Best Cold Blue ?

[Hylander]

I want to touch up my SBH, had to remove some rust.
What would be the best cold blue.
Any experiance with Brownells Oxpho-Blue ?

 

[contender]

I have used the 44/40 cold blue with good results.

 

[DGW1949]

Contender is a smart guy, so what I'm about to say aint meant as an argument to his suggestion. It is just food for thought.
Over the years, I've tried various "cold blues" on various guns. What I have found is that the most important thing to getting a good finish from any of them is starting with a good polish-job. I have also discovered (as-did Ruger themselves) that due to slight variations in the "martix mix" of the metal used in cast guns, sometimes things just don't go as planned...meaning that what works good on one, may not work so good on the next one.

Just saying that if Contender's suggestion don't turn out to suit you, don't be afraid to try another brand.

Best to ya.

DGW

 

[Snake45]

In my experience, the single most important factor in a cold blue job is the type of steel, and you can't do a thing about that. Mild steel, such as used in many .22 barrels and shotgun barrels, can sometimes take a cold blue job so good you can hardly tell it from factory hot bluing. Other steels (and not necessarily stainless, either) will hardly take the stuff at all--or, if they do, will only get some shade of gray, and if you're lucky, it will be pretty uniform.

I've had good results with Brownell's Oxpho Blue and Numrich 44-40 formula. Good but not as good results with some of the Birchwood Casey stuff.

Oddly enough, I got a real nice cold blue job on a WWII Walther-made (not all of them were) P.38 frame, which I wasn't expecting at all because the metal was VERY hard, about the complete opposite of a .22 or shotgun barrel. So you just never know what's gonna happen until you try it. My advice is don't expect too much and you might get a pleasant surprise. :wink:

 

[Jimbo357mag]

...My advice is don't expect too much and you might get a pleasant surprise. :wink:

Man, ain't that the truth. :D :D :D

 

[rugerguy]

good info above, and like anything else, one has to use what works for them...having owned 3 different shops over the years and testing EVERY "cold blue" ever made and different ways of trying to "make them work" NONE of them do, all the time on any given gun, and they are ALL 'temporary' will clean off relatively easily...as Ty , we have found and used and continue to use, the 44-40, as it works the MOST often, the best of any of the others for US !! and I have most all the others here to 'try' when something else does NOT work, and there are times when NONE of them do.....whatever you do, DO NOT use any "cold blue" out in the middle of nowhere ,say in the middle of the side plate or any flat,(top strap?) as you can and will get a discoloring of the adjoining finish, and it will "mottle" you may screw up things....no alternative to properly done "hot blue", whatever the process one uses, nitre, rust, belgium, black oxide, etc...........
on the bottom of a grip frame it will not show or be that obvious, and can be made to 'blend in', same goes for 'edges'...good luck


here are just some of the ones we have around here, more in the cabinet........

 

[Tx gun runner]

This is everything they say it is .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNrX9LFzjUU&feature=player_embedded#!

 

[Hylander]

I will be ordering Oxpho, Blue Wonder and 44-40
I just tried some Birchwood Caseys Perma-Blue, What Junk.
Applied it and thought this will look desent, then it wiped off easier than
it went on :shock:

 

[Biggfoot44]

While the Oxpho-Blue is supposed to be a cpl percentage points longer lasting , in side by side comparisons I have found Brownells T-4 to give better , more consistant color, while still being very durable (by cold blue standards) .

I have used it to completely refinish an issued S&W M15 that had maybe 02% of remaining finish ( but shot into 1.0in @ 25yds ). While I could tell it wasn't the factory Blue , it wasn't bad , and was a 1000% improvement.

 

[Hylander]

How is this for Prep ?
Have not prepped the barrel and action yet, Originally I was just going to do the barrel and bottom of grip, but once I started tearing into it I couldn't stop. Had some pitting on the bottom of the grip, a litlle deeper than I thought, but I think I got it all out.
I have the whole thing apart except the firing pin, any idea how to get it out ?

 

[Lloyd Smale]

I like Brownell's Oxpho Blue

 

[contender]

All good advice. THe OP asked about cold blue, and I gave him what I used when I needed a touch-up.
However, once you have done the whole GF like that, you owe it a good professional blueing job. You will be happier.

 

[I_Like_Pie]

Holy smokes...if you have done that much work send it to someone with a tank for bluing! I am sure someone (maybe even here) will have one cooking soon and will charge only a nominal rate for a 10 minute bath.

Heck....you may even be able to throw the ingredients together yourself with an old stainless pot for less than $5 granted you have a place to pick up some lye + a couple of hot/cold packs (or fertilizer).

The biggest barrier to hot bluing is the size of a rifle tank and the equipment to heat it. Since you are dealing with a gripframe....easy peasy.

 

[Carry_Up]

Instructions on the Oxpho bottle say to degrease with alcohol. I think you have to use lacquer thinner or acetone to get all the oil out. I have also had good luck heating the part (usually a small part) with a heat gun before applying the chemicals. Lastly, there is some confusion about the residue that naturally forms as the bluing dries. I think leaving the brownish stuff on the part for a while is not a bad thing because the newly blued surface is "soft". It will come off easily by wiping down with gun oil and lightly (very lightly) rubbed with 000 steel wool if necessary. I have also seen the bluing take on one part of a single piece of metal, but not in other places of the very same part. I believe the reason for these results is a difference in surface finish. It seems like the finer (shinier) the finish, the harder it is to take the cold bluing. Of course the type of metal will usually have the greatest effect on the results.

Hot bluing is an art and it is hard to find a shop that takes the time to do a beautiful hot blue. The standard formula these days produces a very dark almost black color, while the beautiful royal blue of the past is very hard to duplicate, probably because of toxicity, or maybe extra time and expense.

Carry_Up

 

[Hylander]

Thanks for the input
I got ahold of my Smith and he will reblue it for $50 :)
That is me doing all the prep, which is fine by me, I like doing the work myself anyhow.

 

[DGW1949]

While you're stripping things down, ya might go ahead and punch that grip locator-pin out and replace it with a new one. I say that because it looks like yours has been "walking out" anyway and if it does, it might eventualy knock a chunk of the grip off. I've seen them do that.

The FP cup must be removed in order to get the pin and spring out.
You might want to put an index-mark on the cup and sheild before removing it so you can get it clocked-right when you put it back in. Some people would call that a "witness mark".
There's a long skinny pin that holds the cup in. It will come out from either direction but I've found it best to tap it out from the inside just enough to clear the FP cup. That way when ya reinstall everything, the contour of the pin-edge will (usualy) still match the contour of the frame.
A touch of grease on both ends of the spring will help hold things together during re-installation.

Hope this helps.
If it don't, ask again. There's people here that are better at explaining things than I am.

Good luck on your project.

DGW

 

[rugerguy]

No reason to remove the firing assembly when you blue, just flush & rinse it out good afterwards, no sense boogering up a NICE polish,blue job with a bunch of "whack marks" from a pin punch............I can count on two fingers how many we had to remove before bluing in over 40 years, and those two were BOTH broken pins to start with......... 8)

nice polish job on that frame, the trick really is in the "prep", you did the hard part....... :wink: