So I read here on the forum to remove rust to use some 0000 steel wool and some gun oil, however, I missed the part that said NOT to use that technique on stainless steel rifles.

The damage has been done, I've used the steel wool to get the rust off. The rust is gone, but it sounds like apparently the steel wool has also removed the rust preventing capabilities of the S/S. Is there something I can do to get back the rust preventing qualities of the S/S?

The rifle is a Howa 1500 in 30-06. It's not anything expensive, but it's my first rifle, shoots well, and has sentimental value to me.
... I'm a bit panicked.

What can I do to get my rifle back to it's original rust-preventative state like when I first bought it?

Thanks

I suspect you may be in the place where the damage can be best recovered by having the metal bead blasted to restore the surface.

But you have to make sure the beads have only been used on stainless !!!
Passivation is done with nitric acid or now sometimes citric acid but I don't know offhand the details and if it can be done on a gun easily.

I guess I don't understand...

How does polishing SS remove its resistance to rust?

quote:

How does polishing SS remove its resistance to rust

The polishing of the SS doesn't make it rust. The steel wool leaves behind particles that will then rust as they rust they will then stain the SS.

This was from our stainless cookware:

""Do not use steel wool or steel brushes.

These products leave little particles in the surface of the steel and inevitably these particles begin rusting and staining the surface of the steel. They also can excessively scratch the surface of your stainless steel.""

I did this on the wifes pots:

Try dissolving citric acid crystals (available in most health food store additives section) in hot water, then using gloves to wipe the mix onto your surface liberally. Keep the solution hot. A good test to see if your mix is acidic enough, is to dip a penny into it and it should instantly become corrosion free. Then rinse the steel with cool distilled water. This should "passivate" your stainless steel to inhibit your rust problem.

Those familiar with boats and it's various stainless steel hardware, grab rails, etc. learn in corrosive atmosphere, salt air, to use bronze steel wool to not impart carbon steel particles to the various surfaces. They rust and quickly I might add. Lived on a boat for sometime years ago and pulled maitenance, YUK!
Those with far more metalurgy knowledge than I can tell you that the stainless steel found in firearms genrally is barely qualified to be called stainless steel in the true sense of the term. Somewhere I read that marine grade/aircraft stainless steel had something on the order of 12% nickle content? Gun barrels as normally offered is in the order of 5%??
Brownells sells bronze wool to the gunsmithing trade to avoid the rust problem with steel wool. Bead blasting would certainly work, but if not available to you, start with 320 grade cloth and work your way to say 400 grit and you can easily attain the finish you are after. Just a suggestion.

quote:

he polishing of the SS doesn't make it rust. The steel wool leaves behind particles that will then rust as they rust they will then stain the SS.

Ding ding ding....we have a winner here....the same thing will happen if one grinds stainless with a grinding wheel that was previously used on ferric steel.....

Remove the barrel....put it in a lathe and resand the barrel with progressively fine emery that has never been used before and then bead blast the barrel for the satin finish.

The 400 series "stainless" steel alloys used in firearms don't have any nickel in them, they qualify as being called stainless due to their higher than 13% chromium content. It is the lack of nickel that also allows them to be slightly magnetic, unlike the 300 series stainless steels usually used when corrosion is the problem.

It's primarily the chromium that makes it 'stainless' or better 'stain resistant'.Stainless steel has at least 12 % chromium.However it's really the chromium oxide layer that does the job.Remove the oxide and things change ! iron and carbon steel particles on the surface rust and react with and penetrate the oxide layer ,then the corrosion continues into the stainless. The 'passivation' treatment cleans the surface and builds up a thicker oxide layer. This is also the process of anodizing aluminum.

wipe it down with toilet bowl cleaner and a clean rag, rinse, repeat, oil. its acidic, will raise the iron, probably, and oxidize the finish, to a matte/frosted

wear gloves

If you ever want to try removing rust from stainless, Brownell's has stainless steel wool but, it's very course.

Great posts! I have a new (to me) 7mm Mag with some minor rust on the barrel, and was wondering how to remove it.

Having spent some time chemical cleaning industrial equipment don't feel too bad about the steel on stainless mistake. I have cleaned SS heat exchangers in nuke power plants where they rolled the tubes in with carbon steel tools. The fastest way to remove the mistake is with nitric acid, but the other post is right, use cirtic.

You cannot passivate SS, without a nitric and hydroflouric blend. And only testing on a specific alloy can determine that blend, without forming a smut on the surface. However you do not need to passivate the SS, just use a little gun oil.

I don't think you would want to use Hydrochloric (Urinal cleaner, Muratic, whatever)on a 400 series steel. If you do, keep it away from any threads, or you might have cracking on the threads. I often had this happen even without the high temperatures that some insist are necessary. Jeffeosso is right, the Hydrochloric acid might well change the finish on SS, once again depending on the alloy.

Citric is the safest, whatever will dissolve in a quarter cup of water. Wipe it on, wait 15 minutes, wash it off and lightly oil. Repeat as needed. It has a nice lemon taste, wear gloves and protect your eyes.

Arniet

Look up QQ P-35 which is a passivation for stainless steels. This the military's recipe for protecting stainless steel. You don't have to take my word for it. It is used on billions of $$$ in government hardware each year.

It will have recipes for both citric and nitric acids.

The old stand by solution is 20% nitric acid in water. The citric acid solution is probably safer.
All you have is iron smeared on the surface of your barrel that is rusting. You could polish your barrel with 400 grit silicon carbide paper to get a lot of the rust off, clean it well and passivate it and it will be good a new.

try the assist web site which is US govt owned

Assist

Try the quick search feature

Under document number type in 35

when it load go to page 4 and look at

QQ-P-35 Rev C.

Search for QQ-P-35.

http://www.mmsonline.com/articles/how-to-passivate-stainless-steel-parts.aspx Here's another source of info..There is a later revision of the mil spec QQ-P-35 Rev D. For DIY citric would be safer.

We do a lot of Stainless fab and repair - I worked out our current passivation procedure.

We use Derustit. (Mcmaster 3373K11). I find it gives the best overall results in a variety of situations and we don't need a heated tank.

Thoroughly clean and degrease before using - I like to use the brown scotchbright on stained or weld-discolored areas.

I have this suppressor on my hornet. Everyone thinks its polished stainless steel but it's not. It is polished barrel steel and it has been rained on, wet from due, wet from condensation but still no sign of rust! The trick? Rapid Tap cutting fluid! I use this stuff as a gun oil. It does dry in time so it gets applied after each use. It also cleans crudd out of the bore and is an amazing lubricant. It is the same properties that makes it a cutting fluid that makes it a good gun oil. It even prevents rust on bare steel in salt water for a few days! (Then it washes away and/or dries and the rust begins again - in salt water, that is).