Reblueing/Refinishing ?

[thescottishunit]

Anyone out there actually stripped and reblued/refinished their weapon ? I'm looking at refinishing my old shotgun and I'm a little leery about it. I've seen the kits at Sportsmens but has anyone actually used them and if so, did the blueing last ?

 

[JACKELOPE]

i was considering it too, but everyone i have asked about it say that the d.i.y. kits are not worth it. due to that, i quit looking into it. they say the job does not come out looking very good and easily rubs off. maybe some others have first hand experience.

 

[huntindude]

Anyone can refinish a stock , the more you know the better it will turn out ofcourse. but there are no cold blues out there that are much good and that's what the kit all have. every gun I've seen cold blued was a wreck.

 

[EdleBrock]

I refinished an 870 while in college. The cold bluing looked great for a while, but seemed to quickly wear off. I build a muzzle loader in high school and used the browning that came with the kit. I heated the metal with a torch and applied the solution...it worked great. Since the 870 is not a show piece, I always thought if I re-finish it again, it would be with the browning solution.

 

[RELH]

the cold bluing kits are only good for touching up small wear spots. the finish will not hold up for doing the intire gun. If you are thinking about doing a "old shotgun" the only two good metholds are Hot bluing or Rust bluing.
In order to do a complete gun and have it come out looking good, requires good prep work on the metal with the polishing process. this metal prep will make or break a gun on final appearence. If your shot gun is a older double barrel, you may not be able to hot blue it. the older doubles used a low temperture soldier for joining the rib to the barrels and hot bluing will pop the soldier loose. You have to rust blue these guns.
I would pay the price to have a gunsmith do it, or just leave it along with it's wear and tear battle scars.

RELH

 

[Moondog]

RELH is correct. If you have the patience and a little skill, the slow rust method can be done with amazing results. Its not really all that difficult. The biggest part is you need a burner and a long enough "pan" to accomadate the barrel when you boil the parts after each application of the rusting solution.
My brother re-did his 7-Mag years ago and got a beautiful deep black finish that literally could not be taken off with steel wool.

 

[fireguy]

If your looking for a great professional job, you might look at www.blackicecoatings.com , he does teflon coatings and will paint your stock if it's a composit stock. I had him coat my Austin & Halleck rifle and Camo. the stock, I couldn't be happier how it turned out. Also all the prices are very reasonable.