Rusty shooter Ruger single six 3 screw. Rust removal help?

Picked up a rusty but functional om single six. It's got some blue wear and some rust spots. Since it's a shooter I'm wondering what's the best way to remove the rust?

Any suggestions or advice?

Good quality oil and very fine steel wool is what I use.

Saw a recent post about using Hopes No 9. Tried it with an aluminum scrubber pad and it worked great.

Ballistol maybe worth a try or there is a product called Evaporust which is used to remove rust from automotive parts and it won't hurt the metal!

https://youtu.be/lsyAg77ljKE

0000 steel wool and hoppe's #9

Find yourself an old penny - the ones with the wheat on the obverse. (They're real copper, newer ones aren't - don't use them!) Rub the edge of the wheat penny over the rust spot until its gone. Will look like heck until you oil it. Then oil generously and wipe. Should not affect the blueing.

The Preacher

Coogs said:

0000 steel wool and hoppe's #9

Click to expand...

This is what I do.

Years ago I made a scraper by flattening the end of a short piece of 1/2" copper pipe. Still have in my gun tool box, and it works like a charm. Put some oil -- any kind -- on the rust and scrape away. Does no harm to the bluing. I use a similar, somewhat larger (from 1" pipe) copper scraper for getting old gasket material off of aluminum engine blocks.

The Penny's don't have to be wheatbacks, just 1981 or older. I make scrapers out of used rifle cases. Knock off the high spots do it dry, and let the rust fall away, blow it off with air, then oil on a rag.

Thanks for all the advice

all good suggestions above, when we get old ,froze up ones, we simply soak them in kerosene for a few days, ( remove the grips obviously) then use the penny trick or the edge of the copper pipe on any "pits" but simple rust we use Choreboy, brass or bronze wool and some rust type oil and work the areas needed, then oil it down good. the non metallic wools ,will not hurt any of whatever bluing may be left on the gun...........
deep pitting then you have to address them differently, draw filing, polishing, buffing etc to remove the pits, and blend in the surrounding area....cold blues are ONLY temporary, needs to be hot blued, to do the job properly.......... :wink:

Bronze wool from Brownells, you can scrub a little harder....had not heard of the old penny method...thx

How rusty is it? Post a picture. While all the advice here works and is good, a lot of the time, and can be cleared up with some oil to lift the corrosion, and a little elbow grease. All the advice given has been that same state of mind. Try one or three and see what you like.

I'm prone to use steel wool when necessary,but have had good success with rags and other non-abrasives as well. I typically don't consider steel wool to be an abrasive,if you're curious.

It's mainly surface rust. And spotting. Anyone know how to post picture from iPhone? I'm away from computer till monday

Be careful with any chemical rust remover as some will leave the surface in a altered state. I like that gun, it's going to look fine when your done, consider hitting the seams and crevices with some penetrating oil.

It's a project gun for me. The base pin is stuck...flat end flares out. And the bluing is thin/gone in some areas. I did buy a 22 wmr cylinder I'll fit also.

Be advised that Evapo-Rust will remove the bluing just as easily as it will the rust. It removes rust extremely well and won't etch the metal, but blue is simply another type of rust.

Thanks for all the advice. I had some copper wool at work so I tried that. I was very impressed. I'll post pictures tomorrow