Removing stains (rust freckles?) from a 1903 bolt

[ArchaicMike]

I recently purchased my first military surplus rifle, a sporterized Remington 1903. The original "gunsmith" actually did a decent job....it sports a nice Fajen stock and a Redfield aperture sight. However, it had since been neglected - the bore was full of copper oxide and other junk, the finish is a little worn, and the bolt has some stains and/or rust freckles.

Thanks to this forum, I figured out how to take care of the bore, which is cleaning up nicely. But what can I do about the bolt? Reading I've done so far says to either try brushing the area with baking soda and a wet toothbrush, or rubbing softly with mineral oil and 0000 steel wool. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[rcmodel]

It looks too far gone to do much good cleaning it with 0000 steel wool & *oil. Or toothpaste?? (*not medicinal mineral oil, just plain old gun oil, or powder solvent, or WD-40, or whatever)

I think I would just get some Flitz or Semachrome polish and polish the bolt body again.
The bolt sleeve & safety appear to still be blued, so use the steel wool & oil on them.

rc

 

[J.R.W.]

Hit up Target and grab some Bar Keepers Friend. It's a mild abrasive and cleaner that works well to remove rust. Kinda similar to the toothpaste route.

 

[ArchaicMike]

Bar Keeper's Friend took care of about 90% of the problem (and made my wife happy because I polished the kitchen sink while I was at it). If the rifle shoots well enough to justify the effort, I'll go grab some Flitz's (and maybe some jeweler's rouge?) to really make the bolt shine.

Thanks for your help!

 

[idoono]

Pictures?

idoono

 

[Slamfire]

Have the bolt parkerized.

Grinding and polishing is only going to remove metal.

Parkerizing leaves a rough surface and will hide shallow pits. And it will protect the bolt from rust.

 

[stan rose]

I had one like that and all I did was soak wet/dry sand paper in gun oil. I worked my way from 400 grit through 1500 grit. It took some time over several nights in front of the t.v., but in the end it looked really good.