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Blueing Questions

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27 April 2004, 13:39
DavidC
Blueing Questions

I am planning on having a pair of rifles built and I have a couple questions regarding blueing proceedures. At this stage of the game I am considering rust blueing but, I am not 100% sure what I will do so my questions will have to remain a bit generic.

Firstly, are the action and barrel blued as separate parts before they are mated together or not until the barreled action is complete? Is there a standard method or does it depend upon the type of blueing done(rust vs caustic)? It seems to me that blueing each component separately is the way to go but, I am not sure that it is something that is totally necessary or that I should request it from the smith. I have heard that blueing a barreled action can make it very diffcult to remove the barrel down the road due to rusting created in the threads from blueing.

Any suggestions or comments in this regard?

Thanks,
Dave
27 April 2004, 13:54
ShopCartRacing
Hot bluing needs to be done by a smith (like me).
Rust bluing you can do at home, but it is VERY labor intensive.
Rust bluing gets the metal a little more blue, and it looks real good.
Barreled actions are done as one piece and are not removed from each other, mainly because there is a high risk of scratching the finish when reassembling.
It is up to you to choose, however, if you are going to give them to someone to do, I would choose the regular hot-bluing method because it is fast and much easier.

www.cliffsgunsmithing.com

-Spencer
27 April 2004, 14:20
Bill Soverns
I rust blue and caustic blue. Depending on customer request. Both are done with the barrel seperate from the receiver. The reason for doing it that way with caustic blueing is........if you dont...about 2 weeks after bluing you will notice the salts trapped in the threads creeping out around the receiver. Now for rust bluing its a no brainer....gotta get the rust stopped. If you dont neutralize the rusting action well your receiver will likely rust on the threaded portion making removal of the reciever rather difficult down the road.

Rust bluing is also much more wear resistant than caustic. You get what you pay for. Just my .02
27 April 2004, 15:04
Chuck Nelson
Quote:

Rust bluing is also much more wear resistant than caustic.



That's open to debate.

Chuck
27 April 2004, 16:57
belaw
Quote:

Quote:

Rust bluing is also much more wear resistant than caustic.



That's open to debate.

Chuck



I'm NOT trying to stir something up here, but is this really open to debate? I've always understood it as gospel that rust bluing was more wear resistant... is this not necessarily so?
27 April 2004, 17:01
Chuck Nelson
I'm not trying to stir the pot eigther but would like to see some kind of study or research on the subject.

Chuck
27 April 2004, 17:44
Customstox
It may be open to debate but not from anyone that has been around the two products. Rust bluing will outlast and outwear caustic 10 to 1. It isnt even a contest.



David C. Listen to Bill Soverns, he understands the process on both and does it well. And rust bluing is not bluer that caustic, it is blacker and it is a matte finish.
27 April 2004, 18:43
757
I have Steyr Mannlichers that have the most awesome blueing; a deep, rich Royal Blue
that is very rust resistant (for blueing), and is very durable. One rifle, the one I
almost always reach for is 24 years old and has been on many sheep mountains,
yet the bluing is only now starting to thin out at the muzzle and on the bolt knob.
On the contrary, a Sako Deluxe rubbed its bluing off at the same spots in 2 seasons,
with the same hunter (me) packing it about. Carl Gustav is similar to the Sako. And
the rust resistance on both is very poor.
Can anyone enlighten me on the type of blueing the Steyr Mannlichers have? What
about the Sako and Gustav?
27 April 2004, 20:40
GSP7
The Early carl Gustufs were rust blued but hot blued when sent back to the arsinal for redo.
You can tell a swede is rust blued if the inside of the reciever is not blued .
28 April 2004, 02:45
Brent
Quote:

Rust bluing you can do at home, but it is VERY labor intensive.

-Spencer



I gotta disagree with Spencer about the VERY labor intensive part - it is quite easy, does not take a lot of your time, though it will be spread out over a while. Doing very good rust bluing is pretty simple and one of the things I much prefer to do myself.

www.winrest.com will give you good info about how to do it yourself and they sell a decent product at a very reasonable price. I have modified their methods slightly to fit my lifestyle a little better and I can have a rifle blued in a week if I spend just a 1/2 hr per day working at it.

Brent
28 April 2004, 03:21
Smoker*
Hey Guys,

I thought that I saw something somewhere about cold bluing. Is that a good method of bluing a rifled action?

Thanks,

Smoker