Cold Blue vs Hot Blue

[Stormin.40]

I expect to receive a new raw barrel any day now for a CVA Mountain Rifle, .50 caliber muzzle loader. This is not a gun that will get shot too much so I was thinking about bluing myself cost would probably be less than $20,however a local gun smith will hot blue for $75. The barrel was only $105 and I only paid $40 for the gun which is in otherwise good condition.

How much better is hot bluing than cold bluing, something like a wonder blue?

 

[a5werkes]

Hot blue is $75 - $20 = $55.00 better !

You can do a pretty good job cold blueing with Oxpho-blue and steel wool, if the $55.00 is a deal breaker.

 

[1KPerDay]

Brown it! IMO

 

[Fleet]

The difference between hot and cold blue is quite stark. There will be no doubt that it's cold blued when you're done, and it won't look as good.

 

[AlexanderA]

Back in the days of the muzzleloaders, barrels were either browned (a controlled rust process) or were left bright. Hot caustic bluing (or, for that matter, cold bluing) is a modern process and is not really authentic.

 

[Stormin.40]

10 years ago I cold blued the whole gun and just recently ruined the barrel. If I hot blue the barrel I hope it will match, maybe I just need to take the whole gun into the smith and get his opinion. I am not sure how different hot/cold looks. I think $55 is worth a more durable finish but only if it matches, I don't want to pay for a complete gun blue.

 

[Fleet]

If you want it to match, you'll need to get the whole gun blued.

 

[Stormin.40]

Fleet, you are probably right, to make the gun look right everything will need to be done the same way.

I will have to call the gun smith and see what it will cost to have the extra parts blued. My guess is it will more than double the price leading me to cold blue it myself. I don't want to put $200 into this gun. It isn't an original simply a run of the mill 1970ish CVA mountain rifle that I cleaned up years ago.

 

[1KPerDay]

Sounds cool to me. Brown it.

 

[jcwit]

Another option, doesn't require a lot of equipment, but does take some time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPD3GWqk-yE

Does produce one of the finest and most durable finishes also.

 

[Stormin.40]

jcwit,

That may be the ticket thanks. The gunsmith offered this process as well but wanted about $150 for just the barrel, I didn't realize I could do it myself.

 

[788Ham]

I like 1KPerDay's option! 20 some years ago, back when I chewed tobacco, my younger brother bought a Hawken muzzle loader kit, wanted to brown it, keep it original looking. So, he heated the barrel, I chewed and spit where he wanted me to, was chewing BeechNut whole leaf. It came out looking like the old timers did the barrels many years ago, he still has it today. I laugh every time I see it, the 4 hours of chewing and spitting made me swear off chewing from that day on!

 

[1KPerDay]

ew....

 

[Mauser lover]

I suggest that you brown it, or slow rust blue it, same process, except that you boil in distilled water the piece that you rusted before you scrub off the velvet rust. This is what I have used...

http://www.laurelmountainforge.com/instructions.htm

The browning solution (I got it from Brownell's) will brown or blue your parts, and you will get an excellent finish.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=657572&page=2

The last post on page two is a Marlin .22 barrel that I blued with that.

 

[Scimmia]

That may be the ticket thanks. The gunsmith offered this process as well but wanted about $150 for just the barrel, I didn't realize I could do it myself.

Slow rust bluing can be expensive because it's time consuming, not because it's difficult. I'm doing my first rifle now and can easily see why a smith would charge that much. If your time is cheap (like mine is right now), doing it yourself is a good option.