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Old October 23, 2009, 01:16 PM   #1
DavidAGO
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ARRRRGUH! left my mdl 10 in the rug too long

I went to the range 3 weeks ago, took a few pistols. Got home, took them out of the gun rugs, cleaned them, actually just ran a patch or two through the bore and wiped down the outside with a rag. I left the model 10 in the range bag, I just forgot it. I went to the range this morning, and found it. there are now a few tiny spots of rust on it. How is the best way to remove them? solvent, CLP, hoppes, don't touch the rust. I could kick myself!

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Old October 23, 2009, 03:09 PM   #2
Tom2
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An expensive lesson, is all. When you remove rust spots, you will have bare steel. Then all you can do is touch it up with cold blue or send it out to be refinished, or maybe remove any loose rust and live with some brown spots on the gun. That's it. I have experienced that sort of overall fine powdery rust years ago on a gun. Not the kind that ruins the blue, it was almost like a fine dust on the outside of the blue and it removed easily enough without doing any noticeable damage. Maybe try rubbing it with a little oily four ought steel wool lightly, to see what it does, or rub with something like wood that will not abrade very much but loose stuff. But it might just be that you are stuck with what you got more or less. Unlikely you will find blue under brown. IF they are in fact really tiny spots, touchup blue applied to just the spots might be fairly unnoticeable when the gun is oil coated.
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Old October 23, 2009, 09:12 PM   #3
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Actually, creating that fine rust intentionally is the first step in rust bluing. Disassemble the gun completely. Degrease it with a couple of day's soak in some virgin mineral spirits. Flow a bit of denatured alcohol over it to rid it of trace oil from what was dissolved into the mineral spirits. Then boil it in distilled water for about 15 minutes. That boiling will convert most of the rust to black magnetite. Most of it won't be well-adhered, but where it is adhered it will blend well into the bluing.

After removing the gun from the boil, use a clean towel or something to hold it while you shake it off. Being hot, it will dry very quickly, leaving yet another micro-thin layer of blue oxide.

Finally, hose the thing down with WD-40. Yeah, I know. But the WD stands for "Water Displacing", which it does well despite that tacky film it leaves when it dries. After the WD-40 has coated all the boiled metal, let it penetrate for a bit then rub the gun down with a rag. You'll see some black stuff come off on it, which is the part of the conversion that isn't well-adhered to the steel. If you want to get rid of the WD-40, just do the mineral spirit soak again, and apply your regular gun oil afterward or polish it with some Iosso Gunbrite to get the last of the loose particles out, then oil it.
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Old October 24, 2009, 08:27 AM   #4
madcratebuilder
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EEZOX removes rust better than any product I have tried.
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Old October 24, 2009, 08:52 AM   #5
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If the rust spots are real small,try rubbing the spots lightly with a copper penny.The penny will not harm the bluing.Afterwards if needed a touch of cold bluing and rub down with gun oil afterwards.
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Old October 24, 2009, 09:25 AM   #6
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Uncle Nick, I guess you got it right in some way, I know I have tried some Pilkington rust blueing on some gun parts. It turns the surface to a rusty look and then you boil it to turn it black. It is a repetitive process, tho. Well if this guy feels good about boiling his gun, it might have positive results! Unless there is pitting to a noticeable degree under the rust. If so it might not look any better than what you would get from rubbing off the loose rust and cold blueing it carefully. It all depends on the amount or area of damage and the extent of the damage. So we are all guessing to some extent. At least he stopped it.
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Old October 24, 2009, 10:09 PM   #7
T. O'Heir
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It's not as big a deal as it appears. It's not likely pitted. That takes more than 3 weeks.
0000(extra fine) steel wool and oil(any light oil) will remove the rust spots without bothering the rest of the finish. A light touch with a fine, brass, wire wheel in a bench grinder is quicker. Eye protection is mandatory.
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Old October 31, 2009, 07:57 PM   #8
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Like Oheir, I use 000 or 0000 steel wool and oil. Don't use a lot of pressure, it's not necessary.
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Old October 31, 2009, 08:18 PM   #9
DavidAGO
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Thanks to all replies; I got the steel wool and gun oil after it, almost all the pinpoints of rust came out without leaving a trace. About half an hour with Simchrome polish had it looking pretty good. Three spots are still noticeable, but just barely. I oiled it down and think I am good to go. I have archived the boiling process, sounds interesting and I hope I don't have to use it!

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