel. I had a 338 26inch once with irons and it looked good but different.....dj

dj,

Your rifle looks great. I have only a few suggestions and that is all they are. The shape of the stock looks alot like a Biesen particularly in the nose. And that resemblance is certainly no criticism. The slope of the nose is a bit abrupt and I think you already said that. The other thing is the shape of the forend tip. Try to make it more of a half of a hemisphere. That is easy to correct. It just take a bit more agressive shaping. With a larger barrel contour it often looks better to have more of a flat along the top of the stock.



I really do like what you have done. You are doing a great job and I can tell you that the mullered borders are a lot easier than any of the tasks you have dont todate and from what I have seen you have excelled at them.

DJ
Nice work! It looks like you enjoy this stuff! My pointers here would be shorter forend around 9.75" much less time to checker. Loose the swivels, they're the loudest ones I've ever hunted with squeak squeak. From the glare in your picture and the length of your detail line in front of the floorplate, it looks like the forend may be a little square. This was the hardest part for me to learn, but if you close your eyes and roll the forend through your fingers and feel any "corners" then keep shaping. It's easier to see the high spots with your finger tips than your eyes. By using a semi inlet you don't have a lot of room to change the basic shape that has already been cut. You should try one from a blank. Personally I'm not a fan of the Biesen style grip, but he has sold many more rifles than I. If you've seen my web site, the 244 rem page has a slimmer "faster" open grip. I have spent a lot of time admiring Jerry Fisher's work and shape my stocks closer to his than Biesen's. But that's just my personal preference and your's may be different. When I showed my 223 to Pete Grisel he said "God I hate those open grips". Kinda felt like a kick in the teeth, but Pete's stocks look more like Biesen's. You need to figure what style you want to perfect and shape away. You've done some great work here this early in the game! Keep it up.

gunmaker
http://users.elknet.net/chico

Nice Rifle, I really like the wood. I did one some years ago in a very similar style, only goes to prove that great minds do think alike. This one was also a Richard's, and my biggest gripe is that they tend to cut them too skinny.
Keep posting your pics, its always fun to look at other peoples work !
[image][/url][/image]

FineGunmaker, I loved your site - what beautiful rifles. I have a couple of questions if I may.
On the Laminated stock 223 I like the wrap around checkering on the wrist and was wondering exactly how you layed it out. Do you start your master lines at the points on the wrist?
When checkering forends what is the best way to keep your diamonds consistant from the rear to the front? The Pattern I have been using has master lines starting in the rear of the forend and works it's way towards the front. But as the pattern moves towards the front and the forend narrows the diamonds want to get shorter even though the lines are straight. Is the only way to combat this to keep the forend from tapering too much? Does a ribbon like you had on the 30-338 help at all?
I really liked the cheekpiece on the 244, what type of scope is planned for this rifle? With the smaller cheekpiece to you have to use a lower scope?
Thanks again for your comments, your website was further inspiration........DJ

Kboom, Richards does have some nice wood don't they. I don't really care for some of their patterns and find that they are a little loose on the pantograph, but every exibition blank I've seen from them was nice. My project No 3 was also one of their stocks.......

[url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=121926&c=544&z=1"][/url]





I bought a blank from them that I really like and plan to use it for project No 6, but I haven't decided exactly what to do.




[url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=138869&c=544&z=1"][/url]

[url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=138870&c=544&z=1"][/url]

I actually had a pre-war Model 70 that I thought I had my buddy send of to be rebarreled to 257 roberts, but neither of us can find the damn thing anywhere! I'll probably be cleaning out my garage 20 years from now and find it but until then I have to come up with some other idea.
I'm still thinking 257 Roberts or other light caliber since this blank is claro and probably not as strong and I have lots of boomers anyway. I have a Kimber 270 WSM that shoots great and I love so I thought would look good in this stick, but the Kimber stock that it came in is pretty nice anyway so I don't know. It would be nice if Kimber sold barreled actions. I wouldn't mind doing a Kimber in something real nice.
I also have a Sako AII featherweight in 308 that isn't in a very good piece of wood so might be a canidate if it shoots well, but I'm thinking that as much effort as you put into stocking a rifle it should probably have a custom barrel that shoots awesome or just not bother.
I am open to suggestions. Anyone have some for this stick?.......DJ

