How To Re-blue A Gun

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Bluing is a thin protective crush of black iron oxide (Atomic number 26₃O₄) intended to provide nominal protection against rusting for gun metal. Over time, however, this shell can wear abroad and demand to be renewed to restore the gun's advent. Depending on the gun'due south age, monetary value, and sentimental value, you can either have the gun re-blued professionally or restore the bluing yourself.

1. 1

   Consider how much of the erstwhile bluing has worn away. If almost of the original bluing is yet in place, y'all may be able to touch up the bluing yourself with a common cold bluing kit. If about of the original bluing has worn away, you may want to consider removing the rest of the sometime bluing and hot bluing the gun metal.

2. 2

   Consider the age of the gun. Vintage guns dating back to the 19th century were blued using either the rust bluing or fume bluing process. These processes are not used commercially today because of the amount of fourth dimension involved. In that location are products commercially available that will permit y'all perform the rust bluing procedure yourself^[i] , or you can find someone who volition perform this process for you.

   • Vintage guns that feature silverish soldering or brazing cannot exist hot-blued, because the caustic salts used in this process volition swallow the silver. Double-barreled shotguns unremarkably used this kind of soldering or brazing to keep the barrels aligned properly.^[2]

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3. 3

   Consider the value of the gun. Hot bluing costs significantly more cold bluing does, and so you need to consider the price of the re-bluing process you lot programme to use against what y'all spent to acquire the gun in the first place and its resale value if you were to sell it.

   • You should also consider the intrinsic value of the gun, or what it means to you, likewise as its actual monetary value. If the gun is a family heirloom, you may want to consider spending more than coin on re-bluing the gun, even if its monetary value is the same that of a gun purchased at a sporting goods store.^[iii]

4. iv

   Consider the potential cost of the bluing process. In addition to the budgetary and intrinsic value of the gun that needs re-bluing, you should as well accept into account the costs of the bluing process y'all are considering using.

   • Cold bluing, described in Office 2 of this article, is the simplest of the processes, and therefore the cheapest, but it is also the least durable. If you plan to handle the gun a lot after common cold bluing it, y'all tin can expect the cold bluing to habiliment off fairly quickly.
   • Hot bluing, described in Role 3 of this article, is more than durable than cold bluing and lasts longer than either cold bluing or rust bluing, simply it requires more than work and more equipment to perform. If you feel the gun deserves to be hot blued, but you observe the work involved too daunting to exercise yourself, you lot may want to rent it washed.
   • Rust bluing, described in Function Four of this article, is somewhat less materials-intensive than hot bluing, but more than materials-intensive than cold bluing. It is also the most time-intensive of the bluing processes, every bit you accept to let the gun metallic rest for a time to achieve the level of coloring you desire. Again, you may desire to rent someone to rust-blue your gun if yous detect the process also daunting to do yourself.

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1. 1

   Remove the old bluing, if desired. Depending on how worn the original bluing is, you may wish to remove information technology entirely before re-bluing the gun. You can use one of the following chemicals to practise then:

   • A phosphoric acrid-based automotive rust remover, such as Naval Jelly.
   • White vinegar, which contains acetic acid.

2. 2

   Polish the gun metal. Polishing removes surface rust and any scratches or pitting that the gun may take suffered over the years. You can apply either 000 steel wool or 600 to 1200-grit sandpaper for this purpose.

3. 3

   Make clean the gun metal. How you choose to make clean the metal depends on whether you plan to bluish the entire gun or bear on up existing bluing.

   • If you plan to blue the entire gun, you may desire to immerse the metal in a cleaning solution. Cleaning solutions you can employ for this purpose include sodium triphosphate (a commercial detergent), denatured booze, or naphtha.^{[four] [5]} (If you choose to apply naphtha, you should wash information technology off with a balmy dishwashing detergent and then rinse with hot water.)^[6]
   • If you plan to immerse the gun parts to clean them, you can use a wire basket to concur the small parts and thread thin wire through the butt to lower it into the cleaning solution and raise it again.
   • If you plan to just bear on upward existing bluing, you tin use a cleaning oil to the places where yous want to remove the quondam bluing, and then utilise acetone on cotton wool balls to remove the cleaning oil. (One such cleaning oil, a mixture of vegetable and mineral oils, alcohol, benzyl acetate, and element of group i salts, is sold commercially under the proper name Ballistol.)^[7] As y'all clean off the old bluing, you may discover some scarring that volition require sanding or polishing out.

