Slow rust bluing

[JWKilgore]

I have an old Marlin 30A that needs rebluing (my brother borrowed it years ago and it came back in less-than-perfect condition). I talked to a local gunsmith who does slow rust bluing, but the price he quoted was almost as much as the gun is worth. But recently I spoke to someone who has rust-blued a gun, and he said it's an easy process that just takes a lot of time. That I can handle. A review of Youtube videos confirms this, so now I want to do it again.

 

I can easily completely disassemble the entire gun, with the exception of separating the barrel from the receiver. I've never tried this. Is a non-gunsmith capable of separating those two parts in a garage? I have a bench vise and an assortment of tools, but no gun vise. Is this separation even needed, or is it possible to rust-blue this gun with the barrel and receiver attached?

 

Thanks,

 

Jason

[KaNuckles]

One issue I could see if you did break them apart is that when you put them back together it would be near impossible to get the front sight aligned properly without the right tools. But I a not familiar with the bluing process so it may have too. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me can give you some more concrete info. Might be worth a call to a smith.

[JWKilgore]

I've been researching it, and the barrel is screwed into the receiver on this gun. I would need a barrel vise, receiver wrench, and masking tape. I could make both of the tools (vise - two metal bars, two large bolts, two bolts to anchor to a bench, hardwood block split in two with hole slightly smaller than the barrel, rosin; and the wrench - long flat bar for leverage, short flat bar, two bolts), or buy them. But as I don't plan on making a habit of pulling them apart very often I'm thinking the best/cheapest option will probably be to pay a gunsmith for 15 minutes of time to pull them apart then put then back together when I'm done.

 

As for lining them up, you would need to scribe a reference mark on the underside or barrel and receiver (eventually hidden by the forestock) that you would use to line everything back up when putting them back together.

[zgunbear]

You do not need to take the barrel off the receiver to blue it. Most are blue assembled at the factory. Of all the ones I have b lued I have never removed the barrel.
Disassemble everything else from the receiver. Polish, degrease, degrease, did I mention degrease thoroughly, then blue. Be sure to wear rubber gloves so the oils from you skin do not get on the steel.

[gregintenn]

Let us know how it turns out. A lot of threads on gun barrels you remove are in the white, and that tells me they are blued after the barrel is attached to the receiver. You'd be lucky to put them together again without scuffing something, and therefore ruining your new blueing job.

[I_Like_Pie]

I have done many rust blue jobs.  Get the Laurel Mountain Browning solution and use it.  By far the easiest and the results are outstanding....Here is my tutorial  CLICK HERE