Stripped Fire Bluing Off Of Uberti Remington .44 Cal.

[Tenring]

Have had this Uberti Rem 58 for some years now and have plenty of rounds through it because it’s a very accurate shooter not like the rest of my 58’s they shoot pretty much on par but for some reason this girl just has it but I digress, The reason for the post is I don’t normally go in for Uberti’s Fire Bluing but I got this for a smoking good deal from Greg At Dixion’s Muzzle Loader shop and with just normal use the fragile Fire Bluing was streaking and smearing off with even soap not to mention use from heat and Black Powder mostly on the rammer cylinder and cylinder pin but not the barrel go figure. So every time I went shooting with it I just couldn’t stand looking at that flaky smeary blotchy awful bluing anymore so I disassembled it and took some cooking Vinegar and a paper towel and wiped the above mentioned parts in the sink then washed everything with dish soap and water blew everything out with the compresser then gave everything a good wipe down with some Rem Oil. I left the barrel alone for now to see how long that bluing will hold up but when it starts to turn I will do the same thing. But I just wanted some opinions to wether it looks stupid or not, don’t be shy I can take it Ha Ha but instead of waiting to se what the barrel will do I might strip it as well to make it look more uniform.

 

[William P Sepessy]

Don't make me feel bad about the Uberti Fire bluing. Last year I bought a pair of Uberti Remingtons with the fire bluing also from Greg at Dixon's. I actually like the look but I have only shot mine twice with no noticeable affect on the bluing so far. I will be interested in your final results in case I have to do the same thing! BTW, I also have that same Brownells Super Set you are showing in the background.

 

[64Springer]

Strip the entire thing.

Then paint it with real black powder fouling to age it some.

Throwing in some dings, dents, scrapes, gouges and buggered up screw heads works well too.

 

[pacanis]

I removed the bluing on the loading lever as soon as I got my two-tone 1858.
I was going for a look.

So no complaints from me

And I got one of those splotchy blued guns. It was on a Cattleman. I was going to give it a worn look anyway, otherwise it would have gone back. I never saw anything like that before. Don't know how it made it onto the boat.

 

[Boston Bill]

Doesn't look stupid at all. Looks like the original Walker I think. Anyway looks like the early walker with a blued gun and the cylinder in the white.

 

[OldMaineWoodsman]

It looks great in the catalogs and sitting in the box but unfortunately that type of finish just doesn't hold up. It is not real fire blue just as torch coloring a frame or receiver is not color-case hardening.

 

[Tenring]

It looks great in the catalogs and sitting in the box but unfortunately that type of finish just doesn't hold up. It is not real fire blue just as torch coloring a frame or receiver is not color-case hardening.

Exactly it is all a chemical process along with there case hardening .

Don't make me feel bad about the Uberti Fire bluing. Last year I bought a pair of Uberti Remingtons with the fire bluing also from Greg at Dixon's. I actually like the look but I have only shot mine twice with no noticeable affect on the bluing so far. I will be interested in your final results in case I have to do the same thing! BTW, I also have that same Brownells Super Set you are showing in the background.

The Brownells Super Set of Bits fit just about everything us guys work on, When I bought them about 4 years ago I said to myself am I really going to use theses a lot of the time and the answer is a giant YES they come in handy for everything. And I will post about the barrel if I need to strip it or not.

 

[Tenring]

Wow I am so glad every body found an alternative like I did. Now I don’t feel bad at all.

 

[Tenring]

Doesn't look stupid at all. Looks like the original Walker I think. Anyway looks like the early walker with a blued gun and the cylinder in the white.

After I stripped the cylinder I said to my self where have I seen that look before, and you’re right on the mark about the Walker. So cool.

 

[Tenring]

Strip the entire thing.

Then paint it with real black powder fouling to age it some.

It gave it some real time Patina, cool.

 

[OldMaineWoodsman]

Different types of bluing are sometimes erroneously lumped together or called the same thing.

Charcoal Blue, also known as Furnace Blue or Carbona Blue depends heavily on the underlying polish of the metal. These parts are placed in a gas furnace with animal bone, sperm whale oil or an equivalent. If done correctly, it produces a hard-wearing blue-black color with a mirror like finish, high or low again based on the amount of polishing that was done, that is tough to beat.

Nitre Blue or Fire Blue the parts are placed in a salt bath solution of sodium and potassium nitrates heated to exact temperatures. While vibrant, it doesn't wear well, which is why it was used on screws and pins.

It is doubtful the Italians use these methods on replica revolvers that will sell for under $500. This most likely explains why that "Charcoal Blued" finish 1851 Navy or what have you turns black or splotched after a couple of shooting sessions.

 

[Tenring]

That’s for sure, you know they’re not going to give these guns the so called Gold Standard of Bluing. Ha Ha..

 

[OldMaineWoodsman]

The now defunct U.S. Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company in Connecticut produced some of the nicest, and historically accurate finishes seen in some time. And their prices reflected that work.

 

[Uncle Miltie]

Several hundred rounds through this one, bluing still nice and beautiful. I clean it with cold water (no soap) dry with patches and oil it: nothing else.

 

[Tenring]

If you read my original post I had said the barrel on the revolver is just fine like the day I bought it looks like yours just the other parts that degraded, they must not have prepped the other part correctly before Bluing I don’t know.

 

[Uncle Miltie]

I did indeed read your post, just wanted to illustrate how cleaning a gun with cold water cleans fouling as well as anything else and does not degrade finishes.

 

[Tenring]

I see.

 

[GYJ]

It looks great in the catalogs and sitting in the box but unfortunately that type of finish just doesn't hold up. It is not real fire blue just as torch coloring a frame or receiver is not color-case hardening.

It is fire/nitre blue. It just isn't charcoal blue.

The color case is done through a chemical process, not with a torch. Much the same as they do them now.

 

[Mike in FL]

Several hundred rounds through this one, bluing still nice and beautiful. I clean it with cold water (no soap) dry with patches and oil it: nothing else.

Cold water. YES. I'm not sure additives to plain water do anything at all to facilitate cleaning. Hot water certainly does nothing except to help dry. I can imagine 18th and19th Centuries soldiers and woodsmen cleaning their guns in the creek.

 

[springfield art]

Have had this Uberti Rem 58 for some years now and have plenty of rounds through it because it’s a very accurate shooter not like the rest of my 58’s they shoot pretty much on par but for some reason this girl just has it but I digress, The reason for the post is I don’t normally go in for Uberti’s Fire Bluing but I got this for a smoking good deal from Greg At Dixion’s Muzzle Loader shop and with just normal use the fragile Fire Bluing was streaking and smearing off with even soap not to mention use from heat and Black Powder mostly on the rammer cylinder and cylinder pin but not the barrel go figure. So every time I went shooting with it I just couldn’t stand looking at that flaky smeary blotchy awful bluing anymore so I disassembled it and took some cooking Vinegar and a paper towel and wiped the above mentioned parts in the sink then washed everything with dish soap and water blew everything out with the compresser then gave everything a good wipe down with some Rem Oil. I left the barrel alone for now to see how long that bluing will hold up but when it starts to turn I will do the same thing. But I just wanted some opinions to wether it looks stupid or not, don’t be shy I can take it Ha Ha but instead of waiting to se what the barrel will do I might strip it as well to make it look more uniform.

Lots of the "bluing" on repros is actually a chemical faux bluing, not genuine.