I was given a 70yr old Winchester model 63 to clean up and inspect. The gun was covered with a light freckling of rust. Soaked it in some oil for a few days, then did a light scrubbing with 4- 0 steel wool. A good amount of the rust came off, but would like to get some more off without taking off the blue. Local hardware has some copper(bronze) very fine scrubbing wool. Would this be the next step for me to try? Other safe methods?
Thanks

Take an EMPTY cartridge case, flatten the mouth with a hammer, use that edge to scrape the bbl., wherever, it will look like you are marring the blue, just wipe after with an oiled cloth........... it works!

You can form the edge to the contour of the bbl, and ever file it to get a nice edge if you like.............

Try it....

Let us know how it works......

Pics please....

Frontier Big .45 metal cleaning pad is your friend when it comes to rust removal. Don't let anyone tell you that a pot scrubber is the same thing, they most dertainly ARE NOT ! The Frontier pad is made of a proprietary metal that will not remove blue. A customer gave me a S & W M/10 that had spent several decades in a leather holster hidden away under the fiberglas insulation in his attic. It was a mass of rust and I had my doubts, the Frontier pad worked like magic. Removed nearly all the rust and did not harm the blue, the customer couldn't believe it was the same gun he had given me.

I second the Big 45 pads. They almost seem like magic. Good for the bore too.

Funny (not so funny) story, Years ago I was working in a gun store and had a good customer bring in a shotgun that had light surface rust on it. He ask how to get it off, so I took a small piece of 4 0000 steel wool and put some oil on it and did a small spot to show him that this would do the trick.
A week or so later he comes back into the store and he is pissed. He shows me the gun and it is about down to bear metal. I ask him "what did you do"? He tells me that he had some 2 00 steel wool so he decided to use that instead of buying 4 0000.
I told him that was his first mistake and ask him what type of oil he used? That is when he said "oh crap, I forgot about the oil"!
Well I would have quit rubbing long before I got to bear metal and most likely would have quit when I say I was scratching the bluing.

I have not tried the Big 45 pad but next time I am at a gun store will be looking for one.

the chore boy bronze wool works well as does the big 45 pads. never tried the cartridge case method but dont see why it also wouldnt work. if the bronze wool leaves an orange film rub it with any copper removing bore solvent and then oil.

I appreciate the clarification on this. I'm one of the knuckle-heads who purchased a pot scrubber for Wal-Mart thinking it was the same thing. Thankfully, I hadn't used it yet.

I guess Christmas is coming early for the wife this year.

That would make a great stocking stuffer......lol

Spitballing it from a different direction: If a gun is that rusty that it requires egregious attempts at rust removal, its value is greatly diminished anyway so why not just take it down to bare metal, remove all traces of pitting (and if it's that rusty that the best you can hope to do is to camouflage it, there's at least slight pitting underneath it), and re-blue it. It'll still be of diminished value, but likely more valuable than if left as a semi-rusty specimen not to mention looking better.

Cost is a consideration? Do the polishing by hand with abrasives by starting with a coarse-ish grit to quickly accomplish the goal of clear steel and then work down through successively finer grits simply enough to remove the previous grit's scratches, then rust blue it yourself (or take it somewhere and get them to put it in their bluing tanks when they're doing another job- most of the pro's charges stem from polishing). An onerous thankless task, sure, but there's a lot of self satisfaction when beholding the final product and knowing you did it all yourself and for a fraction of what you would have paid a pro to do it.

And then, don't let it get rusty again!

It would, but the wife is getting the pot scrubbers I purchased and I will be getting.....well, nothing after that stunt, lol.

Another second from me. I got a great deal on a 1936 Mexican SR Mauser that had a dark bore. A piece of Big 45 pad on an old/worn brush that was chucked into a cordless drill cleaned up the bore so well that I sold the rifle in its original configuration for about 50% more than I paid for it, rather than use it for a donor action as was the original plan.

checked my local GS today and they don't have it. Will check a couple of other places this weekend and if I can't find one, will order one the first of the week.
I like to buy local when I can

Thanks for the tips. Just ordered the 45pad.

I soak it in my electrical charged tanks 0000 bronze wool and Trans fuild works too

Tag

You will be lucky to get a lump of lignite, my man! Maybe peat.

I have found that wiping the rusty area down with DOT 3 break fluid will and letting it sit for a while greatly softens rust. after a couple hours wipe off what you can and do it again. Surface rust goes away easily, if you have real rust problems make other plans.

I usually take a graduated approach, depending on how bad it looks, how valuable/important the gun is, and do I want to actually refinish it or just make it decently serviceable. If it doesn’t look too extreme, I’ll generally try a coarse, heavy cloth with some Kroil. Kano labs (makers of Kroil) also have a product called”Ex-Rust” that will remove rust. To get more aggressive, I like Brownell’s Oxpho blue applied gently with 0000 steel wool. Often that process can clean up/cover up spots of rust.

