Go to the dollar general store and you can buy that BIG 45 PAD for a couple of bucks and get 3 or maybe 4 of them at that price.. Same thing and they work great. Use some of your favorite oil and go slow and easy. wife says they used to be called "chore boys". Ray
That Big 45 stuff does work well, but you're right, it's just a stainless steel scrubbing pad (I think some sort of 400 series stainless since it's magnetic). I haven't really used it much for rust, but it's great stuff for removing lead from a barrel; I quit using anything else after discovering that about 10 years ago. Even though it's stainless, I've never had it scratch a barrel or any other steel gun part.
For mechanical rust removal, I just use Kroil or WD-40 (IMO WD-40 works better) and fine steel wool, usually 0000 grade.
For chemical rust removal, anything that dissolves rust will dissolve bluing since they are almost the same thing. CLR works and is pretty gentle, and the purple cleaners (Castrol Super Clean, Purple Power, etc) also remove rust and bluing. Both of those work even better in an ultrasonic cleaner for small parts.
