Bad Rust on a Beater Barrel - Options?

[esq_stu]

I bought an old plain barrel for my 20 gage 1100. It's badly pitted/rusted on the outside, though the pitting does not seem deep. The bore is shiny and bright and no trace of rust. I will cut it to a home defense length.

I don't need pretty - I just need function, and to preserve what's left. What is the suggested quick and dirty approach to remove the rust, buff the patches, and re-blue? I don't care if it looks patchy in the end. Thanks.

 

[dfariswheel]

If you intend to do a complete re-blue, just send it in to a re-finisher and they will remove the rust, polish and re-blue it.

If you want to do a home job, cold blue will not do a very good job.
Cold blues are intended for touching up scratches and small worn spots.
"Usually" when you attempt to do a large area, what you wind up with is a streaked, sort of smoky blue-gray.

In any case, cold blue is NOT durable at all, and wears off very quickly. Cold blue also tends to turn brown and develop rust, even when lubed.

My suggestion, since this is not going to be a show barrel, simply remove the rust and coat it with one of the spray-on gun coatings, or even PAINT.
You can buy various gun coating from Brownell's. Some need to be baked in an oven, others are just sprayed on and allowed to harden.
These come in many colors and are quite durable if applied properly.
You can even use Rust-Oleum oil-based paint.
Simply spray on a heavy coat and bake in the kitchen oven at 300 degrees for an hour.
Baked-on paint is quite durable and lasts a long time.
(Do the baking when the wife is GONE for the day. It smells the place up).

Removing the rust depends on what you're going to refinish with.
If you're going to coat the metal, the best option is to have the barrel bead blasted. This removes the rust and gives the surface a good "tooth" for the coating to bond to.
Most auto garages, brake shops, or machine shops can bead blast it.

If you want to retain as much original finish as possible, buy some Kroil or any other good penetrating fluid.
Liberally coat the metal with the fluid and allow to stand for a day or two to soften the rust.
After soaking, apply more fluid, then use a brass "toothbrush" to liberally scrub the rusty areas.
After brushing, wipe the metal dry, and either coat with CLP Breakfree to prevent more rust, or degrease thoroughly and coat the metal with a finish.

Another method for removing the rust, most pits and ALL the old finish, use strip's of sand cloth "shoe shine" fashion to polish the barrel clean and smooth.

When applying a finish at home, how well you clean and degrease the metal determines how well the finish turn out.

 

[Riss]

I think that glass shot blasting, and then Parkerizing would make a fine looking barrel. Or you could have it blued after the shot blast for a nice matte blue finish.

 

[Taurus 617 CCW]

There are many ways to refinish a rusted barrel. Depending on the desired finish you want to achieve you can try some of these. They go in order of roughest to finest finishes:

Rough bead blast and Parkerize
Rough bead blast and Hot Blue
Rough bead Blast and Rust Blue
Fine Bead Blast and Hot Blue
Fine Bead Blast and Hot Blue
320 Polishing Wheel and Hot Blue
400 Polishing Wheel and Hot Blue
Matchless (~600) Polishing Wheel and Hot Blue

Rust bluing is done if there is any sort of vent rib on the barrel, which are normally low-temp soldered in place and would come off in the hot bluing tank. You could also try getting rid of the rust pitting with some mild solvent (Hoppe's #9 or equivalent) and some 4-OOO steel wool.

 

[grendelbane]

Some have suggested high temp engine paint for this application. I haven't tried it yet, but I am in the process of polishing an extremely pitted S&W revolver, and will know how it turns out in a few weeks, sooner if we get some unusually warm weather.

Cold blue is not much force, but if you do go that route, protecting the finish with a good quality wax will help protect it a little. Personally, I prefer the painting approach for anything simple. Rust bluing is good if you want to invest the time and labor and get the best results.

 

[Snarlingiron]

I guess I am just too old. Bead blasting is not the only answer. It is expedient and fast, but not the only answer. Ever heard of draw filing? If it were mine, I would draw file the pits out, and follow that with emery cloth working my way down to 220 grit in a shine cloth fashion. You will be surprised as what a nice job you can do with just these simple hand tools and a little elbow grease. It will look better than bead blasting. A lot of the cost of re-blueing is the polishing step. If you do this, the re-blue should be a lot less.

 

[David Rose]

Remember that the flatter the finish, the better pits are disguised.

David

 

[eliphalet]

Soak it with some CPL or just Hoppes, use steel wool and if it is real bad flatten the mouth of a brass centerfire rifle case and scrap the rust with that to remove bad scaly places better. Brass is softer than the barrel's steel and won't scratch it or remove what bluing is left. Then use Brownell's Oxphy-Blue, even if you decide to bead blast it will soak up Oxphy-Blue all the better. Won't be perfect but won't cost over 10 bucks or so but will still shoot as good as a new one. It is a home defense barrel not a Purdy.

 

[Cowtown Cop]

I have had good luck with aluminum oxide blasting and Laur Duracoat paint. The aluminum oxide blast media gives a sharper more "toothy" finish than glass bead blasting. This finish takes parkerization really good or paint. I really like the Lauer Duracoat finish, Its easy to work with and gives a nice proffesional finish that is EXTREMELY durable. I recently refinished an ugly old Winchester 1200 for a home defense gun and liked the reseults.