Any suggestions on solvent/oil to deal with surface rust? I've put on Kroil to see what that does overnight. thank you.

There is always some confusion as to what constitutes "surface rust". In general, any solvent which will remove rust will remove bluing. Removal of rust is, generally speaking, a mechanical operation. This is usually accomplished by using ultra fine steel wool but I have also used a piece of soft wood and some oil or solvent. Pretty hard to beat Hoppes #9 IMO. GD

Frontier Big 45 Metal Cleaning Pad is your friend when it comes to removing surface rust, it will not remove bluing when used according to instructions. Try one you'll be amazed with the results, they're available on-line.

Bronze wool and oil.

Yup, can't beat the Big 45 pad for removing rust and leaving the blue alone.... I was a skeptic until someone on rimfirecentral convinced me to try it on a 69A I picked up on the cheap that had a bunch of rust spots on it. Cleaned that thing up clean as a whistle and left the remaining blue in amazing shape... and they are relatively cheap at around $6 shipped....
http://www.big45metalcleaner.com/


Bob

A gunsmith acquaintance who served a formal apprenticeship in England for Gibbs, used unbleached coarse paper, like schoolkids use, and rendered lamb fat (that was after the ban on whale oil, which he preferred) to restore my LC Smith damascus which had gotten soaking wet in the case from a leaky ice chest over a period of two days. It was ugly, but he said not to worry, and it came out perfectly.

thanks much guys. ruffedgrouse

If it's light rust, steam it then wipe it down with a light oil.

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

For anyone who uses the copper scrubby pads, make sure they are pure copper and not copper plated.

What greydog said. "Removal of rust is, generally speaking, a mechanical operation. "

Red rust is softer than black rust (bluing) so the red rust, if truly on the surface, will come off faster. Some lesser amount of black rust will come off too. Just keep that in mind when picking what to scrub with.

If you find a chemical that will remove red rust without affecting black rust let me know, we'll both make millions. Or convert red rust back to a smooth black rust for that matter. No, boiling water won't change it back to the smooth coating it once was.

A very gentle rubdown with Rem-Oil and 4-0 steel wool works well for me. Just don't get impatient and apply too much pressure- - - -it will also remove bluing if you get too energetic.
Jerry

older pennys do a great job too, pre 70ish ones. Didn't believe it till I tried it. I've used that trick on stuff kroil and 000 wool wouldn't touch.

you can also steam it to hopefully turn it to black rust and then steel wool or card off.

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.

Bronze wool.

well, I usually don't go ahead and try something I'm not familiar with, but in this case I ordered one of those Frontier 45 pads. I must say I'm impressed. My son hadn't taken care of his M70: surface rust on barrel and floor plate. That pad did a really good job. If I were to show the gun now, I doubt anyone could see any signs of the surface rust: maybe if they turned the gun just right in the light, but even then, it is very, very limited. thanks for the suggestion.

That...

Frontier Big 45 Metal Cleaning Pads are just short of magic. They do a very good job of cleaning up bores too.

Pre-'83 are pure Cu.

Trick I learned from Sitka deer is to pour hot water over the location you are working on. Use cold blueing and a 3M scrub pad.
Works very well.

In my "admittedly limited" experience, the presence of red rust means the blueing is already corrupted.I have used mothers aluminum and mag polish to remove some level of corrosion. There is another brand in a toothpaste tube sold by fancy kitchen stores that seems to have a less aggressive grit in the paste.

Agree with greying too. Polishing is mechanical. But Fe+O>FeO is only reversible under conditions which don't support breathing.

Polishing compounds are just cutting grains immersed in a lubricant. (You can polish plastic headlights with toothpaste to De-cloud) so realistically you could mix a little baking soda in liquid wax and slowly polish away corrosion.

You could always buy some junk at a gun show and try different things.
I figured the above on a garage sale scope with good optics and ugly scabs.

I have used a brass screw. Soft enough to not scratch steel or damage bluing, hard enough to remove rust. Something like 1.5" long or longer for the screw. Hold the near and lightly "saw" the rust area with the brass screw threads. Soak the rusty area first with something like Hoppe's, kerosene, Marvel mystery oil to soften the rust. Wipe down when done.

Steam it and wipe with bronze wool & oil.

Bronze wool and Kroil

kroil and 000 or 0000 steel wool, Pre1980ish pennys do a heck of a job too.

great video on a simple rust cleanup

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2SyN6m39x4

Free All is the very best penetrating oil I have ever tried, put something rusted in a rag and oil the heck out of it, let it sit for a week. Be amazed in how it penetrates and gets under the rust and lifts it off.

If you ever need help in getting off rusted on nuts and bolts, Free All will simply amaze you, and I have every super penetrating oil on the market I can find.

If you push a patch though a rifle barrel after shooting and let it set till you get home or a day or two later, the barrel will clean up much easier.

I don't work for Free All, just buy the stuff by the case.