One of my colleagues showed me a Mauser bolt stop/ejector he'd nitre blued today.

I remember seeing only one Guild member at Reno who was using nitre blue.

Any opinions as to whether nitre blue is appropriate for small parts on a custom Mauser?

flaco

N.B. From what my friend says, it's easy. He's using the "low tech" method. No thermometer, just dipping the parts into the hot salts until he gets the color he wants.

Springfield nitre blued some of the smaller parts on Krags and 03’s and they look great.

The salts become liquid at around 300 degrees, but they won’t turn steel blue until the temp goes above 550 to 600 degrees. Below that temp the steel will turn a straw yellow...like Luger triggers...no matter how long you leave it in there.

Because of the higher temps to get the actual blue color you have to be careful doing it with any heat treated parts.

It's just Potassium Nitrate, with a pinch of Manganese Dioxide added, and heated up to ~600 deg F. Don't know if you can still get Pot. Nitrate at drugstores anymore(Saltpetre-for preserving meat), but maybe at a farm supply store. I did some small parts in a steel measuring cup, with a Bernzo torch. Just make sure the parts are dry! and rinse off in hot water after.

KNO3 is easy to get, its labled under stump remover at Agway.
Where to you get the Manganese Dioxide?

Its used in pottery glaze. You can also use Mn carbonate- when you heat that up, it turns to the black MnO2.

Nitre blue does not wear very well at all......just be aware....

Many druggists will order any of the nitrates or nitrites for you in pure form. If they ask what you want it for, just tell them what I do. "I need to give my horse an enema". That usually leaves them speachless.

Ray

quote:

Originally posted by Cheechako:
Many druggists will order any of the nitrates or nitrites for you in pure form. If they ask what you want it for, just tell them what I do. "I need to give my horse an enema". That usually leaves them speachless.

Ray

You can buy the stuff from Brownells already mixed up and ready to go.

What fun is that?