worst gunsmithing experience

[Revolver Ocelot]

I just got my old fn 1922 back, I decided being that the blue was all gone and didn't want it to rust on me to get it reblued, after about 2 weeks I get it back I payed the man and took it home (probably should have checked it out first) I get home and notice I can't seem to pull the slide back, so I take it a part only to find it has completely rusted together on the inside, I can't afford to take it to another smith to get it fixed so I guess I'll have to do it myself, in any case I would like to know what you guys would recomend as far as fixing it myself would go and I'm interested in hearing any bad gunsmithing stories you might have.

 

[mustang_gt_350]

take it back...and ask for a refund.

This is why i never take any of my cars to a garage to be repaired. Id rather do it myself and if it is messed up i only have myself to blame.

 

[HSMITH]

Holy S___!!!! He dumped the complete gun in the salts and called it a day!!!!

Soak it in oil, motor oil is fine. SUBMERGE IT!! Get it soaking now or the rust will continue.

Give it a couple hours, swish it around a couple times to get any air bubbles out. Then fish it out and see if you can get it apart.

Odds are it is damaged badly if it has been out of the salts for more than a day or two.......

 

[GeorgeR]

Rusted gun

I'd like to suggest that you soak it in kerosene or diesel fuel for a couple of weeks. I use that technique on water damaged guns.
Are you familiar with bleed out? If you think it's blueing salts, send me your postal address and I'll send you some bleed out neutralizer that will stop the corrosion.

 

[Revolver Ocelot]

I finally got it apart but its not looking so good, I've mangaed to get alot of the rust off it but its gonna need some work, I'm not framiliar with bleed out, this is the first time I've taken it to a gunsmith, I'll find out what he used first thing tomorrow.

 

[medmo]

Soaking in a bath of white vinegar will neutralize the salts and stop the "bleed out" and "creeping". It will have to be de-greased first and oils removed so the vinegar can penetrate.

"Bleed out" is the result of the bluing salts not being removed/neutralized from the surface of the metal after hot bluing. The bluing salts, (sodium hydroxide/nitrate), are a base and will remain caustic even after drying on the metal surface after bluing. The salts continue to react with the metal, (oxidization), which causes "creeping" and "bleed out". White cider vinegar is on the other end of the ph scale, (acidic), and will neutralize remaining salts, (caustic).

When the blue job was done the rifle was obviously not rinsed/neutralzed properly. Until the salts are cleaned/neutralized the problem is going to get worse as the salts are still active and are reacting with the metal.

 

[Jim K]

"...this is the first time I have taken it to a gunsmith..."

Unfortunately, and through no fault of yours, you didn't take it to a gunsmith, you took it to a damnfool pretending to be a gunsmith. I hope you spread the word.

Jim

 

[Revolver Ocelot]

I went to him and went off on him about it, He said he used birchwood casey's perama blue liquid gun blue, He said that he was rushing and didn't realize the gun wasn't stainless or somthing along those lines, sop when he got done blueing he followed the instructions to rince it in cold water but when he did he just didn't dry it off all the way and put it back together and there it sat for a week building rust he apologized to know end and gave me the stuff I'd need to reblue it myself being he figured I didn't trust him to give it another crack at it and told me how to get the rust off, atleast he owned up to his screw up but thats still going to leave more work for me.

 

[medmo]

Birchwood Perma-Blue?

Forget everything I said above in application to this situation. I thought you were compensating a "gunsmith" to "re-blue" a firearm. That would generally mean hot blueing, (black oxide), which requires some decent chemistry knowledge/experience and a significant expense for equipment set up. Instead you were paying a "hack" to use a cold blue "touch up" product all over your rifle. Not same-same. I wouldn't use Perma-Blue as a finish or a re-finish. It is a cosmetic touch up product at best. Sorry... but you got hosed.

 

[HSMITH]

He used a $5 bottle of touch up cold blue solution you can buy at ANY gunshop and most Wal-Marts to do a paid job. That is BEYOND pathetic. Tell everyone you know, and everyone you don't know, who this guy is. He is NOT anything even close to a gunsmith.

 

[deezulsmoke]

I would make him take down his gunsmithing sign and just put up a sign that says DAMN FOOL

Jess

 

[Kimber1911_06238]

Good gunsmiths are hard to find.

