I'm building a 35 Whelen in a 1917 Enfield for my daughter. On the stock right now. Barreled action been done for years. It was originally matte blued. However, I want it more weather resistant. Thus planning to finish with Cerakote. Since it has a mesquite stock, I want something that resembles bluing more than "Graphite". That is very black and flat, but looks good on synthetic rifles (see my 7mm Rem Mag in the custom rifles forum).

It looks like Socom Blue and Midnight Blue are the best and appear to be what many other builders use for their Cerakote "Bluing" color.

Thoughts?

They all look like paint to me, but yes, the matte black, or the Socom blue, look almost like bluing, from ten feet.

A quality slow rust blue is pretty darn tough.

Midnight Blue.

quote:

Originally posted by ColoradoMatt:
A quality slow rust blue is pretty darn tough.

I could rust blue myself (have all the gear), but not sure I could get it all down to white metal and have a good finish.

Just jump in on the rust blue you only need to get it down to 320 grit. Worst case, the coater, hits your metal with 120-grit Aluminum Oxide, and then spray and bake. It doesn't look like blue, it is a whole nother thing. If you get it done, there are some colors that look passably good. I like Sniper Grey on barreled actions that will be going into a green colored stock. Graphite black works well with a grey stock. The sniper gray looks super if you have a black colored stock, and with a wood stock. Good luck on whatever you decide to do.

Midnight Blue Cerakote is pretty close to matte blue and in my opinion far superior to any "blue job" for rough weather or hunting.
Once you get it Cerakoted you will love it.
In my opinion a fine rifle with beautiful wood should be blued a working rifle that may be subject too harsh weather and conditions Cerakote really is great.
Obviously some others disagree.

I agree with the rest that rust bluing looks the best and is surprisingly weather resistant. But that doesn't mean Cerakote necessarily looks bad on a wood stocked gun. Here's a .416 Rem. that I couldn't talk the customer into a rust blue. The Cerakote is sniper gray. I kind of like the look.

There is a dark forest green that looks good with wood as well.

quote:

Originally posted by MNR:
I agree with the rest that rust bluing looks the best and is surprisingly weather resistant. But that doesn't mean Cerakote necessarily looks bad on a wood stocked gun. Here's a .416 Rem. that I couldn't talk the customer into a rust blue. The Cerakote is sniper gray. I kind of like the look.

That is a very fine rifle.

Thank you Snellstorm. I can't take all of the credit though. This was a collaborative effort between Morris Melani of Alaska Arms and myself. He made the full rib integral barrel and I made the stock and did what was left of the metal work. Morris is a true artist who happens to also be a master machinist. Here's a better pic of the barrel:

My problem is where I hunt and my hunting habits are pretty rough on a gun, and cerrokote like any other of that type finish scratches and isn't near as tough as some profess as far as I can tell...Im a big believer in rust blue, and it can be any color from plumb color to black..You like the frost color then cord it with a wire wheel..I don't believe in bead blast under a finish, its a short cut that consist of little pools that hold water and create rusty spots in time,however its quite handsome on a closet queen..