4. 4

   Heat the metal gently. Although this process is called common cold bluing, gently heating the gun metal before applying the bluing can help it absorb the bluing ameliorate and create a better terminate. Heat the metal by leaving it out in the sun for several hours, with a estrus gun or accident dryer, or in a conventional oven set to its everyman setting.^[8]

5. 5

   Use the bluing solution. Slowly apply the solution to the area to exist blued as evenly as possible, using a make clean applicator. Apply the solution in a single pass to cover small areas, or in sections no larger than 2 to 3 inches (5 to vii.v cm) when covering large areas, then smoothen it out using steel wool. This volition forestall the bluing from actualization mottled. ^[9]

   • For applying the bluing to large areas, old all-cotton T-shirts or new toothbrushes are recommended. For smaller areas, use a cotton ball, cotton swab, or flat toothpick no larger than the area to be covered.
   • You tin soak small parts like screws or hard to cover areas in the bluing solution. If you don't have enough bluing solution to soak a recessed surface area, put it in a clean spray bottle and spray it liberally on the part over a drinking glass pan or plastic tray. After the function is completely covered, you can pour the solution that landed on the pan or tray instead of the gun metal back into the bottle and reuse it.

6. 6

   Apply the solution several more times until you accept the level of bluing you want. Use each layer with a fresh applicator, and use a fresh slice of steel wool to smooth out each new layer.

   • The more than layers yous apply the darker the bluing will be; however, each new layer is progressively less effective than the layer before it. Seven layers should be enough, in most cases, to achieve a dark blue-black cease. ^[10]
   • If you lot take spots that won't darken, start the procedure over by sanding the spots with 320 to 400-grit sandpaper before applying the solution again. Try to sand no more than the stubborn spots themselves.

7. 7

   Flavour the finish with gun oil one time you have the level of bluing you want. Utilize a layer of gun oil every few hours, using a cotton brawl to remove the previous layer earlier applying a new layer. (In essence, you're washing off the bluing solution with the gun oil instead of with water.)

   • Exercise not use the cleaning oil for this process, as it will take off the bluing yous worked and then hard to put on.^[xi]

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1. 1

   Polish the gun parts to be blued. Again, you can utilise either 000 steel wool or 600 to 1200-grit sandpaper to polish the metal.^[12]

2. 2

   Ready the parts to be dipped in the cleaning and bluing solutions. While the cleaning solution you utilize may not require it, the chemicals used in the hot bluing process proper, unremarkably potassium nitrate and sodium hydroxide, are highly caustic. You'll detect it easier to dip the gun barrel if you thread soft wire through it and easier to dip the smaller parts if you lot put them in a wire handbasket.

   • Rigging the parts now before the cleaning step volition make information technology easier to transfer from the cleaning to the bluing tank, and will as well clean the support wire and basket to foreclose either from contaminating the gun parts in the bluing tank.

3. three

   Dip the gun parts in a cleaning solution bath. Parts should be immersed in the bath for 10 to xv minutes and scrubbed while being immersed to remove whatever oil, clay, or grease that could get in the way of the bluing process. You can use any of the chemical cleaners listed in the cleaning step for common cold bluing, provided y'all read and follow all directions for the cleaner's use, treatment, and disposal.

4. 4

   Rinse off the cleaning solution in cold water. Rinsing should take no more 2 to iii minutes.

   • If you've used dishwashing detergent to remove the cleaning chemical, you may instead need to use hot water to rinse.^[13]

5. 5

   Dip the gun parts in the bluing solution. The hot bluing solution, known as "Traditional Caustic Blackness."^[xiv] , must be heated to a temperature of from 275 to 311 degrees F (135 to 155 degrees C).

   • Before heating the bluing solution, stir it thoroughly to break up any salt clumps that may occur on the surface or at the bottom of the tank property the solution.
   • When dipping gun barrels in bluing solution, dip them at an angle to allow any air bubbles that may form to escape. Be sure to immerse the barrel completely.
   • Swirl the metal basket containing smaller gun parts around in the solution to ensure the parts are completely coated with the bluing solution.
   • Exit the gun parts in the bluing solution from 15 to 30 minutes. Check to come across when the metal has reached the desired shade of bluing and remove information technology from the solution at that fourth dimension.
   • If your gun has stainless steel parts, those parts are immersed in a different chemical solution, a mixture of nitrates and chromates. Information technology is heated to similar temperatures as the nitrate-hydroxide mixture.^[15]

6. half dozen

   Rinse off the bluing solution in common cold water. Swirl the parts through the common cold water to help wash away the bluing salts.

7. 7

   Immerse the gun parts in boiling h2o. This will boil off any remaining bluing solution residue. Simple parts need to be immersed for 5 to 10 minutes, while complex or ornate parts may need to exist immersed for upward to thirty minutes.

