Parkerized finish, now what?

Painkillers

Painkillers

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Fellas, I have a question.

Yesterday I took my brand new Mossberg 590A1 Retrograde to the trap pits to learn how to point the ghost ring sights. It was a lot of fun, I'm not convinced I intuitively understand the sights yet, but in any regard, yesterday it was snowing and blowing. If the shotgun were a blued one, it would be a quick disassemble at home, a wipedown with a CLP rag and into the safe...but this thing is Parkerized. Maybe a dumb question, but what do I do with this finish? It's kinda like sandpaper, though the action is buttery smooth now.

Do I leave it as is and paint over any scratches as they happen. Do I infact oil this thing? If so, will the oil darken the Park, meaning if I oil it, it has to be uniform to avoid a blotchy appearance. Or is it just a gawd damn shotgun, quit yer hand wringing and learn how to shoot it?

Gratuitous interwebs pic 'cause I know how you guys like them.

View attachment 665726
 
Apply Cosmoline or some other heavy grease to the Parkerized surfaces, preferably when both the part and the grease are heated somewhat.

The grease will stay put vastly better than oil and it'll both make it very corrosion resistant and more scratch resistant than it was previously.

Think of it almost like seasoning a cast iron pan.
 
If you don't want it to rust or get scratches, wipe it down with oil and wrap it in wax paper and leave it in your safe.

Just kidding, parkerizing needs oil in order to work. Best to wipe it down with a (lightly) oiled rag. Unless it came super dry from the factory, you don't need much. Too much oil will seep into the wood and damage it. A few rubs with your oily rag will get everything to an even darkness.

Leave any scratches, they just give it character. If you try to refinish them, unless you're very crafty you'll just get an ugly blotch around the surrounding area.
 
Thanks fellas. I hosed her down with Remoil (wood friendly) and am allowing the excess to be absorbed into the Parkerized finish. I'll rotate it a few times and tomorrow will wipe off the excess not absorbed.

Painkillers
 
870P said:
Apply Cosmoline or some other heavy grease to the Parkerized surfaces, preferably when both the part and the grease are heated somewhat.

The grease will stay put vastly better than oil and it'll both make it very corrosion resistant and more scratch resistant than it was previously.

Think of it almost like seasoning a cast iron pan.
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+1 to this, heat the metal up with a blow dryer or heat gun and rub some grease/Vaseline into the finish letting it melt a bit. Once it all cool’s wipe off the excess, parkerized finish is great once you season it right.
 
Ideally you heat it up with a heat gun or torch hot enough to drive out the residual moisture. You'll see it coming off on the surface, then while the surface is still dry and warm, apply whatever finish you want. The point is the parkerizing and the steel are both minutely porous and getting condensed moisture out of those pores allows the oil or whatever finish to get in.

The British military paints over parkerizing and that forms a very tough bond and finish.
 
Interesting. The receiver does have a sandy feel to the finish, and after oiling, it darkened from charcoal grey to black and seems to hold the oil. It's clear that Parkerizing can't be done with aluminum, it's also true the receiver is aluminum, but I can tell you it isn't machined and anodized, that would leave a smooth finish. Some sort of paint maybe?

Does anyone know how the receivers are in fact finished?
 
Painkillers said:
Interesting. The receiver does have a sandy feel to the finish, and after oiling, it darkened from charcoal grey to black and seems to hold the oil. It's clear that Parkerizing can't be done with aluminum, it's also true the receiver is aluminum, but I can tell you it isn't machined and anodized, that would leave a smooth finish. Some sort of paint maybe?

Does anyone know how the receivers are in fact finished?
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For most metal finishes that I am aware of, the visual of the product is mostly within the preparation of the substrate - bluing can look very different on highly polished steel versus sand or bead blasted steel. If you are relying on the visual that "anodizing" is smooth, shiny colour, might have something to do with the metal surface finish before the treatment?
 
