I haven't had the problem of the old underlying bluing come through. Today I looked really close at a bunch of them and they still look very evenly blued very deep and rich looking.
I really like the job you did on the stock. With that kind of work I don't think anyone will be looking to closely at the bluing.
Jerry
Dear Jerry:
I've rust blued about 25 rifles and shotguns. If I am only removing the original factory bluing, then no problems.
I only started having problems with re-blued guns.
First, the barrel and barrel extension on a 1957 Win. Model 12. The receiver and everything else rust blued properly, but the barrel had three 2" long rust spots after initial rust bluing.
Second, this Savage 99. After the first rust bluing, I noticed a semi-circle over the rear bridge with pitting along the edge of the circle. It must have been caused by an old Buehler base from the 1950's that got wet, and wasn't dried.
Third, and the worst, a 1948 Win. Model 71 which was obviously reblued, and poorly taken care of before and after the re-bluing. That rifle should have never left the factory, because after my second attempt, I noticed about 10 spots of longitudinal machine marks about 1/2" long on the outside of the receiver faces.
This rifle had a number of machine errors throughout, conclusion: Friday gun.
The point is, Winchester filled in the pretty bad machine marks with hot salts bluing. I didn't know that that was possible, but it is.
That has been my experience with the tough nuts.
Sincerely,
Chris Bemis
