[olywa]

I recently picked up a nice old 870 Wingmaster that's in pretty good shape except for some very light rust freckling and a couple of medium depth scratches on the receiver. I'm trying to gussy it up a bit and give it to my nephew as a gift.

I've heard that steel wool and CLP will often work wonders on the rust freckling but I'm stumped on the scratches. I'm probably going to have to work the bluing down to the surface of the metal. I keep a bottle of Oxpho Cold Bluing handy and I swear by it, but I wonder whether it will work in this instance? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[rcmodel]

You will be better off cold bluing the scratches just as they are.

If you remove more of the factory bluing, it will look far worse then it would then.

Use 0000 Extra-Fine steel wool and any kind of oil or solvent to remove the rust. It doesn't have to be CLP.
I prefer Hoppies #9 or Marvil Mystry Oil.

rcmodel

[olywa]

Thanks rcmodel. The scratches are deep enough to catch my fingernail. I wish I could just color them but I would prefer to remove them. I fear that they are beyond a quick fix.

I might be better off if I just work them down and re-blue the receiver. Guess I'll try to work them down lightly to smooth them out, then touch it up with the Oxpho and see what happens.

[Sunray]

Taking out the scratches completely will leave a depression in the steel. I'd just soften the edges with a bit of emery cloth and blue 'em. Your nephew is likely going to be tickled pink no matter what you do though.

[TAB]

I'd just use a tooth pick and color them with cold bluing.

[langenc]

The fine emery suggestion will take the 'edges' off. Oxpho will blue. No need to worry about spoiling the exhisting w/ the Oxpho. give it 4 or 5 doses and it will look fine.

[olywa]

Reckon I'll give that a try then. Thanks for the suggestions guys.