Rust on Browning B92- what do I do?

[davery25]

Hi guys,

I've made a royal mess of one of my rifles - a nice Browning B92 lever action. My safe is very full, so to avoid scratches I used (stupidly in hindsight) bubble wrap to separate the rifles and when I took the b92 out again (first time since October last year - I've been using the O/U every week since then) I noticed huge rust on the receiver which you can see in the pictures below.

Needless to say I kicked myself pretty hard and am hugely disappointed in myself to say the least. I do oil all guns before they go into the safe but the oil must have runoff and we had a run of extremely humid days here and this is the result. Thank god though, there isn't any rust in the barrel, that's still clean.

Anyway I took the gun into a shop to get a quote on rebluing and I was told between $600 - $900 to do the receiver (yeah, just the receiver). He said I really should be doing it because it's a Browning B92 but the thing is I only paid $650 for the gun....what do you guys think I should do here??

What's making me unsure about whether to do it or not beside the cost is that I reckon I could sell the gun for $650 even in its current state, and add another $900 to that - I could easily buy a brand new Win 92 in .357 mag for the same cost.

According to the store the rust is deep enough that a bluing pen isn't an option - it will have to be hot blued. Should I spend the money. I'll try and find somewhere cheaper but these guys are known to be good and being in Australia I'm not sure I'm going to find anywhere that's going to be majorly cheaper either.

[az_imuth]

Looks to me like the finish on the rifle already has a lot of honest wear to begin with. If it were me, I'd clean it up as best I could and shoot it. Then I'd get all of the bubble wrap out of the safe if you think that's what caused this to happen.

[davery25]

it has, I worked out the date and this ones from the 70s. in pretty good condition for something of that age but then I got to it. Bubble wrap is now long gone.

these B92s will only appreciate in value though so im tossing up whether it's worth the money. Can rust occur underneath bluing if I just use a bluing pen?

[natman]

Soak the rusted areas in light oil. The rub gently with Super Fine (0000, that's 4 zero) steel wool with lots of oil. Get as much off as you can, there will probably be some pitting.

I don't see any point in paying the price of the gun to get it refinished. Just keep it well oiled.

[Scorch]

A little bit of scrubbing with fine steel wool, then oil to stop the rust. If you scrub with too much or not enough oil you can scratch the finish. I just put a few drops of oil on the steel wool and scrub off the rust, then oil the metal well.

And I would find a different shop to quote prices for work, if I were you.

[PetahW]

I wouldn't touch it with steel wool !

Not even OOOO steel wool sopped with oil - you will end up ruining whatever's left of the finish.

Use Frontier 45 cleaner (Google) to remove the rust, w/o affecting the remainder of the blued finish.

Nothing short of filing the surface below them will remove pits/pitting, so I would just blue over it and take it shooting.




.

[hooligan1]

Oh petah, he said he didn't wanna pay a bunch to have it reblued,,, And Scorch was right as usual, the op definitely needs to do business elsewhere.
That product Petahw mentioned I have never used, but I take G96 spray and spray it down and leave it a few days then take and put a heavy dose into some 0000 steelwool (just like Scorch directed) and work slowly.

[Jim Watson]

Clean it up, touch it up, and shoot it.
That gun will not be worth it's purchase price plus a nice reblue in this century.

[davery25]

Ok so far the votes are pretty unanimous across the board (but please keep replying).

I assume petah meant a cold blue like a blue pen. Is it possible for rust to occur underneath cold blue as the molecules haven't bonded together with the steel like with hot bluing?

If I'm guaranteed to avoid rust under the bluing then that option would be worth a look at the very least.

Thanks so much so far guys

[Jim Watson]

No form of bluing will guarantee against rust if neglected. Gun blue is really quite fragile. You have to stay on top of it.

[Bottom Gun]

In the past, I have had some success removing small areas of rust rubbing Breakfree into the area using a solid copper penny (pre 1982). Don't use the newer pennies. They are copper clad zinc and may scratch it.
I discovered that if I warm the steel before applying cold blue, it seems to work better.

