OK, so now I have a pretty good idea why the rust solution is not taking a bite on the pre-64 M70 .264 barrel. So now the next question is who can blue it for me? I have rust blued evrything else-will blued SS be close, or will I have to have the metal hot-dipped to be closer to the barrel?

Thanks!

Marc,
There are a few who can caustic blue a SS barrel/gun with a special bath but I believe you will be better served getting it coated with something like Robar's Rogard ot Birdsong's Black-T. If you can get it blued it will never look the same as the rest of the carbon steel parts. Just my .02

i am having a rifle built with a pre 64 winchester action in 264 winchester magnum and a stainless steel shilen barrel and the gunsmith recommended that i use the rogaurd treatment. check it out, it may be your best bet.

KY-

why do you say coatings are better-does the caustic process wear off too quickly? Before I started rust bluing I did a little caustic bluing of CM steel. THe rust blue is defintely harder to bead blast off the metal when compared to the caustic blue.

ANy idea which coating is closest to rust blue? I have everything but the barrel blued and would like to get a close match if at all possible. Thanks!

Marc,
you could litterally "rig" an electro plating of CM on the stainless, and then rust blue, or even black iron to it... spray clear poly U paint or lacquer in the chamber, threads and barrel...

then rust blue

jeffe

what would I need to do to plate it? I studied it years ago in engineering school, but have not even thought about it since.

Or better yet, who does plating like that? I really don't see too many blued SS barrels in my future, so I really don't want to invest the time to set up for it.

Marc,
there's not alot to plating, but I haven't done any since I was in college ...

http://www.caswellplating.com/

When I learned this, it was more "carbon rods and transet transformers" .. which works just fine

jeffe

I have seen a blued SS barrel and it was near indistinguishable from the CM action.

The smith used a very concentrated acid (think it was nitric) in a fume cupboard. The procedure was to allow the barrel a short time in the acid fumes which would cause rust and allow the hot bluing dip to take effect. He gave up doing it when he moved to smaller premises.

There is an outfit in the Milwaukee, WI area that will "blue" stainless. I can't remember the name but had them do a couple for me. Call Krieger barrels, they gave me the name the last time.

Jim