Hi All
Went shooting with a friend of mine today. He has an older small frame Dan Wesson .357 Mag with a six inch barrel.
It is suffering from a bad case of rust. The rust is fairly bad on the barrel covering roughly 40% of the barrel. The frame has smaller amounts of rust. It looks like a case of neglect from storing the gun in a leather holster for long periods of time. Just guessing, I think that even if cleaned up, there will be some pitting. What type of damage control should be done to stop the rust until he can get it to a gunsmith?
Thanks
ZM

[This message has been edited by Zeke (edited 07-17-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Zeke (edited 07-17-2001).]

If he does not care about saving any of the original finish, and he's capable of completely disassembling and re-assembling the pistol, remove the rust (and the remaining blue) with Naval Jelly or Lysol extra strenght toilet bowl cleaner. Wash well in hot soapy water and blow dry.

Then blue all parts while warm using Brownells' Oxpho blue for the best quick, cold finish. (Scrub it in with 0000 steel wool, washing between and heating in hot water for several "coats". Wear rubber gloves.) Any hardware store cold blue will work, but will not give as good protection, nor look as good.

Do not store in holster!

Don

I would not consiter Naval jelly. The result is "amatuer" looking. Come to think of it, I have seen dozens of guns ruined with Naval Jelly and never one helped. If the following doesn't look good enough I would have it profesionally refinished. To remove rust from a blued gun, use clean steel wool and oil. In the toughest cases, Amway scrub buds or similar. You know, the coarse stainless steel wool pot scrubers. Kroll or WD-40, whatever, just a light oil, lots of it and gently scrub the rust off. Turn and change the steel wool often. If you don't let the rust build up on the steel wool, it won't even scratch the finish. The steel wool grabs the rust and glide over the finish. It is a good idea to hose the gun, with the oil, and let it sit for a few days before you begin. Maybe even wrap it in foil to keep it wet. Even the most hopeless cases can be made to look pretty good. Often light rust will completely disappear leaving no trace.

[This message has been edited by scot (edited 07-17-2001).]

[This message has been edited by scot (edited 07-17-2001).]

scot,

It is possible that we don't have the same mental picture of this pistol. It sounds pretty bad to me. 40% is a lot of rust.

I don't see how your method will remove the scale rust in the bottom of the pits described in the original post.

It might be good to try the steel wool and oil first. It certainly won't hurt anything, but it won't result in a professional appearance on a 40% rusted gun, either.

My amateur method has been proven many times to get to the bottom of pits and yield a practical serviceable finish that will prevent further degradation in the face of continued use. It is certainly possible to get a nice blue-black finish using Oxpho blue, but it will not hide pits, either.

I agree that neither method replaces a professional refinish and rebluing job. It sounds like even a refinish job might not get rid of the pits, though.

Don

Try it. You are right, you can't hurt anything. I have saved lots of guns this way antique and modern. Just don't let the rust being removed scratch the remainng blue.

Like I said. I have never seen Naval jelly do anything good for a gun. I would suggest stripping it to the last screw, bead blasting then your cold blue. Don't expect it to last though. No cold blue is durable. Have fun.

[This message has been edited by scot (edited 07-18-2001).]