In your experience, does Ex-Rust affect the bluing underneath?

I have a lot of respect for Kano Labs and would be willing to give this a try as well.

The Big 45 pads work. I ordered some a couple of weeks ago after reading the comments above and they do what they say.

I’ve never tried it on guns. I’ve used it on other things though, and it will darken steel. We actually used it for that purpose at one shop I worked in. I made up some steel pins as components of a device we made and, rather than send them out for chemical finishing, we just left them in a plastic bucket with ExRust, agitating it every little while. It provided an adequate finish. I don’t know if I’d use it on a highly polished, rust blued gun, but I wouldn’t hesitate to try it on a typical commercial/industrial finish such as is found on most production guns today.

I did as well.

Glad to hear it, thanks for following-up.

Do Big 45 pads also work with stainless steel slides, or only blued barrels?

Years ago I bought a pad that looks like a shiny Brillo pad. Back then it had no name but sounds like the Big 45 pads mentioned. I had a 7mm08 barrel that was covered with rust but no pitting. A good soaking of oil and a few minutes of rubbing with the pad and it looks great. Its on my favorite hunting rifle now and you'd never know it was a rusty mess years ago.

Pullet recomended 0000 steel wool saturated with WD40...takes off surface rust and will not harm bluing.

My buddy had a pristine blued Colt Python that developed a coat of surface rust sitting in his gun safe....he was scared to death when we went to the hardware store and bought the steel wool...took the rust off and the gun looked like new

Anytime I get a new to me used blued gun I take it out of the stock and clean it with 0000 steel wool wet with oil. You'll be amazed at the surface rust that will come off most any gun.

Do not forget to keep the steel wool pad and barrel wet with some kind of oil.

I've always got a "ghosting" or whiteish ring around the rust I've removed with 0000 steel wool. I've always removed bluing with this method, even while keeping it wet. Perhaps I didn't use enough oil.

Frontier 45.

While 0000 is a useful tool, it is steel and not suitable for blued firearms.

That is pure nonsense....0000 steel wool saturated with oil will remove light surface rust without hurting the bluing. I was told the procedure years ago by prominent gunsmith and friend in the Memphis area.

Once the rust has damaged the bluing or metal nothing will remove it where it's not noticeable....except re bluing.

Problem is you have to know the difference between light surface rust and rust that has set in.

Makes sense.

I have both 0000 steel wool and Frontier 45 pads; I'll do a side-by-side comparison next opportunity.

Years ago I watched a Frontier 45 demo at a gunshow....took the bait hook line and sinker.

Also took the bait on the quick blue demos neither worked as good as their stagged demos.

I've been using Ezzox on my blued guns for 40 years and have never had to worry about rust.

I'm on my second or third quart....best place to buy it is on Ebay

Hard to believe that the removal of any kind of rust from a blued surface using any materials or methods would be undectable.

Yep, great stuff. I've been using it for years.

I bought my oldest son a youth Remington 870 with the bead blast finish that will rust if you look at it. Started doing my research and bought some Eezox and never looked back. That youth 870 is still rust free and my oldest is now 27; he's been hunting with it for 20 years.

I have done it often but the final results do depend on how advanced the rust is.

Use the edge of a real copper penny and WD-40, good wiping with Hoppes and a clean rag at finish.

I was a non believer until I bought a abused Weatherby Mark V with a scratched and rusted barrel. Frontier pad and broil and then ox-pho blue and it looked fantastic.

Had the first real need for my Frontier pad...yesterday. The is the barrel from a 1960's Browning T Bolt with what is referred to as "Salt Wood".
I was looking to trade for it when I saw a little shimmer of rust down inside the barrel channel....trade was no go....Guys a pretty good friend so I offered to take it home clean it up put a coat of varnish inside the stock. Sure didn't look this bad before I took it apart.

I used the Frontier 45 pad on the bad spots then gave the rest of the gun a once over scrubbing of OOOO steel wool saturated in Ezzox....I plan on several coats of exterior grade varnish inside the stock and some Ezzox on the metal all The rust damage is done for now....the salt is still in the wood all you can hope for is to slow it down.

I notice on my blued guns the tips are rusted. Three guns were laying on a box in the basement and I did not notice the box would cause this rust? At least its not causing rust in the stainless barrels.
Looking around I found someone recommend Frontier Big 45 to remove rust. I have some Steel wool 0000 and read someone using a bore cleaner oil and this. But maybe I should get the Frontier Big 45.
Where are you ordering yours?

Time to look up creating a vertical stand and my rifles so this is step two lol.

https://www.big45metalcleaner.com/

Tagged.

I use bronze wool with Flitz. Follow up with Oxpho Blue, if necessary