Painkillers said:
Thanks fellas. I hosed her down with Remoil (wood friendly) and am allowing the excess to be absorbed into the Parkerized finish. I'll rotate it a few times and tomorrow will wipe off the excess not absorbed.
Click to expand...

Another good reason to store butt up, not butt down. Any excess oil will not soak into the stock (wood friendly or not) and darken it.
 
Painkillers said:
Interesting. The receiver does have a sandy feel to the finish, and after oiling, it darkened from charcoal grey to black and seems to hold the oil. It's clear that Parkerizing can't be done with aluminum, it's also true the receiver is aluminum, but I can tell you it isn't machined and anodized, that would leave a smooth finish. Some sort of paint maybe?

Does anyone know how the receivers are in fact finished?
Click to expand...

TacOrd has the answer, it is anodized. 590A1s likely have type III hard coat anodizing like an AR-15. My Mossberg 500 certainly seems to have a smoother, shinier type of anodizing, I assume type II.
 
Painkillers said:
Do I leave it as is and paint over any scratches as they happen. Do I infact oil this thing? If so, will the oil darken the Park, meaning if I oil it, it has to be uniform to avoid a blotchy appearance. Or is it just a gawd damn shotgun, quit yer hand wringing and learn how to shoot it?

Gratuitous interwebs pic 'cause I know how you guys like them.

View attachment 665726
Click to expand...

That is a SWEET looking shotgun. Nice!

The 590 was built to be tough, just take it out and shoot it. The scratches and dings will become part of its character and look.


I just looked up the 590 Retrograde. Why is the ghost ring sights variant $450 more than the bead front sight? That seems excessive.
 
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I Dont Care About You said:
That is a SWEET looking shotgun. Nice!

The 590 was built to be tough, just take it out and shoot it. The scratches and dings will become part of its character and look.


I just looked up the 590 Retrograde. Why is the ghost ring sights variant $450 more than the bead front sight? That seems excessive.
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You pay more for the metal trigger group and heavy barrel
 
Leg said:
TacOrd has the answer, it is anodized. 590A1s likely have type III hard coat anodizing like an AR-15. My Mossberg 500 certainly seems to have a smoother, shinier type of anodizing, I assume type II.
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Gotcha, thanks guys.

A blastin' I will go!
 
Painkillers said:
Fellas, I have a question.

Yesterday I took my brand new Mossberg 590A1 Retrograde to the trap pits to learn how to point the ghost ring sights. It was a lot of fun, I'm not convinced I intuitively understand the sights yet, but in any regard, yesterday it was snowing and blowing. If the shotgun were a blued one, it would be a quick disassemble at home, a wipedown with a CLP rag and into the safe...but this thing is Parkerized. Maybe a dumb question, but what do I do with this finish? It's kinda like sandpaper, though the action is buttery smooth now.

Do I leave it as is and paint over any scratches as they happen. Do I infact oil this thing? If so, will the oil darken the Park, meaning if I oil it, it has to be uniform to avoid a blotchy appearance. Or is it just a gawd damn shotgun, quit yer hand wringing and learn how to shoot it?

Gratuitous interwebs pic 'cause I know how you guys like them.

View attachment 665726
Click to expand...

You might consider putting a red dot on it if you want to mess around with trap and skeet. Just make sure you use a red dot with a front lens cover.

If you leave the front lens cover on, let your right eye see the red dot and your left eye see the target, you will be the boss out there for trap and skeet.

Ghost rings are NFG for fast movers
 
Maple57 said:
You might consider putting a red dot on it if you want to mess around with trap and skeet. Just make sure you use a red dot with a front lens cover.

If you leave the front lens cover on, let your right eye see the red dot and your left eye see the target, you will be the boss out there for trap and skeet.

Ghost rings are NFG for fast movers
Click to expand...

IMO ghost rings are NFG for shotguns period. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a simply bead sight ... except for all the people unclear on how to use one. A red dot for trap seems .... weird. Never seen anyone do that before.
 
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