Are there any econonmical alternatives to blueing? How do they hold up and what do they cost?

Parkerizing is one alternative.
It will give you a matte finish. Many metal objects in the military have a parkerized finish. Parkerizing holds up well, usually much better than blueing.

As far as I know, the metal is treated in a phosphate bath and the result is an etched surface that is hard.
After etching the parts are dipped in oil.
A parkerized surface holds oil well, adding to the corrosion resistance.

If you have an outdoor stove and a thermometer then you can do it yourself. It is pretty cheap, I don't know how much smiths charge for it though.

You could do cold rust bluing. It is just as good as hot tank bluing. Parkerizing got mentioned already. Industrial hard chrome can be done in some colors.

Geo.
If you are referring to slow rust bluing, it is far better than hot tank bluing.

iirc,
packerizing is nitric acid etched then phosphate dipped.. the acid gives it that "sandblasted" look.

black chrome is supposed to work.. aint seen it...

PAINT works... FUGLY but works

jeffe

Check out this post for a home made solution
Easy Hot Blue Black

Parkerizing at home sounds dangerous. Has anyone done this?

A slow rust blue properly done is about the onl finish that will last any length of time IMO...however D'Arcy tells me of some hot bluers that are just as good...

I know I have seen a lot of 100 year old rust blue jobs that look as new and thats on using rifles, not some gun that lived in a cabinet all its life...

rustoleum $3.99 at the hardware store

How difficult is it to cold rust blue a rifle? Does someone make a solution\blueing compound I can buy?

Here is a link I found on rust bluing. Hope it helps,
Jim

http://www.winrest.com/

The original question asked for "economical alternatives to blueing". If you are paying someone to do it, I can't think of anything much cheaper than caustic blueing. Rust blueing certainly isn't.

I dont mind doing the work myself to lower the cost as long as the process is safe and I have the necessary equiptment. I don't want to work with toxic chemicals or anything that might explode, catch fire, etc.. If that's the case I'll pay to have the work done.