Brass coating

Improving and repairing firearms. Rifle bedding, barrel work, stock replacement and other ways to improve your firearms.

Brass coating

Post by fredhamish » 11 Mar 2017, 2:09 pm

iIt was a typical Darwin wet season day, too soggy to go out shooting so i decided to tart up my 1984 West German Diana .177 springer model 26.

After polishing and bluing all the rusty bits i decided to try brass coating some of the smaller parts to match the accent rings on the Nikko Stirling scope. not sure about the bling but it looks effective.
Attachments
diana.jpg
diana.jpg (135.94 KiB) Viewed 2398 times
1892 Winchester 44-40 (1906)
'94 Winchester 44-40 re-chambered in 44 rem mag (1974)
'94 Winchester 30-30 (1985)
Savage No:4 Mk 1* .303
Finnish M91
Model 70 Winchester .308
CMC Mounteneer .223
assorted .22s and .177s
User avatar
fredhamish
Recruit
Recruit
 
Posts: 23
Northern Territory

Re: Brass coating

Post by fredhamish » 11 Mar 2017, 2:18 pm

Another full rebuild. Stirling model 14 heavy barrel 22lr
Stripped, polished and blued barrel, action and bolt and polished sear for a very smooth trigger pull.
couldn't help myself so i brass coated the trigger as well
Attachments
stirling.jpg
stirling.jpg (85.8 KiB) Viewed 2374 times
1892 Winchester 44-40 (1906)
'94 Winchester 44-40 re-chambered in 44 rem mag (1974)
'94 Winchester 30-30 (1985)
Savage No:4 Mk 1* .303
Finnish M91
Model 70 Winchester .308
CMC Mounteneer .223
assorted .22s and .177s
User avatar
fredhamish
Recruit
Recruit
 
Posts: 23
Northern Territory

Re: Brass coating

Post by bladeracer » 11 Mar 2017, 2:51 pm

Pretty neat stuff.
By "coating" do you mean you're electroplating the parts?
Practice Strict Gun Control - Precision Counts!
User avatar
bladeracer
Field Marshal
Field Marshal
 
Posts: 12655
Victoria

Re: Brass coating

Post by fredhamish » 11 Mar 2017, 3:08 pm

Hi bladeracer,
no not electroplating but heating up the parts then transferring the brass. I use a Dremmel with brass wire wheels. i heat up the parts till almost too warm to hold and then run the brass brush over them to transfer, rinse and repeat until i have the desired look.

even though i'm not heating the part up enough to change the temper i only use it on non structural parts just to be on the safe side
1892 Winchester 44-40 (1906)
'94 Winchester 44-40 re-chambered in 44 rem mag (1974)
'94 Winchester 30-30 (1985)
Savage No:4 Mk 1* .303
Finnish M91
Model 70 Winchester .308
CMC Mounteneer .223
assorted .22s and .177s
User avatar
fredhamish
Recruit
Recruit
 
Posts: 23
Northern Territory

Re: Brass coating

Post by bladeracer » 11 Mar 2017, 3:25 pm

fredhamish wrote:Hi bladeracer,
no not electroplating but heating up the parts then transferring the brass. I use a Dremmel with brass wire wheels. i heat up the parts till almost too warm to hold and then run the brass brush over them to transfer, rinse and repeat until i have the desired look.

even though i'm not heating the part up enough to change the temper i only use it on non structural parts just to be on the safe side



That is an interesting way of getting the result.
How well does it hold up to regular use?
Practice Strict Gun Control - Precision Counts!
User avatar
bladeracer
Field Marshal
Field Marshal
 
Posts: 12655
Victoria

Re: Brass coating

Post by fredhamish » 11 Mar 2017, 3:37 pm

the trigger i did on the Stirling 22 has lasted over 1000 rounds without any diminishing of the coating
1892 Winchester 44-40 (1906)
'94 Winchester 44-40 re-chambered in 44 rem mag (1974)
'94 Winchester 30-30 (1985)
Savage No:4 Mk 1* .303
Finnish M91
Model 70 Winchester .308
CMC Mounteneer .223
assorted .22s and .177s
User avatar
fredhamish
Recruit
Recruit
 
Posts: 23
Northern Territory

Re: Brass coating

Post by Gregg » 16 Mar 2017, 3:24 pm

Interesting technique.

How much brushing / brush loss is it taking to transfer a significant amount of colour?
Howa 1500 .270 WInchester
Savage Model 10/110 Predator .204 Ruger
User avatar
Gregg
Corporal
Corporal
 
Posts: 378
South Australia

Re: Brass coating

Post by fredhamish » 17 Mar 2017, 12:33 pm

Not much effort at all, as long as you get the heat right. I just keep heating and repeating till I get the desired depth of colour
1892 Winchester 44-40 (1906)
'94 Winchester 44-40 re-chambered in 44 rem mag (1974)
'94 Winchester 30-30 (1985)
Savage No:4 Mk 1* .303
Finnish M91
Model 70 Winchester .308
CMC Mounteneer .223
assorted .22s and .177s
User avatar
fredhamish
Recruit
Recruit
 
Posts: 23
Northern Territory


Back to top
 
Return to Gunsmithing