paint

[DAD]

I bought an Ish- Enfield [7.62.51] and took off the black paint and to my surprise the metal is silver  no blueing. i was thinking about using Rust-o-louim paint and promer to fix the problem. never blued a rifle and I don't think that blueing is correct. What do you advise? The silver as to go.

[Mikey]

DAD - Yep, some of those mil-surps will sure surprise you.  I forget exactly which ones are parkerized and which ones are painted but yep, they painted them. 

There are a number of good gun finishing products that you can spray on yourself and I hope some of the fellas can recommend something specific that will work for you.  Something I used a long number of years ago is wheel rim paint.  I used some on a couple of sets of old wheel rims and it worked so well I tried it on an old pistol I ahd hanging around and what a great job it did.  Tough as nails, you have to scratch it off, doesn't rust beneath it and you can still plainly read the lettering and numbering.  The stuff used to just be in black but may have gone to additional colors and was available in flat or gloss - the flat looked as good as if not better than parkerizing and you couldn't tell it was paint. 

Grab a Shotgun News, there are usually some of those gun finishing products advertized there.  HTH.  Mikey.

[R.W.Dale]

 Dupli color makes a satin black WHEEL paint that has proven to be indestructable when properly applied, I refinihed a no4 mkI sporter that had large quantities of the original Suncorite missing, The wheel paint hasn't even come off the crown yet and being as it's wheel paint it's pretty chamical resistant. Here's a pic

[Roudy]

Dad,
  I found nearly the same thing on an Ishapore that I sporsterized, but there was some blueing left.  I put on a fiberglass stock and a Williams rear aperature sight.  I use it for my truck gun and didn't make much effort to make it look pretty. 

  Don't know if you have ever "browned" a rifle, but you might look at it as an alternative to blueing.  Many years ago I bought a Zouave rifle kit and browned the rifle.  It turned out better than I expected...the color is kind of a brownish purple (i'm sure there is a name for it but I'm not style driven) and somewhat mottled. 

  If you rifle is indeed in the white, then browning would give it a unique appearance.

Roudy

[Mikey]

krochus:  now that's the way to make an old SMLE look good.  Yeah!  Mikey.

[jgalar]

You may also want to try high temperature grill paint. I did my Ishy with it and it looks good. Don't know how durable it is as I haven't shot the gun much, but its easy enough to touch up.

[DAD]

Nice looking rifle! Anyone had experance with cold blue?

[EVOC ONE]

I re-blued an Enfield #4 using Brownells Oxpho Blue.  I've used Oxpho on a couple commercial rifles and shotguns and usually end up with a deep, polished blue finish.  Under direct light there is usually a silvery tint.  Using the same procedure as the others, the Enfield didn't result with the same deep, polished blue.  It is more of a dark blue.

My overall experiance with Oxpho Blue is that is is durable and withstands oil and moisture.  I've had very good luck with it on a couple of Marlin .22's I picked up at pawn shops. I've found that removing all the old bluing and polishing the metal to the extent that it looked like chrome results in the best finish.  The cleaning process is the most important, I believe.  The parts to be blued must be clear of all oils and dirt and once cleaned, I don't touch any of the parts with bare hands. 

I've used Birchwood Casey Super Blue for touch ups and have been pleased.  It seems to be darker than Oxpho, but with small touch up areas, I've had good success by applying, polishing, applying, polishing several times until I can get it to blend pretty good. 

I also us an old hand held hair dryer to heat the metal before each application.

Krochus:  Very nice job on the Enfield.  I like the finish.  It looks natural.  Beautiful gun!  I may try that on a Mosin project, if I ever get it going.

EVOC ONE