question about rust on a gun.?

Bound's hubby here:

You can not remove pits, they are an erosion of the metal. You can remove rust rather easily. Take a small piece of 000 steel wool, and place some gun oil on the rusted area, and lightly rub the steel wool. This should take care of the rust. You may have to repeat the process a few times until the rust is completely removed.

My advice, do not re-blue your rifle ... the worn blueing will add character to the rifle and have more meaning to not only the rifle, but the stories that are passed along with it!

Good luck and enjoy!

I have run into the same thing on several different guns that I have traded for or purchased. I have found that using 0000 steel wool and WD40 I can remove most of the rust that I have encountered. The 0000 steel wool is too fine to hurt the bluing and just removes the rust. If there is pitting, and it is bad enough that you want to remove it, you will have to polish it out. This is probably a job best left to a professional. Doing it yourself can likely lead to a wavy surface that doesn't look very good. If the pitting is not very deep, the steel wool will usually take care of it pretty well. It won't get rid of it but if it is hardly noticeable to begin with, as yours sounds, the steel wool and WD40 treatment will hide the pits so that they are hardly noticeable. Use a good cold bluing to touch up any places that show wear. Follow the directions carefully and you will end up with a nice looking gun. Good luck.

I have to agree with Bound's husband here. Re-blueing lowers the value of the rifle, along with taking away it's character. We usually put the balistol to it and just really buff the rust spots with some fine steel wool. It cleans them up really well, as he said. We have reblued a couple of guns that had no value to us, other than cheapy backups we have hanging around. The reblueing kits coming out are really easy to use and look great when done. I wouldn't though. Just put a really heavy coat of Balistol on and clean it well and often. We have around 70 (some worth more than my house) and we have to do it often, living on the coast with all the humidity. Balistol has been the key.

just clean it good and keep a thin coat of oil on all of the metal parts of the gun and wipe it down every time you come home with it. dont let the rust start again. you dont have an extremely valuable gun, you do have a good gun though. just take care of it from now on and dont worry about the tiny pits. you will end up putting more money and time into it than its worth getting them fixed or covered up with a re-blueing. as long as it shoots good and you keep it clean it will last for as many years as it is taken care of.

minor pitting is purely cosmetic unless it is pitted inside the barrell. if the rifling of your barrell is pitted very bad you will lose accuracy. but if the rifling is still pretty then just shoot the gun and enjoy it. re-bluieng would not be worth the cost compared to value of the gun.

Clean it again, and wipe it down when you put it away for a while. When you hold the gun, sweat gets all over it, even if you're not sweaty. Along with any humidity. That won't do anything in a day, but give it a month or two, and it will form rust spots. So wipe it down every time it goes away for a while.

the question is, is the surface actually pitted, or is the rust still on the surface as tiny "blooms"? pits will form under the blooms of rust over time. an oily rag will not remove the rust, and unless it is removed, a pit will continue to form underneath. to remove the rust, lightly stroke the metal with the finest steel wool you can get your hands on sprayed liberally with wd-40, not concentrating your effort on just the spots themselves, but evenly over the entire effected part(s). this will remove the rust, at the cost of slightly thinning the bluing. however, don't fret, because the steel wool will polish the surface of the bluing slightly as well, making the part slightly glossy and the rust damage harder to see. finish with a good coat of heavier oil, and be glad you caught the problem before next deer season!

i work at a plateing factory and we sometimes blue and plate gun barrels . this invovles stripping and buffing out all infomitys and then cleaning then putting a professional looking blue that holds test of time . hunt this season then pay the little extra to have a plateing company reblue your gun . this will solve your rust problems for as long as you keep weapon clean . liquid blues from a bottle can never acieave the depth or shine of a professional blueing . youll like the result . be sure you ask if they insure their work so if a part is lost or damaged they replace it free of charge .

If there are pits you have two choices. 1) kill and control the active rust with oil and live with the pits. 2) polish it completely and have it professionally hot-blued. A 1973 vintage 94 will probably never be a collector's item, so a good re-blue will probably improve the value if the pits are really detracting.

Bound is right to a point. Use the steel wool to buff out the rust. then use a home blueing kit or the rust WILL come back. It will not look as nice as a professional hot bluing job but as you say,you need to look close and hold it to light..

to remove the pits you'll probably have to reblue. i have a similar problem on a 16 ga. shotgun. i clean and scrub and clean some more but the rust keeps coming back. it's probably worth the time and investment if you want the rifle to last another generation.