DJ,
I think that blank would make a dandy Roberts, one of my all time favorite calibers. The only pattern of Richards that I like is the "Old Classic", if I order one from them again I'll get it oversized so I have more wood to work with. I like the way you handled the 7MM, that's just what a rifle should look like. If I were to work from a square blank, I think I would use English, tring to plane fidle back claro can be a nightmare.JMO of course. Keep it up!

Hey, what are you guys looking for? Criticism or praise?

Rightfully, it should be praise because these are really beautiful rifles.

Good hunting and thanks for the lovely pictures!

Gentlemen

Critiquing latest project.............



It looks just fine The only error I can come up with is that it't not mine... I hope you decided to continue working on rifles.



I got a few Brno's ZG-47 that needs a face lift and some new stocks



Cheers

/ JOHAN

DJPaintles,



When you do that Bob, add a skeleton butt plate to match the grip cap.. I also think Richards semi's are perfect for beginning. Im cutting my teeth on one now, besides another semi that I got through Midway, and will probably do at least one more before I jump into a full blank.



What rust blueing do you like to use? Ive failed at it so many times that Im about ready to get a set of hot tanks.



How heavy is that rifle? Im thinking that when its time to get some shooting done the extra weight/recoil reduction will be somewhat less troublesome.



What do you use for inletting scrapers? Store bought or did you make some?



It appears from the side shot that the entire bolt has been blued, I was going to suggest jeweling the bolt to add some contrast and then saw the bottom photo. I agree that a bit of checkering on the bolt knob would be a nice touch, you are clearly well ahead of me in your skill development.



Keep up the fine work..



Oh, I love the wood on that gun, it is gorgous, but it appears that on the left side of the grip area that the grain flow runs across the grip as opposed to flowing with it. ?? Not something that a guy can do much about with a semi from Richards, but something to watch for when selecting your own blanks.





One other question, what did you use to fill the area by the bottom metal? However you did it, I cant really see the filled area in the pic, and the remaining lines look fantastic.

Wstrnhuntr,
When you tried rust bluing did you use a damp box? I would expect that your humidity is low in UT and if so you will need one. I will get some photos and post them on here. Mine is simple and does a great job.

dj, you are a man after my own heart. I truly love the .257 Roberts, and the 7X57, .280 etc. I have a few "magnums" but less is often more.

Wstrnhunter, for what its worth here's what I've found out about rust blueing;
I talked to a guy from Turnbull at a gunshow and he recommended that I try the Mark Lee express formula from Brownells. That is what I've been using. It's an "express" formula and I'm sure isn't as durable as the slow rust process but you can do a rifle in a day or two.
I prepped the metal to 320 grit to remove milling marks and scratches. I then glass bead blasted the metal work. Bead blasting really shows up any remaining scratches. I then prepped the Metal with grey scotchbrite to give a smoother finish. The 7mag I rust blued directly after bead blasting but got a couple little pits in the action which are believe are from the casting process. The grey scotchbrite prevented these on the 338.
I found out the hard way that boiling the parts in a degreaser is critical. Theres no way IMO to get all the grease out without it. If you don't boil it in degreaser, oil leaches out when you boil it to blacken.
After boiling it in degreaser I wipe down with acetone and then a "Final Clean" degreaser used in Auto Body paint work. After double degreasing I heat the metal with a propane torch until I can see the degreaser evaporate.
With the metal still warm I brush on the Mark Lee formula with a acid brush, and it rusts on the spot. I like to then reheat the metal until I can see the carrier of the formula evaporate and then rebrush. I think that heating the metal with the propane torch is the most critical step to keep the finish even.
Within a few minutes I boil the metal just treated for several minutes until it turns dead black. Be Sure to keep the water level high enough to cover the metal!
After boiling I take the metal parts out of the tank and immediately remove the plugs and dry the barrel. I found that Birch dowels pointed by chucking in a drill and grinding on a rough file work pretty well.
I card the metal with a combination of fine wire brushes and a fine-wire carding wheel that I got from brownells. Using the brush at different angles will give a different burnishing effect so experiment a little.
After carding start the degreasing and do the process over and over until the desired color is reached.
I alternated the bottom-metal and small parts and the barreled action in the tank - i.e. while one was boiling I was carding and prepping the other. On the 338 I started at 7am and finished about midnight in one day. It was quite a chore.

