A5 receiver reblueing

grousehunter49 · October 7, 2010, 08:33 PM

I was going to use g96 to reblue my receiver, what do you think of the idea? I was not going to take all the old blue off ,just degreese and steelwool shine it. Any good?

Dfariswheel · October 8, 2010, 07:33 PM

Cold blues are of limited use on larger areas.
It's really designed for touching up minor scratches or worn spots.

The color will in no way come close to matching the original bluing, and you can wipe the cold blue off with your thumb, so it's not very durable.
You have to be very careful about rinsing the cold blue off during application, and you have to keep a coat of lube on it or the cold blue will actually cause rust to form.

grousehunter49 · October 8, 2010, 07:56 PM

Dfariswheel; I thank you very much, I will only touch up what need be.

guf · October 8, 2010, 09:58 PM

Dfariswheel: Have you ever used Brownells Oxpho-Blue as per instructions ? I just finished cold bluing a rusty old Marlin 336 for a customer who didn't want to pay for a hot blue job. It's not as dark as a hot blue, but evenly colored and durable. It will not rub off easily. I used the creme type applied with 00 steel wool.

Dfariswheel · October 9, 2010, 07:33 PM

Some of Brownell's cold blues are pretty good.
I used Oxpho-Blue, 44-40, and Dicrophan T4 at various times.

Oxpho-Blue was probably the best, but I just never found any cold blue to be all that good on larger areas.
Your results will may well vary, but I used cold blues only for touch-up and even then only with reluctance.
One problem most cold blues have is a tendency to leave a blotchy stain in the original bluing around where you applied the cold blue.
These blotches are permanent and can make the gun look even worse on close examination.

However, since unless you have a gun totally re-blued there's nothing that can be used that's better than cold blue, you just buy a good one like Oxpho and hope for the best.

October 7, 2010, 08:33 PM	#1
grousehunter49 Member Join Date: September 2, 2007 Location: NL Canada Posts: 55	A5 receiver reblueing I was going to use g96 to reblue my receiver, what do you think of the idea? I was not going to take all the old blue off ,just degreese and steelwool shine it. Any good?

October 8, 2010, 07:56 PM	#3
grousehunter49 Member Join Date: September 2, 2007 Location: NL Canada Posts: 55	a5 receiver rebluing Dfariswheel; I thank you very much, I will only touch up what need be.

October 8, 2010, 09:58 PM	#4
guf Member Join Date: May 25, 2010 Posts: 41	cold blue Dfariswheel: Have you ever used Brownells Oxpho-Blue as per instructions ? I just finished cold bluing a rusty old Marlin 336 for a customer who didn't want to pay for a hot blue job. It's not as dark as a hot blue, but evenly colored and durable. It will not rub off easily. I used the creme type applied with 00 steel wool.

October 8, 2010, 07:33 PM	#2
Dfariswheel Senior Member Join Date: May 4, 2001 Posts: 7,478	Cold blues are of limited use on larger areas. It's really designed for touching up minor scratches or worn spots. The color will in no way come close to matching the original bluing, and you can wipe the cold blue off with your thumb, so it's not very durable. You have to be very careful about rinsing the cold blue off during application, and you have to keep a coat of lube on it or the cold blue will actually cause rust to form.

October 9, 2010, 07:33 PM	#5
Dfariswheel Senior Member Join Date: May 4, 2001 Posts: 7,478	Some of Brownell's cold blues are pretty good. I used Oxpho-Blue, 44-40, and Dicrophan T4 at various times. Oxpho-Blue was probably the best, but I just never found any cold blue to be all that good on larger areas. Your results will may well vary, but I used cold blues only for touch-up and even then only with reluctance. One problem most cold blues have is a tendency to leave a blotchy stain in the original bluing around where you applied the cold blue. These blotches are permanent and can make the gun look even worse on close examination. However, since unless you have a gun totally re-blued there's nothing that can be used that's better than cold blue, you just buy a good one like Oxpho and hope for the best.