Seeing Red

Status
Not open for further replies.
Yo Mama

Yo Mama

Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2008
Messages
3,230
Have you ever seen red under a blued finish? I can't see anything, the blue is beautiful, but if I put a high power flashlight on it, red comes from underneath almost looking like rust, but different.

I'm seeing it on my keltecs and a few blued rifles. Pretty much any blued gun I have I'm seeing it. :D
 
Yes, bluing is a form of rust. If you blue a white steel firearm or berrel and then leave it exposed and do not cover the bluing with a protectant or oil you will get a very rapid formation of red rust in less than 24 hours. I know.
 
Technically, but I don't think it's purely iron oxide like true rust. Someone that remembers more than I will pipe up soon.

Otherwise, I do know that some cheaply 'blued' guns (like the slide on my CZ 75, on the portions not polymer-coated) and tools often just look like a pretty rust.
 
The reddish blue finishes I've seen were anodized aluminum (e.g. a 10/22 receiver), not blued steel.
 
Last edited:
Yo Mama

I had an H&K P7 that had a definite red cast to the bluing on the slide. I wrote to H&K and they explained that on certain slides the heat treatment process was slightly altered. Combined with possible variations in the bluing solution this caused some slides to have a red hue to them. The heat treatment didn't affect the strength of the metal, and the bluing was no less durable than a regular blued finish. Just looked a little different.
 
Remember the old model Ruger Blackhawks and single Sixs? After so many years their loading gates and other parts turned plum red, supposedly from the composition of the steel that Ruget used. Any possible connection?
 
A reddish hue on a blued gun is also sometimes the result of a high nickel content in the steel, or can also be the result of bluing salts temp not being high enough.

A really good extreme example of this would be some of the Beretta 1934/1935 slides that are almost plum colored.
 
Well, I know what my experience was. I had a virgin steel muzzleloader that I was building. I blued the barrel with cold bluing, but then left it overnight without applying oil or protectant. The next day the barrel was completely red rusted. Not flaking off rust, but red, adherent rust. So I cleaned that off with Wonder Blue cleaner/rust removal, and got the barrel down to a smooth finish but it was still red rust colored. I blued over that with Wonder Blue this time and it turned out beautiful. It was kind of plum colored like someone said earlier. I thought it was just gorgeous. I applied Birchwood Casey Barricade to it and it lasted. The Wonder Blue and Barricade combination is fantastic, in my opinion.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top