Removing rust on stainless steel! Flitz?

[HHI #4694]

Hi Guys,

I picked up a 14" stainless .223 bull barrel today at a gun show. I paid $60.00 for this barrel. The bore is very good, but the outside of the barrel was covered with light surface rust. Yes, there was rust all over the stainless barrel!

I removed 90% of the surface rust by rubbing the barrel down with JB bore compound. Now, there is very light black speckling where the rust once was? I don't expect to resore this barrel to pristine condition, but I do plan to do the best I can to make it nice again.

Will "Flitz" remove this black speckling? Anyone tried this stuff that I hear is some type of miracle product? Any other ideas to remove rust or the black speckling from stainless? :?

Thanks in advance for any tips!

[Ladobe]

What I prefer to use is Dico SCR.   Comes as a hard stick that you use with a buffing wheel - even Dremel type tools or a hand drill works well for guns.   Their SCR grade quickly restores a natural luster finish to stainless (what its intended for), but you'll want to do the whole barrel evenly so it matches, and if you keep buffing enough it will eventually give you a high gloss (mirror) finish.    Not something you'd probably want on a TC barrel, but you should see what it does to a stainless revolver (like chrome).   Ace Hardware stocks it for around $3-$4 for about a 4 ounce stick - and it goes a long way.

HTH pard,

Ladobe  :bye:

[jterrio]

I was at Fox Ridge on Friday picking up a frame I had modified to easy open. The guy in gront of me was dropping off an Stainless Encore that he had stored in a case and it was all rusted as well. They are going to take care of it for him under warrenty. You might consider sending in to them.

Jeff

[Bug]

Remove the front, and rear, sights. Clamp the barrel lug in a padded vise, so you have access to the whole barrel - sideways. Use a strip of heavy cloth, about 1" wide, and 18-20" long. Put some automotive rubbing compound -the reddish stuff- on the cloth (put on quite a bit), and wrap the cloth around the barrel 1 1/2 times, and useing a "shoeshine" motion, polish your barrel. You can then go to polishing compound -the white stuff- if you want a higher gloss. It seems that the heavier, stiffer the cloth is, the faster it works. I use some canvas that I found, and it works great. The automotive compounds are easy to find, and they leave a wax-like coating on the metal, that helps protect the finish. I have, in the past, had a pretty hard time using Flitz, and other polishes with my dremel tool. I can't seem to get the finish to polish evenly. It always seems to show polishing marks. This method works for me, every time.>>>>Bug.

[jcsabolt2]

An article I read a while back by someone from Brownells recommended using the finest steel whool you can get and gun oil.  Simply apply the oil to the barrel and rub it until it is removed.

Stainless Steel rifle barrels are not actually "true stainless steel".  I cannot remember the exact make up, but they do have iron in them to make them detectable by metal detectors (magnetic).  True stainless steel does not rust.  However, gun stainless steel is much more resistant to rust than chromemoly.  A stainless gun has to have a lot of exposure to moisture or salt to begin to rust.