Cold Blueing

I like the perma blue kits by birchwood Casey, I did a mossy 500 with their stuff and it was easy and turned out great. I used the liquid not the paste.

 

It's a cold blue there I s no heat needed, just wipe on, let sit 45-60 seconds and rinse off with cold water, dry and repeat if finish isn't dark enough, blend together with steel wool then oil lightly and let cure for 25 hours and done.

 

Cold blue doesn't work well for complete refinishes. It can promote rust, it stinks, and it offers no protection.
Paint your gun instead.

 

I really wanted to parkerize it, I took my time, degreased it, sanded all machine marks out of the steel, degreased again, used perma blue, then applied the barricade stuff to seal it, assembled gun, and lightly wiped down with oil, this gun sees the duck blind quite frequently and wiping it down with oil rag when finished and its held up without rusting for 2 waterfowl seasons so far, I had really good luck with it.

 

I have used Birchwood Casey Perma Blue on a couple of my sporter barrels. They turned out great. The trick is to follow the directions to a T. After smoothing out the final coat with steel wool, the secret is to really put the gun oil to it. I used the spray Rem-Oil. Spray it on, rub it in w/ a clean cloth and spray it some more and just let it set. Spray it again a couple of times a day for 2 days. Then lightly wipe it again and you are done. I got a pretty nice even deep blue.
cottontop

 

I used birchwood casey cold blue on my SKS, it looks good but wears easily, which is actually a plus for me. I love the look of a used firearm.

 

All the cold blues wear easily.
There is always someone who thinks they have found the magic formula for applying it. And, they think it looks great-but any gun pro can tell a gun has been cold blued very easily. And it's still stinky, copper sulphate, easy wearing, rust-enhancing cold blue.

 

The birchwood kit comes with blueing remover, and the degreaser.

 

I unintentionally removed the bluing on my Ruger P95. What I did was put it through my handy-dandy Lyman Ultrasonic cleaner with a little bit of Dawn as the cleaning agent.

It removed the bluing just fine.

 

cold blue

I guess I must be that "always someone." So what is a "gun pro?" A gunsmith, a medal winning target shooter, a gun store salesman? Maybe it is just someone who has been around guns all his life and has been shooting and reloading for around 50 years or so? If the later is so, then I qualify. I have not found some "magic formula." I only followed the directions. BTW, my local "gun pro," an experienced gunsmith, told me about really oiling the the project. Granted it is not a $200 professional hot tank bluing job, but it ain't bad. In fact, I was a little skeptical about using the cold blue at first, but now I am glad I used it. Spending $8.00 instead of $200 or more to blue the barrel of a $400 rifle makes a lot of sense to me. I will just be sure no "gun pros" see it. BTW, the guns have no smell at all other than a gun oil smell.
cottontop

 

I agree with you cotton.

 

I cold blued my old bolt action mossburg 20 gauge 15 years ago because when I.bought it it had a pink barrel bc somebody got the bright idea to paint it lol... I stripped all the paint off of it then followed the directions and after many hours in the woods it final starting to turn kind of a brown color so it's about time to do it again

 

I've used the Birchwood Casey products and they work well. Oxpho blue works well too. I only use the 44-40 for touch ups because it doesn't seem to have even color on larger areas. I've cold blued several shotguns, handguns and rifles by following directions and no problems. I did find that once the desired color is achieved it helps to soak the parts in WD-40 for a day or two then clean as normal.

 

Agree on all that
Do NOT expect a good look after just 1 or 2 applications!!
Keep at it---
No it doesn't wear well
I have a small part time gunsmith in my area that does most handguns for $125 - Might check on someone like that in your area- If you figure materials & time its money well spent if you really want a good blue job