How do you clean the brown crud left over from caustic blueing off of a rifle? I've wiped most of it off with hoppes, but the nooks and crannies are becoming a pain in the neck. Apparently I only paid for half of a job. Thanks.

You might try some Shooters Choice bore solvent. Work it in with a soft bristle tooth brush then wipe with a soft cloth.

To get the splotchy brown off polished surfaces and get a better, more even look, polish with ATF and a brown paper bag.

Thanks. Someone suggested immersing it in boiling water. Thoughts on that?

The crud is because it wasn't properly boiled out after blueing. If you have a tank big enough, boil for about an hour and then soak in a water soluble oil. 0000 steel soaked in 30 W motor oil will scrub blueing without damaging it.

Or better yet, don't hot blue. Rust blue and steam for 10 minutes.

www.rustblue.com

I got it clean with time, solvent (hopes) and a rag. It had been cleaned, but only where visible. No thanks on the rust blue and if I posted who did this caustic blue I'm sure there would be a couple of strokes.

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The crud is because it wasn't properly boiled out after blueing

If they didn't boil it out good then you are likely to have some more work it's way out of the barrel action threads.

In my area the water is hard and full of contaminats. When you boil out your bluing work it must be with distilled water or rain water, otherwise after 5 to 10 minutes of boiling you will have rust spots everywhere.

Beware of using a certain brand of water soluble oil on your guns as it tends to leave brown varnish like spots on it and it is very hard to get off. I find ATF to work very well. Mineral oil is good too but costs more.

Colour was good.

Did you give the person who did your blue job the opportunity to make it right?

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Originally posted by pennfly:
Did you give the person who did your blue job the opportunity to make it right?

It would cost more time and money than it would be worth. He didn't miss it. He just didn't bother to clean up after himself and thought I wouldn't notice.