Rusty old gun (faint of heart may want to skip this one)

[joemommapoo]

So, I was visiting my folks a few months ago and was cleaning some of my dads collection for him when I stumbled across his Remington rand 1911 a1. Here comes the sad part. Apparently it was exposed to moisture and has a very nice coat of rust on it. I tried oil and a steel wool, and spent more than 2 hours working on it too little avail. Is their some secret way to restore this piece of history without shelling out $2000 to professionally refinish?

 

[Oyeboten]

Images?

 

[NavyLCDR]

You can try Wonder Blue. It has a cleaning gel that you heat on the gun that supposedly helps remove the rust. I know the bluing part of Wonder Blue is great!

 

[Orlando]

Stop dont do anything more! Post some pics. Refinising is the absolute last resort as that will drastically hurt the value as will removing whats left of the original finish with steel wool

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

I just love showing off my 1911.

 

[mesinge2]

I've seen you post that pic before.

and still, wow.

 

[Orlando]

Whats the story behind it?

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

Only know it was dug out of a field in rural Tennessee. I like to think it was thrown from a moonshiners car being chased by the cops during prohibition........

 

[c919]

Toss that sucker in a bucket of diesel and let it sit for a while.....

 

[Eightball]

I'd say post a picture, so that we can see exactly what you're talking about; it'd be easier to give an idea as to what you can do.

 

[Blue Brick]

SharpsDressedMan, Do you fire that thing?

 

[DAdams]

Looks like cocked and locked for eternity.

 

[smithmax]

Kind of weird to think that there is probably a bullet rusted in there as well.

 

[rondog]

joemommapoo - please post some photos. It might be able to be saved by a simple electrolysis process that will kill and remove all the rust. It'll never be cherry, but it could possibly be made usable and presentable.

 

[joemommapoo]

I do not have a picture of the 1911 as it is at my father house 700 miles away. The rust is spotty.

 

[Orlando]

I would leave it alone then

 

[onegun]

are you using regular oil or a bore cleaner, and what size steel wool?

I just did this with a couple of guns and it works really well. I was using LSA military cleaner/oil and I rubbed the gun down with the LSA and let it soak for a little, then went in with thick steel wool-type scrubbing pad which can be found here http://www.frontiermetalcleaner.com/.

Be patient and it should come out.

 

[AJAX22]

Please sell me that rusty 1911.... It would go perfect with my collection...

I bet I can make it fire again..





PM sent....

 

[remmy1911]

Have a taste for rust, do ya?

Or the unique finish left behind from it.

 

[AJAX22]

Yep,

Mostly I like getting unique firearms that people don't believe will ever fire again and restoring them to functionality without getting rid of the ugly...

That mini 14 spent 10 years on the bottom of a lake.... it was rusted solid when I got it...

The 1991A1 was a recovered evidence gun (blood damage)

The uzi was in a housefire,

And the 870 was a barn find.

 

[cyclopsshooter]

was the fire hot enough to damage the heat treatment on the uzi?

 

[customizedcreationz]

Those are some crazy pictures !

 

[Eightball]

was the fire hot enough to damage the heat treatment on the uzi?

This was my first thought, as well.

 

[rondog]

Has anybody here used the electrolysis rust removal method? I'm about ready to put my rig together for a bunch of enbloc clips and Jeep parts. It's a very simple process, with great results.

Here's a thread from the CMP forum by a guy that used this process to restore a badly rusted M1 Garand that was in a fire. Look at all his photos, the results are VERY impressive! And he just used plain water, without any electrolyte. The parts from his trigger group and rear sight just blow me away, how well they turned out. http://www.odcmp.org/new_forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=72748&SearchTerms=electrolysis

Here, let me put up some of his photos, and tell me what you think.

In the beginning...







After one session...







After the final session, and remember he just used water. The process actually calls for Arm & Hammer Washing Soda, 1 tbs./gallon water.....







The process uses a 5 gallon bucket, 12v battery charger, some pieces of rebar, some wire, some water, and some washing soda. Do a Google search for "electrolysis rust removal".

 

[joemommapoo]

I am going to give the electrolysis method a shot. I am going back up for a visit in few months. I'll post before and after pics.

I did a Youtube search for electrolysis rust removal and found tons of good stuff, that combined with the information above should do the trick (or totally ruin a piece of history)