Looking for some guidance here

[springfield art]

If bluing a barrel is your main worry, worry not! It's more tedious than difficult. If you take care and follow instructions, you can do it.

My first was a re-blue of a used FIE Kentucky rifle I got for a good price. The original 1970's finish was a splotchy brown; I was already working on the lock and trying to dress it up a bit, so I decided to reblue the bbl.

I already had a bench grinder, so I bought a brass wire wheel ($10?) and used that to both remove the old bluing and even up the metal surfaces. You could just use bluing remover solution if metal looks good, or, if carefull, a drill-mounted wire brush would work. Just be sure to get the finest, softest wire you can find. A coarse, hard wire will scratch up the surface badly.

I used acetone as a degreaser/cleaner. I bought Brownell's version of Pilkington's Bluing solution ($9 + shpg, I think), and a tiny crockpot (used for party dips & potporieaiux smelly stuff) for $3 at Goodwill. I put a coat hook I had lying around on the inside of a closet header trim board to hang the barrel from. I already had some steel wire, so I cut off 8" or so of that. I found a metric bolt in my collection that fit the nipple hole (mine is percussion), wrapped it with teflon tape, and plugged that hole. I got a pair of rubber stoppers at Lowes or HD for under $2, used that to plug the muzzle & seal the bore.

Other supplies were 0000 steel wool ($3- $4) (degreased with acetone) and some cotton make-up pads, little circles about 1-1/2" dia. I (ahem) borrowed a few cereamic ramekin-size bowls from the kitchen cabinets, but cleand-out pickle or olive or jelly jars would also work (and have lids, come to think of it). You'll need a small can of acetone and some oil to finish the barrel with.

The biggest expense for me was a rectangular boiling tank - but that was because I was doing a rifle barrel. If your kit has a 10" or shorter barrel, you might be able to find a large cook pot or maybe a metal baking pan that will work and fit on a stove burner.

So- this got long winded, sorry! My point is, if you read up on the bluing process, and get a handle on what the steps are, you can improvise "equipment" pretty dang cheaply and still get good to excellent results. Outside of the boiling tank, my whole bluing set up cost me maybe $40... and I've blued 3 barrels so far.

Dive in! The water's fine!

This is good, but a bit much for a 'newby', who'd be better with the cold simple method.

 

[Poof]

In that case, I guess it looks like a kit is in your future. I bought a Lyman 54 cal pistol kit in from MidSouth Shooter Supply a few months ago but it is on my back burner for now. Jedidiah Starr says they have them in stock, as I am sure you already know.

I've held out this long without getting anything yet until recently. I actually just checked out Midsouth and they had the 54 cal non kit version in stock. I pulled the trigger and bought it. I checked some other sites out and others such as midway had them as well but were more expensive. So if anyone is looking for a Lyman 54 its available today from a few sites.

 

[hawkeye2]

Track of the Wolf has a .50 Lyman in stock. I don't believe you can go wrong with one.

https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/496/1/LYMAN-GPP-50

 

[fishmusic]

My very first gun was a Lyman plains pistol. I bought a kit and then built it up to my liking. This shouldn't intimidate you, it's an easy build and if you run into problems you can ask all of the questions here on the forum. It's accurate and a lot of fun to shoot. Go for it and have fun putting it together.

 

[Dale Lilly]

I’m new to muzzleloading and I want to start out with a pistol. I’ve been going back and forth between brands and I’ve concluded a Lyman plains pistol might be a good fit for me. I saw the traditions ones and they are available but some have had quality control issues with them. For the Lyman there aren’t any available except I found a few kits for a very good price. Only problem is even though I’ve been shooting for years I have no experience In bluing a gun barrel. I’ve watched some videos about it, now I’m wondering if it’s something extra I want to invest in as I don’t plan to build guns in the long term. Or should I look at another type/name of a quality gun to start out with.

Consider Browning. It is very easy with Laurel Mountain Browning and Degreaser. Look at Laurel Mountain's website for instructions.. I have had great success with it on about 10 guns, Polecat

 

[Bighorserider]

You can always just leave your barrel in the white. I've done that. I've also used Birchwood Casey brown. You need to heat it, but pistol barrels are small enough that it's easy. Lots of good ideas in the thread. You really can't go wrong.