Removed the blue from my slide-Wow!

[Keegan]

I feel like I got a brand new gun. It acts like a brand new gun, too. Removing the bluing seems to have also removed all the worn-in spots that a well-adjusted firearm has. Hopefully a good oiling and a few trips to the range will take care of that. The only other negative I've noticed is that it smells strongly of iron-hopefully just because the metal is breathing for the first time in close to 20 years.

To remove the blue, I soaked the slide in plain old 5% white cooking vinegar, then scrubbed it with 000 steel wool (not actually steel, I use a synthetic substitute that doesn't break apart and cut at your hands). Before I did this, I had no idea that the word "SAFE" appears next to the decocker when it's engaged!

Before:


After:

 

[CWL]

What are you doing to protect the bare steel?

Without any kind of protection, you will need to keep that slide from tarnishing, rusting and pitting.

I suggest wax.

 

[MICHAEL T]

What are you doing to protect the bare steel?

Without any kind of protection, you will need to keep that slide from tarnishing, rusting and pitting.

Its a Ruger who cares

 

[Keegan]

I haven't given that a lot of thought. For now I was just going to make sure it was oiled regularly. Do you mean just regular beeswax, or is there a special wax for steel?

 

[paul45]

I haven't given that a lot of thought.

You are going to have to think about it!! Otherwise your Rugers slide will look like that 10 year old shovel in your shed that you never oil!!

Seriously.....the bare metal needs protection or you will be sorry.....

 

[jakeswensonmt]

A manganese phosphate coating would be cool.
Or you could have it parkerized.

It looks just like a stainless model now! But that won't last...

 

[CWL]

You use car wax to protect it from the elements dont you? Whatever high-quality paste wax you use on your car will protect the exposed steel of your Ruger.

less messy than oil, which will stain and migrate.

 

[strat81]

DuraCoat, GunKote, or whatever those spray and bake finishes are. Brownells sells them. You could also get it Robared or plated.

I wouldn't trust a thin layer of wax or oil.

 

[CWL]

I wouldn't trust a thin layer or wax...

So wax isn't good enough to protect a $100K car that gets left in the sun all day and the cold all night?
Here's a secret, people have been using wax on guns for centuries. Wax is commonly-used by duckhunters to protect their shotguns when out in the wet...

 

[OAKVILLE SHOOTER]

Keegan:

Just curious, why did you you do it?

 

[Keegan]

I'll have to check into all of your suggestions and see what will work best for me. Thanks for the input.

I did it because I've wanted to for a while, but was afraid of how it would look. I'm picking up a new 9mm tomorrow, so this one was just going to go in the safe for a while anyway.

 

[jakk55]

So wax isn't good enough to protect a $100K car that gets left in the sun all day and the cold all night?
Here's a secret, people have been using wax on guns for centuries. Wax is commonly-used by duckhunters to protect their shotguns when out in the wet...

Wax is used on a car that is already painted, not applied directly to the metal.
And those guns that people apply wax to, yeah, they usually are doing that in ADDITION to the bluing already on their guns.
Wax can come off leaving the metal exposed. The slide needs some other kind of protection than just wax.
Duracoating and parkerizing are good options that have already been mentioned.

 

[Black Majik]

I'm sure quite a few of us have polished the bluing off our barrels without any ill effects. Same should go with the slide. Bluing doesn't offer that much protection against the elements. Just make sure you keep the slide well maintained and oil periodically and you should be fine. But, it really depends on your environment and whether it's usually humid out or not.

Although here in Socal, I could probably leave a gun outside overnight and it wouldn't rust.

 

[carnaby]

You can always send the slide into springfield armory and they will put on a black-T or Armory Kote for a few $$.

 

[strat81]

So wax isn't good enough to protect a $100K car that gets left in the sun all day and the cold all night?
Here's a secret, people have been using wax on guns for centuries. Wax is commonly-used by duckhunters to protect their shotguns when out in the wet...

Quality carnauba waxes don't last very long. Something like Souveran or P21S will get you maybe a few weeks, and that's assuming the car is garaged at night and not baking in the Arizona heat for 12 hours a day.

Wax also takes some skill to apply so it doesn't make the surface look terrible. A gun slide is full of all kinds of nooks & crannies (mmmm... english muffins!). Getting wax into every spot would be a chore with wax, especially making sure you don't get clumps of it.

I'm not saying wax wouldn't work on a gun, I'm just saying I wouldn't trust it. An owner must be diligent about maintenance and rust prevention, especially if they're dealing with bare carbon steel.

If gun wax was so easy and perfect, we wouldn't have Robar, Tennifer, Melonite, Stainless Steel, GunKote, Nickel Plating, or any of the other finishes people use to combat oxidation.

 

[Wesson Smith]

Ah, just give it a good bath in CLP periodically, wipe the excess clean
and it'll be fine.