DIY rifle bluing?

[Harts]

Hi all,

I'm likely to inherit and old rifle or two shortly which aren't in great condition. Thought it could be a good op for a new shooter to work on some gunsmithing skills.

A cleanup is in order for both including a re-blue if possible.

Not looking to spend much cash having a professional gunsmith do it as it's more of a hobby repair for the experience than an essential one.

Worth giving this a go at home do you think? Or am I likely to just make a mess of things?

Cheers all.

[Aster]

There are a couple of different techniques for this from submerging the action/barrel fully, to wiping on coatings of blue solution.

Some processes are for rust free steel and require any minor rust to be removed prior to bluing, while other processes are done in a way to blue some surface rust itself if it can't be removed 100%.

Really need to know more about the conditions of the rifles before you could say which technique will be required.

I blued a couple of knives back in the day, for a good result it's more time consuming than truly difficult.

Just don't think you're going to get away with just dipping a brush in solution and sloshing on a layer... You won't get good results like this.

[Seik]

Just don't think you're going to get away with just dipping a brush in solution and sloshing on a layer... You won't get good results like this.

Amen. Seen some shockers where people have brushed on a dripping wet later of blue and left it at that :/

[Harts]

Had a better look at these now that this little project in fresh in my mind.

One the metal is actually in quite good condition as far as I can see, just the blue is scuffed and thin in places.

The other is *very* pitted though across basically all the metal. I guess this one is maybe beyond fixing?