To remove hot bluing, a 50% dilute Muriatic acid will strip it in about 10-30 seconds and then a fresh water rinse.

LOG

 

A small bench grinder with a wire brush wheel on it does a great job.. If the pistol parts are anything but steel! I would reccomend against either option mentioned.
If you plan on having it Pro reblued or hard chromed Id let them strip it !!!!

 

Yes, acid will quickly remove blue. The old timers used to use a solution of boric acid, I understand.

There are several products on the market such as Evap-o-rust which work quite well also.

It doesn't take much acid to remove blue, as any one who has spilled fruit juice on a nicely blued surface has learned.

 

Logman,
Do you mean Muriatic acid? Does this simply remove the blue or minutely etch the surface as well?

All,
I want to do the hard yards before it gets the pro treatment. I love a deep rich blue, I also like Parkerising, but the longevity of Hardchrome appeals to me.

When I am in full swing I may be shooting 7 days a week in a lead up to a big comp, so eventually even the best Blue or Parkerising wears...

I also live in the tropics, so humidity in the "wet" season is definitely an issue.

My Targetmaster has prob had at least 50000rds through it, so a layer of Hard Chrome may tighten the "ole girl" up a bit as well.

I like attention to detail, so the sides will be highly polished, remainder probably sandblasted after I remove toolmakes etc plus a bit of custom reshaping.

A quick question, how does the longevity of Hardchrome handle the extractor and does it get below the plunger tube?

In other words, what would you do to to get a perfect finish?

Cheers,

Aussie D

 

Birchwood-Casey sell a blue remover made for use on guns. Like all blue remover chemicals, it does lightly etch the steel.
Another chemical blue remover is ordinary vinegar, as some people who took the advice to use vinegar to clean leading from a barrel found out the hard way.

However, the best option is to let the finisher do it.
If you want a special polish to remove machine marks and have a mirror shine on the slide flats, companies like APW/Cogan and Ford's specialize in doing that.
These people spend 8 hours a day polishing metal and they're totally expert in doing a level of polishing few people can do without their years of experience.

In other words, you're wasting your time trying to do the quality of polishing they spent years learning.
Since the metal has to be at least lightly bead blasted to prep the surface, that will remove all the bluing so why both to remove it for them.

I'd recommend doing any metal shaping you want to do, including at least slight rounding of the sharper edges.
You don't need to remove the bluing for that.
Talk to the finisher about what you want in the order of machine mark removal and the mirror polish slide, then let them do it.

As for the extractor, hard chrome has no durability problems with it. Other than springs, hard chrome bonds very well, and stays bonded.

Hard chrome will not get under the plunger tube or under the sights.
If you want it there, remove them first.
Buy a new machined from bar stock stainless steel plunger tube, and use a carbide ball cutter to cut the small countersinks inside the magazine well for the new plunger tub to rivet into.
Send the plunger tube with the gun for plating, even if it's stainless.
When the gun comes back, rivet the tube in place.

Bottom line, unless you're extraordinarily talented or have spent years teaching yourself how to polish steel, you're not going to do as good a job as a top plater like Cogan or Ford's will do.
All you need to do is have a really good talk with them about exactly what you want, and when you send the gun in include a SHORT letter carefully addressing those details.

 

dfarisweel,
I note your points, but, I live in Australia, so sending it to the companies you have mentioned is not an option.

I plan to do the vast majority myself, so it becomes a positive experience for me as well as a learning experience.

I have to ask, why use a stainless plunger tube, when you are going to plate it anyhow?

Cheers,

Aussie D

 

Hard chrome is a wonderful finish, but don't expect it to totally prevent rust. Some folks have learned that the hard way. And it is so thin, it won't do much to tighten the fit.

 

The use of Muriatic acid diluted 50% is the recommended way, provided by the bluing solution company that I use, Hubbard-Hall. I have done this a number of times and it works well.

LOG

 

As have I. In fact, I had to remove bluing on a gun this weekend. I was out of muriatic acid, but I did have plenty of white vinegar. It worked, but nowhere near as quickly.

And remember, Always Add Acid. Adding water to acid can be dangerous in the extreme.

 

Logman,
Thanks, it will be the way to go I feel. Appreciate your input.

Bbill,
I understand hardchrome and stainless will rust, and I always wipe my guns over every time they are handled regardless of there finish.

I spent some years in the Northern Territory, where it was common for commercial fisherman to carry a stainless revolver as a "tacklebox gun" for shooting sharks and or salwater crocodiles. Some of the pitting I saw on these guns was incredible!!

So, thanks for the advice on chrome.

Reminds me its time to go over my long arms shortly with some goop down the tubes and some oil on the exteriors.

Cheers,

Aussie D

 

I have to ask, why use a stainless plunger tube, when you are going to plate it anyhow?

It's a belt and suspenders thing. Since it's going to be plated, a hard chrome finish over stainless is the ultimate in durability.
Since they can't get plating inside the tiny hole in the tube, the stainless material won't rust inside.

As for removing the blue, if you're going to polish it yourself....DON'T.
The bluing will remain in any irregularities or machine marks and make it much easier to see them.
After you have the metal polished to your desire, let the plater do his thing, which will remove the rest of it from the inside.
If he's a firearms plater, he'll know just what to do.

If he's not a firearms plater, good luck, because he's liable to botch it up. Guns are "different".

 

dfariswheel,
Good point about the stainless plunger tube.

Good point about leaving the blue on whist polishing to highlight marks etc.

I think I will do the polishing, modifications I want first, then use Muriatic acid diluted 50%, add acid not water, as Logman has suggested, rinse thoroughly.

I will then send to the platers to do.

Thanks for the information, never ceases to amaze me what a magnificent resource the minds and experiences of this forum are.

Cheers,

Aussie D

 

Hard chrome is very good, but I have used and done electroless nickel plating a few times and had very good luck with the process. Its all chemical, and the duration of the bath equates the depth of the plating, its VERY resistant, and is capable of tightening up a few mills in looseness.

http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/electroless.htm

The process is simple, fast and easy. all you need is a few plastic containers, a small heating source, (aquarium heater is what I used) and reading the directions. I don't have any pics to post, but the results were very good. I actually did a POS raven .25 auto for a tester, and it turned out very well, I ended up doing a Mk1 Ruger that had NO finish at all left on, a essex framed parts gun and finally a very early springer (SA inc, not wartime) that had been put away in a case that a cat ended up pissin' on. I would do it again, and plan to, but I have a buddy who is doing it professionally (nico metalfinishing, mpls mn) so I just drop stuff of with him now.

He currently has a 39T marlin that I found at a garage sale, devoid of finish and well pitted on the exterior, but clean inside, he's gonna bead blast the whole exterior and then electroless nickel coat the whole gun. That should make a very good truck gun.

 

Guntotin fool,
Thanks for the option of Nickel. I am leaning very much towards Hard Chrome for longevity. I am not trying to tighten up a "rattle trap" but a wee bit of restoration in taking a tiny bit of movement from wear out in the target Master.

The Colt frame is used with a .22 Kimber conversion, that is in good condition, but I do like aesthetics as well. I am not that concerned with tightening up that particular combination up. I use it for a bit of back to basics training as well as introducing non shooters to pistol shooting before I introduce them to Centrefire pistols.

Cheers,

Aussie D