It's nice to be able to do it yourself but after looking at Chic Worthings (Customstox) prices for slow rust bluing I don't if it's worth doing it again or not. The slow rust process takes a little longer but is more durable. For the amount of work involved his prices are very reasonable and some friends of mine have praised his work I hear he's a great guy. I'd definately take a look at his site were I you.
One of these days I may get around to building a rust cabinet and retry the slow process. I mixed up a couple different formula's with "mixed" results. But that's an adventure for another day.

Great Idea on the skeleton buttplate on a 257 Bob, might be the plan......

Oh and as far as seeking praise or criticism I appreciate both but learn more from the criticism.........DJ

When you're ready for a slow rust job buy some Gun Goddess from Half Moon Rifle Shop. It's still not as good as having someone else do it for you but the results are pleasing and so far very consistent. The directions are very complete as well although I'm sure one could always develop personal tricks too. Even here in Houston I had to build a damp box though; the humidity has been too irregular for even results. Many thanks to Customstox for mentioning Gun Goddess here on the forum.

And thanks to you for giving another beginner some hope. That' really nice.

Kboom, Thats a great looking rifle also!
Shayne

DJ,

Very nice work! Inspiring ( and daunting!) to see what another dedicated tinkerer can acomplish.

Don't worry too much about others opinions of your style; build your rifles to suit your own tastes, as the pleasure they give you shows in your craftsmanship.

As for criticism of your execution; when my skill approaches yours, I will feel confident to offer some

Doug.

DJ,

Beautiful work! I also enjoy 'tinkering' with guns, not much time lately - I do enjoy looking at pics of other people's fine work though. Very classic styling, and nice shaping / finishing.

My only suggestion is to experiment with other semi-inlet makers. As someone else above mentioned, Richard's stocks are very skinny. The first time I ordered a blank from Great American, I couldn't believe how thick the butt was.

Best,
Todd

djpaintles-

I can't keep from drooling; great job. That's one really beautiful rifle.

I am sending you a PM.

dj,

Congratulations on a fantastic job.

DJ
Here's some answers to your questions.

1)On the Laminated stock 223 I like the wrap around checkering on the wrist and was wondering exactly how you layed it out. Do you start your master lines at the points on the wrist?

The master lines started on the sides of the tang and crossed over the top of the grip. The Diamond was also a 3:1 ratio instead of the standard 3 1/2:1. This made it easier to cross my master lines.

2)When checkering forends what is the best way to keep your diamonds consistant from the rear to the front?

When I layout my master lines I lightly scribe parallel lines, about .25" apart, through out the pattern. After spacing 6 lines @24lpi you can really tell if you are drifting compared to the scribe marks. You have to "will" the lines back to parallel.

3)The Pattern I have been using has master lines starting in the rear of the forend and works it's way towards the front. But as the pattern moves towards the front and the forend narrows the diamonds want to get shorter even though the lines are straight. Is the only way to combat this to keep the forend from tapering too much?

