Shelf life of Aqua Fortis and Tru-Brown

[Crow Choker]

Can anyone advise of the shelf life of Wahkon Bay Aqua Fortis and Tru-Brown Browning agents. I have a bottle of each I bought in the late 70's and never used. Plan on using on a CVA flint pistol I bought around the same time, but never completed. Don't want to use on the wood and barrel only to have them give sub-standard results. I know I can try on other metal and wood, but might be a roll of the dice how they'd perform on the actual stock and barrel. Thanks for any advice.

 

[bubba.50]

About all anybody can give you is a guess and/or opinion. try the aquafortis in the barrel channel and the brown on the underside of the barrel and see what they do.

 

[Crow Choker]

About all anybody can give you is a guess and/or opinion. try the aquafortis in the barrel channel and the brown on the underside of the barrel and see what they do.

Hear ya there. Thought I'd do some opinion fishing before I tried. I do have recently bought Kibler Aqua Fortis and Laurel Mt. Barrel Brown on hand in case these two old timers are 'tired'!

 

[cannonball1]

I've used some of both that were over five years old and they worked fine.

 

[Crow Choker]

I did find some info on the American LongRifle Forum about a member asking the same thing as I, shelf life. Some other info I found on the web also. All the answers ranged pretty much as bubba.50 advised to try it out and see. Several other's advised of using both AF and tru-brown some 12 years old with same results as newly bought. I did call several large US suppliers of the products and they advised as long as it has been out of extreme heat/cold and kept out of sunlight and sealed good, it should have no problem. One supplier advised if it is in plastic bottles, there could be some acid to plastic reaction. Mine are both in glass bottles, don't know if they come in plastic now or not. I couldn't find any website or phone number of the maker 'Waukon Bay Outfitters', but one of the suppliers advised they know of the people running it, but no contact info. I'll just have to try and see how it does work. I'll report back on the results when I get around to using it, thumbs up or thumbs down!!!!

 

[ord sgt]

I just tested the half used bottle of Aqua Fortis. Bought it about 20 years ago. I tested it on a scrap piece of maple and on pine. The brown color came up nicely when heated. So yeah, it's still good.
If you test AF in the barrel channel, make sure that you neutralize it before putting in the barrel. It will start to rust he steel.