Rusty barrel on my Winchester tool...maybe OT

Fred Werring

Well-known Member
Playing with my Dad's Winchester model 250 .22...outside of barrel is rust pitted.

Wondered if I smoothed the rust down with 0000 steel wool and applied rust converter(phosphoric acid)...will that screw up the bluing thats left? Thought I could just try the bottom of the barrel, but I bet somebody on here knows.

Not gonna spend a whole lot of time or money on it, so professional re-bluing is out.
It's going to be a working rifle, not a showpiece, just like Dad used it.

Thanks

Fred
 
I have some pad made just for that and they work real well. I would need to dig in my gun cleaning box and see if I can find the label so as to let you know what they are. Rub it down and it cleans thing up super well
 
Don't use steel wool or any sort of "pad". Here is the stock on a CX A H Fox with Winslow pad I restored. This is an OIL finish
a201159.jpg
 
Steel wool on wood is always a bad idea. No matter how carefully it's used, a bit of it will embed somewhere in the wood. Steel wool is no problem on steel. It may gall aluminum.
 
I have did some custom handgun grips and a few rifle and shotgun stocks and used tung oil to finish them and the directions tell you to use steel wool and what grade of steel wool to use . I have never had any of it embed itself in wood.
 
If your not going to reblue it just clean it with a gun cleaner and wipe it down with a soft cloth and a good gun oil and leave the patina.
 
I use HOPPE'S Quick clean. It removes rust and lead and work real well. I have used it on guns that where so bad that you would think they would never clean up but they did
 
I know all this talk about refinishing wood stocks is off topic, but for those of you interested sailboat people use bronze wool during wood refinishing for the rusting steel wool bits reason. You can buy it at West Marine and also on the web at various sites.
 

Get some 4/0 steel wool and any decent oil, ATF works great. Just start polishing until you get bored with it. The 4/0 won't hurt anything and the ATF will both clean and offer some protection. I'd wipe it down with a rust inhibitor afterwords anyways.
 
The steel wool and oil will do as good a job as anything. If you are not going to re-blue the gun, be careful and don't get too enthusiastic with the rubbing. Do just enough to take the raised rust off, oil the barrel, and leave it alone. Like Bret said, you'll know when to quit.
 
(quoted from post at 18:21:27 09/17/15) Playing with my Dad's Winchester model 250 .22...outside of barrel is rust pitted.

Wondered if I smoothed the rust down with 0000 steel wool and applied rust converter(phosphoric acid)...will that screw up the bluing thats left? Thought I could just try the bottom of the barrel, but I bet somebody on here knows.

Not gonna spend a whole lot of time or money on it, so professional re-bluing is out.
It's going to be a working rifle, not a showpiece, just like Dad used it.

Thanks

Fred

I have a very old, very neglected, H&R 12 gauge that was in similar condition. Even the stock was ugly. I took it all apart, used the steel wool on the steel parts, and sandpaper on the wood. Painted everything with satin black enamel and put it back together. It ain't pretty, but it looks a whole lot better than it did, and it is functional. It does what I need it to do. Oh, it got modified a bit in the process. It is considerably shorter now.
 
Someone deleted part of my post.
I recommended using progressively smaller WOD sandpaper and a stioff rubber backing say 800-1200-1500. This will give a a SMOOTH white barrel. A pad of some kind is good for polishing a smooth surfave but pits not.
When you have it smooth use one of the cold bluing producrs available. Birchwood Casey make a good one. You will use the quad 0 steel wool then.
 
(quoted from post at 23:17:40 09/17/15) Think before you talk. Since when does WOOD rust??????????????????????????????

When it gets steel wool in it.... duh. I thought everyody knew that? Now, who is the one that needs to think before talking?
 

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