Rust Prevention Plum Brown or Bluing

[Trep44]

I live relatively close to the ocean with its higher humidity. I own several muzzle loaders and modern rifles. I was wiping down my guns with a Ballistol wet cloth. I found that all my guns with blued finishes were in great shape. But my Hawkens rifle, which has all iron furniture, which is plum browned, had a fine coating of rust on the parts which were hidden within the stock. In the past I had applied a heavy coating of Ballistol on all interior parts. It is now obvious that I should have oiled all surfaces more often. I am considering stripping off the plum brown from the all surfaces and bluing them.

All comments welcomed.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

I live relatively close to the ocean with its higher humidity. I own several muzzle loaders and modern rifles. I was wiping down my guns with a Ballistol wet cloth. I found that all my guns with blued finishes were in great shape. But my Hawkens rifle, which has all iron furniture, which is plum browned, had a fine coating of rust on the parts which were hidden within the stock. In the past I had applied a heavy coating of Ballistol on all interior parts. It is now obvious that I should have oiled all surfaces more often. I am considering stripping off the plum brown from the all surfaces and bluing them.

All comments welcomed.

Just wondering, were the parts browned by the slow rusting method ( True Brown ) or Birchwood Casey Plum Brown?

 

[tenngun]

A cold blue like BC bluing chemical paste may not work any better. A hot blue or a slow rust blue, or brown should act the same.
I love brown on a ml, but blueing was very common.

 

[Trep44]

Birchwood Casey Plum Brown hot browning method.

 

[Col. Batguano]

I think the cold browning method creates somewhat deeper pits in the metal, and the overcoat of oil that you apply to it provides deeper and better protection than the hot browning, which doesn't penetrate as deeply.

 

[SDSmlf]

Slow rust browning seems to hold the oil best. I have a few barrels that when wiped with a clean oily rag will leave a bit o brown on rag, though not all barrels. All done with same process. Plus handling guns while they are being oiled is part of the fun of ownership.

Overall prefer deep slow rust brown finish. I live I North Carolina and we have plenty of humidity. This past weekend it was fairly cool (below 80F) but the humidity was 100%. You could see the condensation on the metal parts of the gun when you took it from inside (where there was AC) to the outdoors. And when I hunt up north in rain and snow I never worry about my rust brown guns.

 

[Grenadier1758]

This time of year, I set up a rack in the back of my van and use the cold brown in the van. The temperature gets to about 130 degrees F. You get that wonderful dark brown that is almost black.

 

[Sidney Smith]

My barrels get a coat of linseed oil just before the assembly process when new and before the barrel gets put into the stock any part of it that will be hidden by the wood gets a thin coat of grease. Never get rust by using this method.

 

[SDSmlf]

Here is a photograph of barrels browned to a very dark color using Laurel Mountain Forge Barrel Brown. Both have seen plenty of inclement weather conditions over the years with no rust issues. Wiped both down with a Ballistol solution on a white patch. You can see the little bit of brown that got on the patch, most of which came from the TC barrel. For some reason, don’t get much at all from the GM. I don’t consider it an issue at all.

 

[hanshi]

I constantly handle and tinker with my guns and am always on the lookout for rust. This way I seldom find any. They're mostly browned barrels with a couple of gray ones. I can live with a bit of honest FW&T because they all get used but are well taken care of. Color ranges from "bronze brownish" all the way through to nearly black.