After seeing several threads regarding these subjects without any reference to formulas ect. and all the associated voodoo and hocus-pocus I decided to go to the source and see what I could find.

I went to www.abe.com and entered some search words and now have in possession a wonderful book, printed in 1936 that looks brand new as I am sitting here with it.

I will give three formulas out of it, it has approximately 230 total.Note: with the alcohol I have not determined if this is 90 proof or 90 percent. I do believe it is 90 proof but I have had a time attempting to find the section that deals with this.

"Creusot Browne"
Mercuric chloride 4.0 g.
Bismuth oxychloride 2.0 g.
Copper chloride 2.0 g.
Hydrochloric acid (Dens. 1.16) 12.0 g.
Alcohol 90% 10.0 g.
Water t.s. to make 100cm^3

"Browne of Swiss Federal Armoury"
Copper sulphate 1.8 g.
Sol. of ferric chloride 29% 12.5 g.
Nitric acid (den. 1.42) 7.2 g.
Ethyl Nitrite (quaintly called: Spirit of Nitre)
2.5 g/deciliter of 15% ethyl nitrite
Water t.s. to make 100 cm^3

"Springfield Armoury Browne"
Mercuric chloride 1.26 g.
Copper sulphate 0.63 g.
Sol. ferric chloride 29% 3.2 g.
Hydrochloric acid (den. 1.16) 0.19 g.
Nitric acid (den. 1.42) 1.26 g.
Ethyl Nitrite 4% 7.5 g.
Alcohol 90% 5.5 g.
Water t.s. to make 100 cm^3

I picked these out of all that I looked at since the author thought they were very excellent and gave good results with just 2-3 passes.

Interestingly the idea of brushing with a wire wheel or brush is called scratching, the author is big on tradition I guess.

Thought you'd all like the above.
By the way most of the formulas have instructions in the 135 page book.

Roger,
It would be 90%, as proof would be 45%, and thereby mostly (55%) water,which would boil/pop with the intodruction of a strong acid, and useless for cleaning. Proof is also only used on drinking alky!!

cheers
jeffe

[ 12-30-2002, 16:46: Message edited by: jeffeosso ]

Roger--

That sounds like "Blueing and Browning of Firearms" by Angiers. It's still in print and can be bought from Brownell's.

Two of the formulas you list have Mecuric Cloride in them. That's a no-no unless you want to risk some serious injury, not to mention gather the attention of your local LEO when you try to buy it.

The Swiss Armory formula is my favorite.....C-13 in the book..... It's a whole lot easier to buy the Laurel Forge blue, which is the same thing.

"Two to three passes" is BS unless you have a very controlled process like the armory's had.