ria 1911 rust

[possummanplus3]

hi, I normally post more in revolver forum, but I recently bought a rock island armory 1911 commander. I haven't shot it yet but earlier tonight after taking it out and wiping it down with oil rag I noticed rust on the slide serrations. I can only see it when shining flashlight on it. I plan to get some 0000 steel wool tommorow, but is this something I should consider sending back to RIA, or should I just do as planned? I'm not certain if it's just surface rust or possibly deeper. Thanks for your help!
possummanplus3

 

[rbernie]

I doubt that sending it back to RIA will be of much value. I would just attend to it myself.

Oh, and I would not use steel wool; use a bronze brush and some good oil.

 

[Oro]

is this something I should consider sending back to RIA, or should I just do as planned? I'm not certain if it's just surface rust or possibly deeper.

Depends upon how long you've owned it. More than a month, then it's not really on their shoulders. If it came that way, I would assume you'd have noticed it...

A good way to go about killing it is to soak the slide a while in Ed's Red, or diesel/kerosene. Like a day or two. Then hit it with a rag. If that doesn't work, then polish it with Mother's or Flitz. That is hard to do on the serrated part, so 0000 steel wool like you described would be OK. A grey or green scotch brite pad is also a good option.

 

[rbernie]

Anything that polishes, such as a Scotchbtite pad or 0000 steel wool, will remove the bluing from the tips of the serrations long before it gets the spooge out of the recesses.

A bronze brush will work well.

 

[rcmodel]

It might only be the red residue left over from the bluing tank.

In that case, they just didn't get it all cleaned out of the serrations when they cleaned up the parts after bluing.

Just clean it with solvent and a bore brush or old tooth-brush and it will be fine.

As others noted, DO NOT use steel wool!

rc

 

[krs]

You want to proceed from the least possibly damaging method that does the job to more agressive methods only if necessary.

You might very well find that a solvent and old toothbrush will get it to where you can't see it any longer.

As said, no steel wool or abrasive pad. You just can't control those well enough to only contact the problem and they will thin or remove good blueing.

 

[Riss]

Yup. Soft bristle brush and kero. Then to true bronze wool and oil. It is soft and will not hurt anything. NOT a bore brush. Most of them are not pure bronze but a copper/bronze alloy. Or worse yet copper coated steel.

 

[rcmodel]

SO, who's making copper-coated steel bore brushes that you know of?

rc

 

[possummanplus3]

Thanks for all your suggestions!

 

[stevemis]

I've had good luck using spray-can penetrating oil like Liquid Wrench. I typically apply it a couple of times per day for several days and then gently brush out the serrations with an old toothbrush. This trick hasn't failed me yet.