 

[Revolver Ocelot]

$5? he even lied about that, he told me it was $20 well in anycase he didn't even finish taking off the old blue before he put it on, its blotchy lookin, so this stuff he put on won't protect against rust then? so I'll need to get this completely refinished then right? I got my money back but frankly its in worse shape then I gave it to him.

 

[mrmeval]

Does the gun even function? First make sure itt's working safely. If not then take care of that first. They worry about the finish. Ask here for recommendations.

I suppose that jack of no trades has a nice stock of dremel tools. Sheesh.

 

[1911Tuner]

re:

Quote:

>this stuff he put on won't protect against rust then?<
***********

Bluing IS rust. It's pretty, but not a good rust-resistant finish. While cold-bluing can produce good results if correctly done, it doesn't penetrate the surface very deeply, and doesn't fare well in repeated hand-contact areas.
On the frontstrap, for instance....it will be removed pretty quickly. On parts or areas that don't come under frequent contact or friction, it holds up pretty well. You can make it a little better by thoroughly degreasing the part with denatured alcohol, and warming it before application, but it still won't produce the same results as hot bluing.

 

[medmo]

Perma-blue and similar products are very different then modern blueing, (hot black oxide). Perma-blue is a solution that basically colors the surface with a chemical reaction of acid and copper. Modern blueing, (hot black oxide), is a caustic which reacts with the surface and creates a black oxide layer. You can kind of think of it as pre-rusting the surface to inhibit future rust. With a little bit of oil it works okay.

"Blueing" is a very general term that people use to describe a whole bunch of finishes. When someone is thinking of "blueing" that is on new guns on gun store racks today then they are thinking of a hot black oxide finish.

I'm sure that is what you were thinking you would be getting on your rifle originally.

 

[JackOfAllTradesMasterAtNone]

Please post the so called "Gun Smith's" business name so others here on THR will be warned not to go to this idiot for anything.


There's a lot of things I know how to do. A lot that I do well. FOR ME. That doesn't mean that I'd even think about doing those things for paying customers. And if I were to charge for a service, you'd bet your hynie I'd know how to do it very well. Not make up an excuse that I was rushed. Not use the lowest form of bluing and selling that service. Not explaining each type of bluing service I performed to the customer so he/she knew what to expect.

Some people should't attempt being a gun smith. -They should stick to unemployment or something...

-Steve

 

[Jim K]

The number of gunsmiths who do hot tank bluing is decreasing all the time, mainly because OSHA requires safety precautions they can't afford, or don't want, to meet. But no person calling himself a gunsmith should use a cold blue and then claim it is a blue job. The cold blue makers run misleading ads saying their product is "used by gunsmiths." But that is true only because gunsmiths do use cold blue to touch up a bare spot or blue a restored screw head; they would (or at least should) never use it for a full bluing job.

That gunsmith is dangerous. If he is that stupid with a blue job, who knows what he can do with a chambering reamer or a lathe. I can see him rechambering a .22 LR rifle to .223 or grinding off Mauser locking lugs to make the bolt work easier.

Jim

 

[Revolver Ocelot]

After spending a few hours sanding and cleaning it, its back and functioning well but it looks like crap, I'm concidering just striping it and giving it a good coat of rusty duck or somthing until I can fix it, the mans name was bo and he worked at ac pawn & gun in st.louis mo 63118

 

[jpcampbell]

Over at http://www.homegunsmith.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi they have several do it yourself recepies that work real well they even have pictures to show the results.

 

[Revolver Ocelot]

I can't find that information anywhere on that website and it won't let me use the search engine, is there anywhere else I can check

 

[medmo]

If you want to just strip the surface finish back to bare metal and then "park" it until you either figure out what you want to do or can afford to do so then I would:

1) Use Naval Jelly to strip the surface back to bare steel. Naval Jelly can be found at most hardware stores. Use an old cotten t-shirt and don't get any inside of the bore or chamber. Rinse well with water and dry after the surface has been stripped.

2) Spray down everything with a squirt bottle of Brownell's "Hold" from www.brownells.com. I have seen bare steel surfaces resist corrosion for almost a year when treated with Hold.