Clean bore before bluing?

[nymtber]

I'm about ready to blue the barrel for my Lyman GPR kit, and I was thinking:

Should I clean the bore REALLY good and protect it BEFORE bluing? Since I'm using cold blue, its not the most durable stuff and I'd rather have the bore clean and protected (barricade) before I blue it.

Also, what works best to get rid of that factory goo that Lyman uses?

Thanks a bunch!

 

[Billnpatti]

Mineral spirits followed by a rinse with acetone will get rid of the Lyman goo.

 

[nymtber]

have mineral spirits... will need acetone. Wonder if I can get a small bottle full from work

 

[M. De Land]

I've been using brake cleaner of late instead of acetone, with rust blue jobs that require boiling between passes.
I have also begun to use a product from Brownell's called "Hold" inside the barrel and on the wood plugs to protect against any oxidation while boiling and while in the rusting cabinet.It is designed to spray or wipe on bare metal while waiting to be blued to prevent any oxidation.
I have also tried shellack in the bore for protection as this was common in the old days but it was hard to clean out and I got some light pitting from it's use in a new barrel.
One must avoid any petroleum products with these acid type blue formulas as any contamination will show up as spots or streaks although LMF seems to be pretty tolerant of a little oil.
The Hold did a real fine job in protecting a .22 barrel I recently rust blued which means it will work equally well with browning. Mike D.

 

[Billnpatti]

It is available in pint and quart cans all paint stores.

 

[Billnpatti]

Yeah, both brake and carburetor cleaner work quite well for degreasing.

 

[nymtber]

Well, got it blued today. Kinda... Seems Birchwood Casey Perma-Blue is NOT as good as it was 8 years ago when I got some. I degreased with brake cleaner and denatured alcohol, still just didn't wan't to work like the old container did. This new stuff really has to be rubbed in, the old container you wipe on and BAM! Black/blue finish in an instant...

I got an acceptable finish for now. It will actually look a little weathered somewhere between blue and brownish. Might just leave it as is for now, and try my hand at browning next fall/winter when I *should* have my own house :grin: I don't really have anywhere to set up a humidity area right now. I'll just use my shower stall when I have my own house...No one to say otherwise :wink:
At least now, I can take her out n shoot! I do need a nipple wrench, I'll find one this week at one of the local gun shops. Hopefully next weekend won't be TOO cold, I'll head down to the range after work saturday if its not! So I might want a powder flask as well as to not have my whole pound of Pyrodex (all I can get easily local) out in the cold then back in the warm.

Bore cleaned out very easy with Mineral spirits! Thanks guys!

 

[Old40Rod]

OxPho Blue is the cold blue I use... simple, works great and seems like it is pretty durable.

 

[M. De Land]

I use Oxpho blue regularly for touch up but it isn't even close to as durable as a slow acid rust, blue or brown by comparison. Mike D.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I use Oxpho blue regularly for touch up but it isn't even close to as durable as a slow acid rust, blue or brown by comparison. Mike D.

Agree with that. I have used Oxpho blue since 1970. I used it to make guns I took in trade at my shop look nice for resale. Does that job but is definately not durable. I still use for touch up on my modern guns.

 

[Old40Rod]

I haven't had any problems with durability with OxPho Blue, but then again I don't use it as a full "blue" finish like on modern weapons. I always rub it back a bit with 000 steel wool to get a dark greyish finish. I would guess that it may not be the most durable if you were looking for full blue. I have also done rust bluing on a barrel and parts for my .50 Tenn Mt. rifle using LMF. I haven't noticed much durability difference between the two methods on my weapons. Your experience may vary. OxPho Blue is extremely easy to use... so it has that going for it.