Author Topic: cleaning up rusty guns (Read 2893 times)

Lee D. · « **on:** November 12, 2003, 03:57:04 AM »

I take 0000 steel wool and kerosene to any gun with surface rust. You can scrub pretty hard and not hurt the finish but it will make a junk gun look almost new. Then coat the rusted spots with the old standby gun grease.

savageT · « **Reply #1 on:** November 12, 2003, 04:24:54 AM »

After all that work seems a shame if'n ya don't coldblue w/ Birchwood Casey's Superbluing. Just remember to de-grease before bluing, rinse, repeat the bluing step again, rinse and dry and then apply the gun grease!

Jim

TCShooter · « **Reply #2 on:** November 24, 2003, 03:19:33 PM »

This may sound kind of harsh but I have a rifle that was a little pitted, I used a wire brush chucked in a drill and that took care of the rust. Then I painted it! It is a gun I will always keep so I'm not worried about resale value.

Yanqui · « **Reply #3 on:** November 27, 2003, 01:45:33 PM »

Another option is using Kroil. It is what we use at work to loosen bolts that have been out in the weather. As far as we are concerned it works better than Liquid-Wrench. Kroil works well on loosening rust without having to use abrasives. It may require a few soakings.

I use the aresol to clean out the internal parts. Much like that carburetor cleaner for guns. But it leaves an oil residue to work at getting into the small crevices for further cleaning.

Ed Harris · « **Reply #4 on:** January 08, 2004, 09:07:11 AM »

Ordinary automatic transmission fluid is a great expedient cleaner for loosening rusted parts and mechanisms. In cold weather cut it 50% with K1 kerosene to enable quicker penetration.

I routinely use the 50-50 K1/ATF mixture for gun oil.

To mix your own gun cleaning solvent add equal parts of aliphatic mineral spirits (Varsol) and acetone to the above mix. If you will be using the cleaner indoors or leaving it in open soak tanks leave out the acetone and just go with equal parts of ATF, K1 and Varsol.

For rust removal and quick blackening of non-collectible hunting guns use Gempler's Rust Converter, which is used for cleaning up metal tanks and farm equipment. This removes all oxide and leaves a nice black oxide finish which resembles Parkerizing.

SBF · « **Reply #5 on:** January 08, 2004, 09:23:01 AM »

Quote from: Yanqui

Another option is using Kroil.

Kroil is great stuff! I have a M1938 Mosin Nagant that has a barrel that's less than perfect :eek:

I plugged the muzzle end and filled the barrel with Kroil. I've done this with other milsurps and it works great!

revolverman · « **Reply #6 on:** January 16, 2004, 07:13:38 AM »

would gempler's work on a gun that is not rusty, but I have been considering having refinished(parkerized)? The finish is pretty worn, and where could I get some?