Well, the bad boy is finally here. Picked it up yesterday, along with the SW99, and boy was it dirty.
Most of the crap was the blue powder that the original coating inside the case had turned into. The case will get it's proper cleaning and re-work, but the gun needed some TLC. I used some Flitz and that stuff gets the gun nice and bright, mirror like in fact. But it didn't really get rid of any of the minor rust and oxidation.
So I was looking for sme steel wool, but the only thing I had was 00, and I wanted 0000. I then read an interesting article on rust removal from guns: the copper penny method. Using a 1962-1982 copper penny one which were 95% copper & 5% zinc, and rubbing it on the trouble spots with 3-in-1 oil. The copper is softer than the nickle finish and removes the rust without damage to the nickle. You can feel the grittiness of the rust while you're rubbing. When the grittiness is gone, wipe the oil off, and the rust is gone.
The only issue with nickle plated guns, is that the rust had already eaten through the nickle, so once the rust is gone, the area left is bare metal, which is ripe for a new layer of rust, so I'm trying to figure out how to prevent that. I don't think I can patch the area by "spot" nickle plating. Any ideas?
Anyway, quite happy with my new (to me) M57. Based on the serial number it appears to be a 1980 manufacture. Here are some photos. Taking photos of a shiny gun like this is really a pain.
And here are the areas that had rust, but were cleaned