Refinishing barrel / receiver questions

[huntingfish]

Hi guys,
My father in law has an old .22 he leaves at his hunting camp. It's worn out and it's been up beaten quite severely... I was wondering what would be involved in restoring it to it's former glory and more. It's the first rifle I hunted it, and I wanted to give it a second life in the hopes it will eventually become my newly born son's first rifle as well

If I remember correctly, the rifle needs a thorough cleaning (should be easy enough), the blueing needs fixing and the wood needs to be stripped and then refinished. I was also thinking of installing new sights on it, although it's not drilled and tapped.

Finally, I was wondering if instead of fixing the blueing, could I somehow remove it and then do something to the barrel to give it the looks of a stainless steel barrel? Correct me if I'm wrong, but stainless steel is a different kind of steel (with different carbon % or something like that). I know you can soak certain pieces (does this technique work with steel?) of metal in certain specific liquids and then run a current through the steel and the Nickel/Gold/Silver/whatever in the liquid will stick to the steel...Can someone enlight me as to what this process is called again? Can it be done on gun parts? Are there any links to how to perform this process online? How expensive could this be for:
1- Blueing remover
2- Liquid for thinly coat the metal parts in silver finish
3- Remove the bead at the front of the barrel, drill/ tapped the receiver + barrel and install fire-sights or something like that.

I already found a lot of information on wood restoring, but the all the steps involved with the metal I'm clueless on...

Cheers for the information guys!

Fish

 

[gunpro]

send it out and get it done in stainless KG-GUNKOTE, will take care of the rust and ensure that it never rusts again, at least on the exterior.

 

[blargon]

You are referring to Electroplating, and my advice is to do the GunKote or Cerakote, quicker, easier, and you have a good selection of colors...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroplating

 

[huntingfish]

send it out and get it done in stainless KG-GUNKOTE, will take care of the rust and ensure that it never rusts again, at least on the exterior.

Hi Gunpro,
I'm not sure I understand your reply. When you say "send it out and get it done in stainless", does that mean that there is a way to somehow convert the exterior look so it looks stainless or would they have to change the barrel to a stainless steel one?

And about KG-GUNKOTE: This product would allow me to "paint" so to speak my barrel in a stainless color with the added bonus of also protecting the finish, is this correct?

Thanks!

Fish

 

[BCRider]

The GunKote is just a paint but a very GOOD paint. There's a couple of other brands of the same type of stuff as well. One being Duracoat.

Because these products are a paint your prep for doing the exterior doesn't need to be as fussy as it would be for any sort of plating job but you would still want to take your time and work with fine grades of sandpaper or in some spots the finest of files to avoid gouging the metal. You'd want to start with an overall wet sanding using the black wetordry sandpaper you can find at autobody supply stores and most hardware stores. I'd suggest starting with 320 to 400 grit to start and finish with 600 grit. For the flat parts use backing blocks of wood. For the cuved parts use the paper folded over itself three times so it has some amount of stiffness to hold a curl but not flex freely. This will remove the blue and any rust but it will leave any dings or rust pits still showing as low spots. Those you will want to fill. The best way is to fill them with the modern lead free solder. But if your soldering skills are poor or non existent simple autobody Bondo may be a better plan. Or if you don't mind learning practice your soldering on some scrap steel until you're sure you can solder decently. Google for "learn plumbing soldering" for plenty of sites about this topic. To clean out the pits in prep for soldering or filling with some other product you'll need a nice new CLEAN stainless steel wire brush. The one that looks like a toothbrush and comes in a set with a fiber and brass brush in a set is fine. Use that to deep clean out the pits. Or if you have a Dremel you can use that with a brush point to clean the pits before soldering or filling with Bondo.

I'm not sure if applying the Gun Kote or Duracoat with a brush is a good idea. A better finish will come from using a spray gun. Also since it is a paint that will build up a thickness you're going to need to mask off the internal portions where paint would foul up the fit of the parts. So keep that in mind. Also do not sand the very lip of the muzzle where it meets the bore. Removing anything at all other than a very light cleanup will remove enough metal to affect the accuracy. Even when you're painting the barrel you want to mask off the part just right around the bore so only the outer part of the muzzle is painted and a small inner ring of bare metal is left around the bore end.

 

[gunpro]

Hi Gunpro,
I'm not sure I understand your reply. When you say "send it out and get it done in stainless", does that mean that there is a way to somehow convert the exterior look so it looks stainless or would they have to change the barrel to a stainless steel one?

And about KG-GUNKOTE: This product would allow me to "paint" so to speak my barrel in a stainless color with the added bonus of also protecting the finish, is this correct?

Thanks!

Fish

I was suggesting that instead of spending the money to try and refinish yourself with gunkote, send your gun to someone that already does this. The process involves sand or bead blasting the metal which takes care of any rust or pitting. gunkote has a stainless colour or the light gray which looks like bead blasted stainless steel that can give you the results that you are looking for. It is a spray on milspec coating that bake cures in an oven. while it is possible to scratch or wear the finish it is VERY durable and i have never had a gun rust. The first guns that i have done are about 5 years old and the colour is as sharp as the day I did them.