The reason why the diamonds are getting shorter is because the ratio is changing. This could be from a number of reasons. Try and make sure when you are spacing your elbow is swinging naturally at your side and your not trying to saw across your legs. If you find your elbow getting farther and farther away from your side you need to change your position to allow a more natural movment of your arm. Another reason wrap patterns are hard to keep parallel can be the forend not being so round. I'm not picking on you here, and I don't know for sure if your forend isn't round, it's just the hardest thing for most stockmakers to learn. Some never do. If you turn a 2.5" walnut dowel finish it and layout your pattern on it and space it, you'll find it's much easier to keep the ratio of your diamonds consistant than if you take a 2.5" square chunk the same length of your dowell and round two corners and try the same pattern, it probably won't look the same. When spacing the "square" one the rate you turn the blank to keep your checkering tool square changes drasticlly as you complete one pass. On the dowell forend the rate you turn the part is constant and the spacing should be much more consistant.

4)Does a ribbon like you had on the 30-338 help at all?

The ribbons may help somewhat only because you see the ribbons layed out when checkering and will your spacing to match them. The most important thing about checkering with ribbons is not to treat the whole forend pattern as three seperate patterns. You should space the whole forend and when you get to a ribbon just space over it into the next panel. This will keep the forend pattern looking like one pattern and not three separate ones. The 30-338 was my first checkering job. I layed it out in a checkering class I took from Bill Knechtel and finished it later. I gave it to my brother for X-mass one year. I shaped stocks for Dakota for 4 years and never checkered my own work untill I quit Dakota and took Bill's class. When I started building rifles I had other people checker them and they told me to try and round my forends and grips more because the "square" ones are much harder to checker. By the time I checkered my own I had shaped an average of 3 or 4 stocks a week for 4 years and had figured out how to make then easier to checker.

5)I really liked the cheekpiece on the 244, what type of scope is planned for this rifle? With the smaller cheekpiece to you have to use a lower scope?

I shape the comb on my stocks much thinner than many stockmakers. The addition of a cheekpiece makes no difference in the ability to sight through a scope. On a stock with a much thicker comb the shooters face is already pushed off centerline and the cheekpiece makes it slightly worse. The shooter has to crane his neck towards the center. My 244 has about 1/8" cast off at the heel and 3/16" cast off at the toe. This coupled with my thin comb allows the rifle to naturally fit me. When I shoulder my 244 with my eyes closed and then open them I'm looking straight down the top of the barrel. I used this "blinking" method while shaping stocks at Dakota and it helped convince me to take more material off the side of the comb.

I'll probably use a straight 4X Leupold on the 244. It's about the right overall size for the short action and won't distract the viewer from the rest of the rifle. At Dakota we had more accuracy problems with German glass on the big guns and I can't ever recall a problem with a Leupold. My brother wants to replace his 3-9 Swarovski with a Leupold.

I'm very impressed with your work and look forward to seeing more. I wish I started my checkering on my first projects like you have, but I can't go back in time. I also have used Mark Lee express and found it to wear very well even on a sweaty horse for a week. Just take the rifle apart when you get home and card off the rust with steel wool and oil and the finish still looks great! You can't do that with a Salt blue.

Another thing to think about, when building a custom rifle stand back and look at the whole rifle once and a while. If there's something that distracts your eye from the whole rifle then that's what most people will see. The best rifles in the world have that special balance not just in your hands but also what you see. Sometimes less is more!

gunmaker
http://users.elknet.net/chico

Chic,

My bad, Ive been working with express blue. I managed to get a couple items to turn out but have probably had twice as many look disasterous.

DJ,

Thanks for the feedback. Ive been using Mark Lee as well, but have been de-greasing and preping by hand. I think thats where Im loosing it, and that a bead blaster and de-greasing tank would be a tremendous asset. Ive all but given up on it but your encouraging me to give it another go. I like your idea for bbl plugs!

Thanks, Byren

One more question for the pros, how fine should checkering be in order do succesfully do a fleur-de-lis? Im guessing it will need to be at least 24-26 lpi to make it look right. ??

Do you really need to degrese between applications?

I had trouble at first because I used steel wool that I neglected to degrease. I was very careful to degrease everthing else. Once someone pointed out my mistake things turned out very nicely.

