The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - B-wood casey vs. laurel mountain brown

mykeal · July 14, 2008, 11:58 AM

I have 5 guns (2 rifles, 3 pistols) that I browned in the late 70's/early 80's with BC Plum Brown and the finishes are still like new. And they are not gun safe queens.

I'd heat to at least 260 degrees, and if you are going to use an oven be sure to leave it in long enough to heat through the entire piece. The way to check is to use the water test in the Plum Brown instructions. How are you going to handle it to take it out of the oven and apply the Plum Brown?

There's no need to use high humidity with Plum Brown; it will not affect the results one way or the other. The only 'seasoning' that's worthwhile is the final oil coating.

I'd be surprised if you need more than two coats if you get the metal hot enough. I don't believe you'll be able to see a difference between the 2nd and 3rd coats. IF you get it hot enough.

The purple hue that you occasionally see is actually a mistake in the hot blue chemicals some manufacturers use. Applying cold blue over a rust brown finish will have no effect. You can, however, get an excellent blue/black finish by boiling a rust browned barrel in distilled water. It works with metal that's been browned by either the BC or LMF process. The instructions are in the LMF instructions at the end.

July 14, 2008, 11:58 AM	#7
mykeal Senior Member Join Date: October 8, 2006 Location: Northern Michigan Posts: 2,772	I have 5 guns (2 rifles, 3 pistols) that I browned in the late 70's/early 80's with BC Plum Brown and the finishes are still like new. And they are not gun safe queens. I'd heat to at least 260 degrees, and if you are going to use an oven be sure to leave it in long enough to heat through the entire piece. The way to check is to use the water test in the Plum Brown instructions. How are you going to handle it to take it out of the oven and apply the Plum Brown? There's no need to use high humidity with Plum Brown; it will not affect the results one way or the other. The only 'seasoning' that's worthwhile is the final oil coating. I'd be surprised if you need more than two coats if you get the metal hot enough. I don't believe you'll be able to see a difference between the 2nd and 3rd coats. IF you get it hot enough. The purple hue that you occasionally see is actually a mistake in the hot blue chemicals some manufacturers use. Applying cold blue over a rust brown finish will have no effect. You can, however, get an excellent blue/black finish by boiling a rust browned barrel in distilled water. It works with metal that's been browned by either the BC or LMF process. The instructions are in the LMF instructions at the end.