Alloy Steel and Rusting?

[Hurricane]

I stumbled across this thread here where a guy removes the bluing on his Ruger LC9 barrel and receiver, wet sanded it with a fine grit and then polished it to a sheen.

Ruger's website states the material to be alloy steel. So my question is, not being stainless steel, will this not rust at some point if he does not keep it well oiled? It was obviously blued for a reason.

It looks great, but I have to wonder about the long term.

 

[gym]

I did it to a keltec PF9, "made the slide look like nickel. Just polished it with this German polish called Maas, I had it for a couple years, in Florida. It never rusted, occasionally I would wipe it down, with break free or CLP, and that was it. I traded the gun back to a dealer who loved the way it came out, I had the rubber grip tape, "no seems" on with the nickel looking slide, also had a laser on it, the gun looked great. I just never liked the gun.

 

[hso]

There are many alloys that are highly rust resistant.

 

[Gaucho Gringo]

Depends on whether the alloy contains a rust resistant material. Alloy is just a term to describe that the base metal contains a certain amount of other metal.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

I have left my black powder kit guns in the raw. If they are wiped down with some type of oil every few months the steel stays nice and shiny, at least here in the front range of Colorado. Any steel will rust, including some grades of stainless if left wet or in a humid environment for prolonged periods without some type of cleaning or treatment unless you are one of the "I never clean my guns" crowd.

 

[Deus Machina]

It helps if it's polished up, too.

It's actually an old trick in pretty much every job that uses metal to polish steel that isn't kept oiled or coated somehow. A brushed or sandblasted surface rusts much more quickly because a polished surface has vastly less actual surface area to oxidize.

Plus, a shop full of Dark Machine Gray, hammer-texture green, and polished steel highlights looks great.

 

[astra600]

My father in law never cleaned his rifles. He claimed it ruined his point of aim on the first shot of the hunt. Nevadas humidity is 5% - 8%, but he hunted all over the country and Canada: Savage 99 and Win. model 70. Both owned over 30 years, no rust or pitting or anything. I cleaned them after he passed away last year. Very nice guns.

His 22's however, he shot until they stopped working from crud build up. They cleaned up nicely too, with no evidence of rust.

Could be a different story if he had lived in a coastal state.

I'm always kind of surprised about polished rifle bolts not rusting, WWII rifles especially.

 

[danez71]

Steel itself is an alloy.

I agree with HSO.

Also, a nice wax job can really help.

 

[230RN]

Hatcher notes that the mystery rusting that occurred in gun barrels only happened when the humidity went over about 50%.

I keep one of those red shop rags in the case of every gun I have. The red distinguishes it from all the other rags running around loose in the house. I never put a gun away without a wipedown and the last thing any external metal part touches is that red rag. With handguns whenever possible, if the gun case allows it, the gun is wrapped in its very own personal red shop rag. (They are thoroughly washed and rinsed before using them for the guns the first time.)

I am also an absolute nut about keeping guns away from anywhere salt might be.