Rust bluing solution?

[Mauser98]

Very nice setup! I've made the unfortunate mistake of trying to boil a barrelled action in too small a container. I was able to submerge the barrel, but not the receiver and ended up with a visible line on the receiver where the water line left a discolouration.

I've thought that a good solution to the boiling might be to use an ABS pipe with a cap on the end and a submersion heater from an old water heater. I think the average heater should be able to boil the water and ABS has a melting point above 100 degrees C so should be OK (I'd want to double-check that first, though).

My first boiling tray was a piece of coated aluminum gutter about 3 feet long. On the ends, I used ordinary gutter caps sealed with high temp silicon and held in place with small sheet metal screws. It worked ok but was a bit tippy when sitting across the burners of my camper stove.

I then graduated to a 3 foot piece of square steel tubing with one side cut out and the ends welded up. It worked well but the combination of boiling water and cro-mo steel caused a lot of rusting that quickly fouled the water. I would have to change the water after every second boil.

 

[ridgearms]

Mauser, what solution do you use? Your rifle was beautifully finished.

 

[Mauser98]

Mauser, what solution do you use? Your rifle was beautifully finished.

On the Mauser 98 pictured in post #12, I used the solution mentioned in post #2.

It's called the Swiss Federal Armoury Browne in some publications. It's chemical composition is:

Ferric chloride (FeCl3)
Copper sulphate (CuSO4)
Nitric acid (HNO3)
Alcohol (C2H5OH)
Water (H2O)

As I also mentioned in post #2, I also use the Laurel Mountain product from Brownells. Apparently, it is the same formulation as the Swiss plus the addition of a strong detergent. The presence of the detergent reduces the need to completely de-grease the metal and still achieve a decent blue.

 

[ridgearms]

On the Mauser 98 pictured in post #12, I used the solution mentioned in post #2.

It's called the Swiss Federal Armoury Browne in some publications. It's chemical composition is:

Ferric chloride (FeCl3)
Copper sulphate (CuSO4)
Nitric acid (HNO3)
Alcohol (C2H5OH)
Water (H2O)

As I also mentioned in post #2, I also use the Laurel Mountain product from Brownells. Apparently, it is the same formulation as the Swiss plus the addition of a strong detergent. The presence of the detergent reduces the need to completely de-grease the metal and still achieve a decent blue.

ok. thanks. I really would love to try this. I think a mosin would be a good project rifle to try this on.