I'm just wondering if between each boiling, card, and solution application you really need to degrease? I guess this question is valid both for slow & express rusting?

Wstrnhuntr,
Sorry, my mistake. There is no difference between lpi for a fleur job and a point pattern. I like checkering from 22 lpi and smaller and most of the time I do mine at 24. I do think that fluer de lis look better if the checkering is recessed. Makes for a lot more work but that is what I am doing now. You basically put in the border including the fleurs and then cut the inside of th pattern down a skosh. Sorry about the technical term.

I had a few friends who were using Mark Lee's formula and turning out nice work. I was about to try it until another person who posts on here told me of some problems with it. I decided to stick with rust bluing and will see if I can get him to to explain what the problem was. It seems to be rather universal with time.

Zack,
I do not degrease between applications of a rust blue. However, I always handle my barrels with surgical gloves and I use a fine wire wheel from Brownells for carding. No oil anywhere. This goes quite fast in boil, card, reapply rusting solution. About 30 minutes or so and most of that spent waiting for the water to heat up.

I let the rust solution work slowly (about 10-12 hrs) in a cool and relatively dry situation because I rarely can be around 3-4 hrs later for the boil and thus would pit the barrel if I used a sweat box for the intervals between visits to my basement.

Brent

Zach, to be more specific I don't boil to degrease each time, but wipe it down with acetone and then Dupont Final Kleen 3901S and then evaporate them off with the propane torch. I'm sure other degreasers would work fine but these work well and are relatively inexpensive.

Thanks for the help finegunmaker my next forend will be round!.......DJ

DJ

What kind of finishing process did you use?

gunmaker

I use the Mark Lee express formula from Brownells. It's an "express" formula and I'm sure isn't as durable as the slow rust process but you can do a rifle in a day or two.
I prepped the metal to 320 grit to remove milling marks and scratches. I then glass bead blasted the metal work. Bead blasting really shows up any remaining scratches. I then prepped the Metal with grey scotchbrite to give a smoother finish. The 7mag I rust blued directly after bead blasting but got a couple little pits in the action which are believe are from the casting process. The grey scotchbrite prevented these on the 338.
I found out the hard way that boiling the parts in a degreaser is critical. Theres no way IMO to get all the grease out without it. If you don't boil it in degreaser, oil leaches out when you boil it to blacken.
After boiling it in degreaser I wipe down with acetone and then a "Final Clean" degreaser used in Auto Body paint work. After double degreasing I heat the metal with a propane torch until I can see the degreaser evaporate.
With the metal still warm I brush on the Mark Lee formula with a acid brush, and it rusts on the spot. I like to then reheat the metal until I can see the carrier of the formula evaporate and then rebrush. I think that heating the metal with the propane torch is the most critical step to keep the finish even.
Within a few minutes I boil the metal just treated for several minutes until it turns dead black. Be Sure to keep the water level high enough to cover the metal!
After boiling I take the metal parts out of the tank and immediately remove the plugs and dry the barrel. I found that Birch dowels pointed by chucking in a drill and grinding on a rough file work pretty well.
I card the metal with a combination of fine wire brushes and a fine-wire carding wheel that I got from brownells. Using the brush at different angles will give a different burnishing effect so experiment a little.
After carding start the degreasing and do the process over and over until the desired color is reached.
I alternated the bottom-metal and small parts and the barreled action in the tank - i.e. while one was boiling I was carding and prepping the other. On the 338 I started at 7am and finished about midnight in one day. It was quite a chore.

It's nice to be able to do it yourself but after looking at Chic Worthings (Customstox) prices for slow rust bluing I don't if it's worth doing it again or not. The slow rust process takes a little longer but is more durable. For the amount of work involved his prices are very reasonable and some friends of mine have praised his work I hear he's a great guy. I'd definately take a look at his site were I you.
One of these days I may get around to building a rust cabinet and retry the slow process. I mixed up a couple different formula's with "mixed" results. But that's an adventure for another day.


-repeated from another post.....DJ