I picked up a Browning take down .22 with some amount of surface rust. I was planning to refinish it and was discussing rust removal with a friend of mine who sent me the following link to a rust removal project he just finished:

http://www.suduva.com/virdainas/viking_axe.htm

I think I’ll try his method.

[Mauser8mm]

WD40 And Fine Steel Wool, that's the way to go!

[mukwah]

Originally Posted by Mauser8mm

WD40 And Fine Steel Wool, that's the way to go!

Works wonders!

[lagavulin62]

this is a great thread. yeah it sounds like the gun will be just fine after you follow through on the suggestions here. I have to agree with all the others with your shop. that's gang rape sounds like. do they work on cars too?

[blfuller]

If you don't have a dehumidifier in your safe you need to get one. Something like a golden-rod type.

[dgludwig]

No form of bluing will guarantee against rust if neglected. Gun blue is really quite fragile.

Very true. Bluing offers an extremely limited protection against rust. Fingerprints not wiped off before stowing a firearm can result in unsightly, salt-induced marks on even the best blue job. And it's a bad idea to store any firearm in a gun case, holster or any other container (including bubble-wrap ) where moisture trapped inside or when the acidic chemicals found in some leather can cause havoc to gun finishes.

If you don't have a dehumidifier in your safe you need to get one. Something like a golden-rod type.

A 60 watt (or brighter) light bulb, mounted low in a typical gun safe, works well too-and has the added benefit of illuminating the firearms.

[WIN1886]

Yes , that seems way spendy for just bluing the receiver ! Very nice 92 otherwise....I have touched up some gun parts and small worn or slightly rusted areas with cold blue products before with success....proper preparation and procedure being the key and some bluing products are better than others !

[davery25]

I can't get Frontier 45 here in Australia and noone in the USA was willing to post it. I might try the WD40 and/or breakfree idea with 0000 steel wool and go from there.

Can't get any worse I suppose.

blfuller - thanks for that recommendation on the goldenrod. I'll get one from the US off eBay soon i think, that would've saved me all this trouble in the first place.

With Australia being small in shooter numbers there are only a handful of gunsmiths and less that actually know what they're doing (eg. all smiths install barrels, there are 2 that I know of that know what they're doing when it comes to installing one for a target rifle and both are across the country). This shop is one that does, but also knows this fact and charges for it too...

[davery25]

I don't know about this Goldenrod thing now....wouldn't silica gel crystals work better?

[dgludwig]

As I see it, the biggest problem with relying on silica gel crystals as a moisture control is the need to continually having to re-juvenate the stuff. I bought a can made by the Hydrosorbent Company containing 750 grams of silica gel many years ago. Their instructions for use read: "...The unit is active as long as the indicating crystals remain blue. When the indicating crystals turn pinkish, your silica gel is becoming saturated and it's time to reactivate the unit (by placing) the unit in a 325 degree oven for approximately 3 hours...The indicating crystals will gradually turn blue again." Now, this wouldn't be much of an inconvenience except for the fact that (at least in my area-northcentral Ohio), the indicating crystals turn pink pretty darn quick (in a matter of a few days). I suppose if you lived in Phoenix, using silica gel might be a good idea. But if you reside anywhere where high humidity is a problem and you're depending on this stuff to prevent rust, be prepared to be giving your oven a real work-out.

[davery25]

Ok, went down to the hardware store yesterday and picked up some 0000 grade steel wool. I'll try the oil and steel wool method later tonight, take photos and post them up as I go.

[tjh]

600-900 dollars for the reciever to bereblued !!!! THATS CRAZY !!! I had a Remington sportsman 48 shotgun totaly reblued , stock redone and now looks like new for 225dollars !

[sourdough44]

Yes, clean it off the best you can then do your own home blueing job. You can use any of the common products, Oxpho Blue, whatever. That's what I would do, doesn't really need a $600 job.