Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Glass bead blasting?

Thinking about glass bead blasting an old Browning A-5 to re-blue. Any thoughts? Good, bad, indifferent?

Thanks,

for a matt-finish it's how it's done

I was told by wise old smiths that with bluing and even plating it is the condition/finish of the metal underneath that makes the finish on top.

The thing to watch with bead blasting is the condition of the media. New coarse glass bead media will actually peen the metal and not take much metal off. Drawbacks are it will mess with any engraving and if there is any rust, it closes up rust pits and then the rust comes back. Then as the media is used the glass beads break up and becomes more abrasive but also a finer finish. Tricks I have learned is to do all the parts at the same time so you get the same finish. Also if the media is pretty broke up pieces can get stuck in the metal, a pass with a heat gun makes the metal expand enough the pieces pop out. Of course a lot of that depends on how much air pressure your running. All the shops I've been in the guys want to crank the pressure up for a faster job.

If you want to keep a gloss finish you need to buff and polish If you just want the bluing and rust off you can use Evapo-rust but the Evapo-rust leaves this carbon film that makes most home bluing not work right. And it's a bear to get off unless you hot tank blue.

Around here it is cheaper and about the only game in town is black oxide. About the same process but different chemicals.

For a quality blue blue I send stuff off to NY.

Thank you for the information. I may change my thinking a bit.

Don't glass bead unless you want a matte finish. Bluing a gun only changes the color, the finish will be exactly what it was before it was blued. If you want a shiny finish you have to have shiny metal and you don't want to glass bead first.

Thank you,

You may want to consider finding a shop that does blasting with baking soda. The process is capable of taking the label off a pop can leaving the metal looking like the unprinted portion of the can. It is a very gentle process and leaves the metal with the very softest of matte finishes. I have seen it utulized in industry but have never used it on firearms, if your metal is in good shape it should produce a nice finish to blue or you can polish to your taste.

The only drawback I can see to either glass beading or sand blasting, before bluing is, the rougher the surface, the easier it will rust. The most durable blued finishes are high polished before bluing, but a blued finish is probably the least durable of all the current finishes.

Someone mentioned that beading the metal leaves small indentions in the steel, providing a place for moisture to be trapped.

This is even a factor in stainless steel, although the stainless would be more rust resistant to begin with.

All good reasons not to blue. Coat it instead.

A bead blasted finish cuts down on glare and costs less than a gloss finish. I find it hard to keep a film of oil on the surface. It really soaks up the oil. Next one will be a gloss finish.

As said above. The amount of gloss on the final finish depends on the metal prep before dropping in the hot tank.

For my own personal use guns, I glass bead, then "wipe" the finish lightly on a buffing wheel or with 0000 steel wool before blueing to take off the "points" left by beading. Comes out a nice "satin" finish- neither dull nor high-gloss.

My gunsmithing instructor at Co. Sch. of Trades back in the late 70's said "You never, ever, tell a customer you are going to sand-blast his gun. Refer to it as "glass-beading"....

Never had a problem with recurring rust after beading... maybe due to thens-forth "wiping" it with 4-0 steel wool, running it thru a hot-tank degreaser, then a hot-tank water rinse prior to hot-tank bluing. Cold bluing the thing may differ... Can't comment on that.

After blueing (or parkerizing), and after a hot-tank water boil-out rinse, use Eezox or Corrosion X, preferably immediately on the hot-water boil-out heated metal. After such , water will just puddle and run off... This will wear off in time/use, but maintainence retreatment with said chemicals works.

If you sent it off for bluing/parkerizing, on return, heat it up(oven?) to just barely able to hold it, and treat it with same above . If it was beaded before treated, you might want to LIGHTLY wipe it with 4-0 steel wool before hitting it with the Eezox or Corrosion X to "wipe' the points/remove clinging glass-bead particles....

You should be using one of same Eezox or Corrosion X on stainless, also..