Sharps, I have much the same question. Did you card the interior of the action during the rust-blue process?
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Marauder Style Conversion
- Thread starter Sharps40
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Gents, I was mentored by 2 old school smiths. Both professionally opined the same, never plug the bores unless parkerizing. Plugs pop out in the boil splattering hot water or caustic salts in your eyes. Or if they don't they draw water, hold it against the bore and cause severe rusting at each end. Unless you put the rust blue in the bore, it won't get in there and it is so hot it drys fast and there has never been any rust in the bores during either the slow rust process or the caustic blueing process.
Some do plug the bores no matter what. Having been burned in the eye by chemicals and again by flying debris, I prefer not to. There is no harm to the bore as evidenced by the good shooting of the rifles I've blued w/o plugs over the years using caustic and slow rust methods.
Ultimately, plugging the bores is a matter of preference however Brownells indicates its unnecessary with their caustic Oxinate #7 and also prohibits it with the use of their rust blues such as Dicropan.
So between 2 very old school smiths and Brownells, I'll stick with the plan and only plug bores when parkerizing.
As for the interior of the action....the blue inside was nearly perfect, this was a highly carried gun, seldom functioned though as evidenced by the immaculate condition of the action parts and the absolute lack of rubbed areas inside the action walls. I clean out the gunk at the end with 0000 wool and stiff tooth brushes. It is a difficult job to clean it, I suspect slow rusting and carding the inside of this action would be exceptionally difficult. Mausers and other bolt actions lend themselves more readily to slow rust blueing the inside of the action and I do so, then polish the bolt ways back to bright when completed.
Some do plug the bores no matter what. Having been burned in the eye by chemicals and again by flying debris, I prefer not to. There is no harm to the bore as evidenced by the good shooting of the rifles I've blued w/o plugs over the years using caustic and slow rust methods.
Ultimately, plugging the bores is a matter of preference however Brownells indicates its unnecessary with their caustic Oxinate #7 and also prohibits it with the use of their rust blues such as Dicropan.
So between 2 very old school smiths and Brownells, I'll stick with the plan and only plug bores when parkerizing.
As for the interior of the action....the blue inside was nearly perfect, this was a highly carried gun, seldom functioned though as evidenced by the immaculate condition of the action parts and the absolute lack of rubbed areas inside the action walls. I clean out the gunk at the end with 0000 wool and stiff tooth brushes. It is a difficult job to clean it, I suspect slow rusting and carding the inside of this action would be exceptionally difficult. Mausers and other bolt actions lend themselves more readily to slow rust blueing the inside of the action and I do so, then polish the bolt ways back to bright when completed.
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Thanks for the insight. Your post has me pricing a tank big enough to boil a gun in lol
Thanks, Sharps. This has been a very informative post. Must have taken you twice as long with all the photo documentation! Planning to rust blue a revolver in the next few months, but I'll be using Laurel Mountain Forge "Barrel Brown & Degreaser" as my rust bluing agent. If boiled & carded, the results look similar to the Pilkington product.
Seeing this thread has inspired me to finish up what I started years ago. It looks amazing by the way.
Actually have a project marlin I started long ago, that I cut down to 16.4, but by the time I got it squared off and re crowned it ended up to short, so I had my friend tig weld on a flash hider to make up the difference and it looks like crap...In other words I need a new old barrel...You would happen to have one I could get from you could I?
Actually have a project marlin I started long ago, that I cut down to 16.4, but by the time I got it squared off and re crowned it ended up to short, so I had my friend tig weld on a flash hider to make up the difference and it looks like crap...In other words I need a new old barrel...You would happen to have one I could get from you could I?
I use the Laurel Mtn Forge on Muzzleloaders. Great on that softer steel. On the harder steels like on the Marlins I've found it wears off at the corners and angles very quickly during the carding process and after the finish is completed. It looks great and produces a much blacker black but the finish is not as fine grained as the Pilkingtons and on the harder steels, seeming not so durable. Perfect I think for the muzzleloader steels but somewhat wanting on the hard alloys. Give it a shot, Laurel is wonderful as it blues thru fingerprints so there is much less care needed for handling. Post photos of your process, love to see it.
17" is where I like to be at or very close to it as a standard. No questions later on measuring from the breech face and provides just a little wiggle room if you need to remove 1/16 or more to clean up the muzzle or drill another sight hole cause the threads started crooked....just trim and go.
Brand spanking New Old Stock marlin barrels can be had at Numrich/Gunparts corp for under $65 shipped. They are usually timed/fully chambered and screw right up with no issues. Hard part is pulling off the old barrel but any smith worth his salt should be able to switch it and check headspace for you under $100....perhaps you clean the shop and mow the grass in Aug and Sept and get it done for free??
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Brownell has the iron tanks....I've had mine in use now for almost 20 years and that cheep propane turkey fryer does the trick. A great investment Put foil or two pieces of steel over the top at each end to hold the heat/bring the boil up faster when using a turkey fryer as you won't have a full length burner pipe like on a pro's set up.
Some folks have said they laquer the bore/chamber before the first boil and clean it out after. I never have and simply scrub them good with a bronze brush. 15 minutes work and the bore is spanky clean and bright. You'll find cleaning the action and bore is the hardest part. After scrubbing, swarf it out with air or even spray oil. Mostly its gonna have lots of little steel wool bits in the nooks. Hang the parts slathered in good oil for 12 to 24 hours to let it penetrate and the new blue to rest, then assemble and show it off. I typically slather the bore/action in Hoppes 9 oil and slather everything else in a rag that is impregnated with a 50/50 mix of Rig +P and Hoppes 9 oil.
Glad yer inspired. Thats the intent.
Pactice your complete polish to blueing to final assembly technique on tools and scraps of cold rolled and old gun parts. Lock down your good process before doing your gun and you'll have best results. Keep lots of GoJo/Citrus scrub on hand yer gonna have filthy black hands and nails for at least a week.
Glad yer inspired. Thats the intent.
Pactice your complete polish to blueing to final assembly technique on tools and scraps of cold rolled and old gun parts. Lock down your good process before doing your gun and you'll have best results. Keep lots of GoJo/Citrus scrub on hand yer gonna have filthy black hands and nails for at least a week.
Sharps when the boiling the gun, does it let off any kind of strong odors? I thought about using my stove since I don't have a turkey fryer lol
