Best blueing compound

[simplicity]

 I just picked up a old maine state police patrol gun a remington 870. I want to refinish the action and barrel. I want to give it a matte finish . I plan on and blastinging the parts and was jusyt wondering what was the best over the counter blueing compound? Who has had luck with what?

[Hairtrigger]

I have had good luck with OXPHO cold bluing.
I would not blast the metal first unless you want a rough finish

[trotterlg]

For the best matt finish I would say to parkerize it, works best over a sand blasted finish, it is dead easy to do even on a stove and the chemicals are cheap.  I have done a bunch and it is very nice.  If you don't want to try that then the  Birchwood Casey Super Blue is good, not the regular but the super.  Larry

[bilmac]

Well comon totter don't just tease us how do you parkerize? I'm sure there is no store bought kit to do that. I've always admired parkerizing because it is supposed to be more weather proof. In fact I talked my boss into buying a Mossberg instead of a Remington shotgun because you could get the Mossy with a parkerized finish. The gun was for bear protection in Alaska. When I left the gun had seen 3 years of abuse by temporary employees , but the finish was going strong.

[Nobade]

For parkerizing, the main thing you need is a stainless steel tank and a way to heat it, plus a blaster. The park chemicals are available from Brownells, they're in concentrate form so you don't need much. A quart is way plenty. Mix up your chemicals in your stainless tank (Don't use anything else but stainless), bring up to temp, about 190 deg. F, clean the parts to remove all oil, blast with silica carbide, and put them in the tank. Do not touch the parts any more than you have to, for oil is your enemy. They will outgas for about 10 minutes and then stop, you're done. Wash in cool running water, blow dry, and oil. I like to let stuff sit soaking in oil for a couple of days so the finish gets to suck up as much as possible, then wipe off and reassemble. It's quick and easy, and the mixed chemicals can be stored in lightproof brown jugs (I use ones made for photo developer) and reused for a long time. 

[kix]

  I am a bit confused, you mention a matte finish but want to know the best bluing compound. I can only speak for bluing so here goes. For years I tried to use the old perma-blue with terrible results, then I was turned on to Formula 44/40 and I was astounded at the finished product. My best results have been to heat up the metal in an oven (when possible) and apply. Let dry briefly, wash off, heat and apply again. Since blueing is a rusting process be sure to oil afterwards. Kix

[trotterlg]

I use a 3 foot piece of 3 inch ABS pipe with a 110V water heator element in the bottom, just stand it up and fill, I use the parkerizing solution from Midway, it is the cheapest around and works great, Magnasium Phosphate.  Here is a picture of my setup, it will do a 3 foot barrel if filled up to the top.  Larry

[bilmac]

So the chemicals don't eat up your heater element? Ot is it a special element. That's about as neat a setup as I've seen trotter I suppose you didn't bother with a thermostat, just watch a thermometer and control the heat manually. What do you do with the stuff you treat, just suspend them on cords?

[trotterlg]

The element is painted with the flat black high temp BBQ paint, I have had one running for a year and it is still good.  I do use a thermostat, that is what the bolt in the bottom is for, I mount the thermostat to the head of the bolt on the outside, the bolt conducts the heet to the thermostat.  This is the bottom picture.  Total cost of everything you see there was $24.50  Larry

[bilmac]

Nice work trotter. I admire guys who make their own stuff and this is a first class job

[simplicity]

Thanks everyone for the replys I went with the Oxpho blue. The finish I got was accually better then what I had planned. due to the fine grit that was in the the sand blaster I cleaned the parts up in. I'm quite happy with the results, now I'm just going to find out how durible it is to the factory finish.