   • If the gun has whatsoever soldered parts, you can apply a chemical to these parts that will color the soldering to match the rest of the metal. Use a cotton swab for this.

8. 8

   Immerse the treated parts in a bathroom of h2o-displacing oil. This volition protect the terminate from rust, sweat, and trunk oil. Exit the parts in the oil bath for 45 to threescore minutes, until they have cooled.^[16]

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1. 1

   Polish the parts to be blued. Again, steel wool or 600 to 1200-grit sandpaper will work to remove any loose rust, scarring, or pitting from the gun metal.

2. two

   Make clean away any dirt, oil, or grease that remains chemically. You tin can use whatever of the cleaners listed in the cleaning step under the cold bluing process, unless the manufacturer of the rust bluing solution you're using says differently. After y'all've used the cleaning solution, rinse it off.

3. 3

   Glaze the gun metal parts with the rust bluing solution. The rust bluing solution is typically a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acid. This solution actually encourages the metal to rust, but to do so in a compatible style.

   • Instead of coating the parts with the acrid solution, you tin can instead identify an opened container of the acid solution with the gun parts in a cabinet and seal it for a period of 12 hours. The acid evaporates from its container and condenses around the gun metal. This method is called smoke bluing.
   • Some other variation is to coat the gun metal parts with the rust bluing solution and then put them into a fume cabinet (or, in this case, a damp cabinet) for the same 12 hours. Frequently, a kickoff layer is applied every bit a primer before blanket the parts a second time and and then placing them in the damp cabinet.^[17]

4. 4

   Immerse the gun metal parts in boiling distilled water. This stops the rusting procedure by removing the acrid solution.

5. five

   Scrub abroad the carmine oxide rust that has formed, leaving the black oxide finish underneath. The surface rust is normally removed with a carding brush or wheel, which features very soft and sparse wire bristles.

6. 6

   Echo the acid treatment, boiling, and scrubbing until you have accomplished the desired level of bluing. In some cases, the metal may develop as deep a coloring every bit it can, making farther bluing attempts counterproductive.

7. 7

   Coat the gun parts with oil. The oil inhibits the formation of rust and protects the metal cease from dirt, sweat, body oil, and wear. In one case yous've practical the oil, let the parts stand overnight earlier assembling.^[18]

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• Before using whatever of the bluing processes described above, brand certain the gun is unloaded! Likewise remove the gun handle or stock.^[19]

• With all bluing processes, work in a well-ventilated area. The caustic salts used for hot bluing are specially noxious.

• Do not attempt the hot bluing process on aluminum. Information technology will trigger a fierce reaction with the caustic salts bath, which may atomic number 82 to astringent chemical burns.^[twenty]

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Things You'll Need

For all processes:

• Steel wool
• Sandpaper
• Latex/rubber gloves
• Safety glasses
• Chemical cleaning amanuensis (run across main commodity for examples)
• Lubricating/protecting gun oil
• Applicators (cotton fiber T-shirts, balls, or swabs; toothbrushes; toothpicks)

For common cold bluing:

• Common cold bluing solution (usually selenium dioxide)^[21]
• Way to heat gun metal before applying bluing solution (dominicus, oven, heat gun, accident dryer)

For hot bluing:

• Caustic salts (typically potassium nitrate and sodium hydroxide)
• Basins, tubs, or tanks (for cleaning, bluing, and boiling steps)
• H2o (for rinsing and boiling steps)
• Oestrus source

For rust/fume bluing:

• Hydrochloric/nitric acid mixture
• Applicator for mixture (for rust bluing)
• Sealable cabinet large enough to hold gun parts and mixture container (for fume bluing)
• Basins, tubs, or tanks (for cleaning and boiling steps)
• Water
• Carding castor or bicycle

About This Article

Commodity Summary Ten

Bluing is a thin protective beat of black iron oxide that protects gunmetal from rusting. If most of the beat out has worn away, y'all'll desire to get information technology reblued by a professional, since the process is fairly complex. However, if information technology just needs a affect-up, you can reblue your gun at home. Before you reblue your gun, you lot'll need to polish the metal to remove surface rust and scratches. You'll then need to heat the metal gently, either past leaving information technology the sun for a few hours or with a blow dryer or heat gun on a low setting. This volition help the cease set properly. Then, y'all'll demand to apply a bluing solution in thin layers with a cotton ball or cotton swab. Keep applying layers until you have the darkness you want. Smooth out the finish with a fresh piece of steel wool before painting on each new layer. To larn how to reblue a gun that has totally worn away, read on!

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