20ga. Citori barrel~"safe" to have refinished? (=hot blue)

[.22LRGUY]

Hey guys~wondered if this would be the best forum to ask...or...the shotgun forum. Anyhow, I recently picked-up a 20ga. Citori that at some point, must have gotten wet in storage. Both sides of the barrel (it's an O/U of course) near the muzzle are discolored, both sides also have a spot of rust about the size of my finger nail. It shoots fine. If the rest of the gun had blemishes, I might leave it...but otherwise, it's in terrific condition. I've only ever had 1 barrel polished/hot blued by a local gunsmith, so I called him today and asked about doing this job. He had some reservations, saying the solder can melt between the barrels if it's left in there too long...but OK if it's only in a short period of time. Said it "shouldn't be a problem" but having never had a nice over under...I'm not really in too big a risk-taking frame of mind.

I can post pics of the blemishes, but the question is really about the "risk" of hot bluing an O/U barrel. Any thoughts? Do any of you know of a gunsmith specializing in this sort of thing?

thanks!

btw, I'm in the GTA near Newmarket.

 

[guntech]

Barrels that are soft soldered together should not be hot blued.. period.

A big problem that can occur... they can come apart down the road due to blueing salts that made their way between the barrels and ribs and could not be flushed out in the blueing process.

Live with your blemish or spend a bit more and have it done without the hot blue process.

 

[.22LRGUY]

Barrels that are soft soldered together should not be hot blued.. period.

A big problem that can occur... they can come apart down the road due to blueing salts that made their way between the barrels and ribs and could not be flushed out in the blueing process.

Live with your blemish or spend a bit more and have it done without the hot blue process.

Thanks guntech. Any tips, links, products you can recommend?

 

[guntech]

Brownell's offer a 'cold blue' sort of a rust bluing process you use in conjunction with boiling water... I did one set of SxS barrels many years ago and they turned out well. I forget the exact name of the product. There are guys who specialize in rust bluing...

 

[.22LRGUY]

Brownell's offer a 'cold blue' sort of a rust bluing process you use in conjunction with boiling water... I did one set of SxS barrels many years ago and they turned out well. I forget the exact name of the product. There are guys who specialize in rust bluing...

Interesting~just watched a few Youtube videos. I'll look around to see if anyone in my area does that.

 

[mrgoat]

Give Steve Milton a call a Precision Arms in King City Ont. He did a Win. 101 OU for me many years back, every bit of metal on the gun, excellent job. That gun since has shot a lot of pheasants without issue.

 

[Tex Critter]

For the Hot water blueing method "Dicropan IM" works very well, if you follow the directions.
Oxpho-Blue is a cold blue that is good for touch ups or a whole gun.

 

[.22LRGUY]

Give Steve Milton a call a Precision Arms in King City Ont. He did a Win. 101 OU for me many years back, every bit of metal on the gun, excellent job. That gun since has shot a lot of pheasants without issue.

Hmm...actually, now that I own an over under~he might actually be semi-courteous to me. Sarcasm aside, I simply don't (and won't now) ever go into that gun shop. Been treated poorly too many times in there. Lisa is nice enough, but that doesn't make up for being talked-down to so many times because the gun I was interested in talking about wasn't an expensive double.

Thanks for the help though guys~I have someone doing the work (polish, rust blue) right now. Fingers are crossed! I saw some examples of his work, looked excellent to me.

 

[Ol' Flinter]

Guntech is right on about the bluing salts destroyng the solder - a previous owner had my Model 21 hot blued and as a result, a few years later the top rib and barrel/forend lug all came loose (after I had bought it of course). That cost me more than a grand and 2 years of frustration to remedy. There are several touch-up bluing agents that can do your spot refinishing but the trick is to get one that results in a color that blends with your background. Some are blue while others trend more toward black. Also, warming the metal before applying the bluing can result in slightly different shades. Take some time to fiddle with the process and do it yourself, I recommend. I personally like the Oxpho-blue from Brownells. Good luck.