Surface Rust - Cider Vinegar?

[dmazzio]

I know the surface rust subject has been discussed many times but I heard that soaking in cider vinegar is supposed to be good at removing surface rust. I have a shotgun barrel with some surface rust I want to remove.

I know everyone suggests 0000 steel wool but has anyone tried vinegar? Do you think it would damage the blueing?

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

I'd imagine that it would indeed damage the bluing - as all bluing is is a controlled "rust" itself.

-J-

 

[Robert Richardson]

Go buy R.I.G. Rag and start rubbing

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

If you're worried about the bluing being (further) damaged by the cleaning:

Get the finest brass (softer than steel, of course) wool you can and some kind of oil.

Personally, when I was cleaning up a dirty OLD shotgun a few years ago - I used 0000 steel wool and some WD-40. Might not've needed the oil - but it didn't hurt anything.

To get ALL the rust off of my shotgun - it would've destroyed the patina (which is rust, too)

If a blued firearm is rusty in a few spots - and you want to remove all the rust - probably best to strip the bluing off, take care of the rust, then have it refinished.

If you don't care about the look of the gun - you CAN be a little more aggressive in your rust removal - you'll just have bare metal in some spots. Those bare spots had better be even more protected than the other areas - or rust will re-form. In some cases, it'll reform VERY very quickly.

-J-

 

[tman]

I think this site will tell you what can happen with vinegar.

How To Remove Bluing From Steel

 

[patience0830]

I believe that lemon juice will also remove rust chemically. Don't know how it treats blueing tho'.

 

[__Doc_]

wont vinegar remove the bluing??

for light surface rust I do any of the following
0000 steel wool or fine grit sandpaper or a brass brush

 

[M67]

G96 or Thrust along with this:

Tipton® Gun Bright Metal Cleaning Pad

works miracles as long as it's not Browning (A5) blueing or Colt blueing, those are kind of.....sensitive.

Or, if it's bad soak it in kerosene for a couple days, then take gun scrubber, then G96/Thrust it plus the shavings.


As for vinegar, never used it on guns, but have on traps. It get's nasty, but works. Personally though, I'd pick the other 3 ways I mentioned on a firearm over vinegar.

 

[remauto1187]

Its been around for years....WD40! Im not sure why not many people know that WD40 will lift rust right off of metal. Then all you have to do is wipe it down. If the rusting is heavy then the process may require 2 or 3 evolutions of WD40 applied.

To prevent the rusting in the first place......Tri-Flow!

Try them both...you'll thank me.

 

[dmazzio]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

I'm going to try the WD40 first and I love Tri-Flow have been using it forever when I can find it, not always easy to find.

Love the Taco Bell Story, I'll be sure to never store my taco sauce and my pistol in the same bag.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Can I inquire as to what kind of shotgun/barrel this is? Just curious. :-)

-J-

 

[dmazzio]

It's the bird barrel for my Mossburg 500, was sitting in my closet for a while and I forgot it was in there. I usually protect stuff before I put it away but just forgot for some reason do it has a bit of surface rust on it.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

It's the bird barrel for my Mossburg 500, was sitting in my closet for a while and I forgot it was in there. I usually protect stuff before I put it away but just forgot for some reason do it has a bit of surface rust on it.

Gotcha.

Not to be flippant or anything: But you can experiment with removal if you wanted. Different techniques on different zones.

If the exterior is completely trashed / zebra looking - it's not like you've ruined a super expensive firearm ya know?

Could even strip it completely and re-blue it yourself with one of those home kits.

-J-

 

[vtxrecruiter]

Tri Flow rules, but for rust PREVENTION try LPS, we get it at work, it is thick, wipes off leaving a fine layer and stops the mill tables and other steel stuff from rusting when some yahoo uses too little Wallover to water ratio to cool with.

 

[davedolli]

With a Mossberg 500 barrel, you could try different things, I have used very fine steel wool, and oil, with ok success. You also could degrease the barrel and paint it with black engine paint. I have done this on several cheaper shotguns and they turned out great. The finish holds up good to, and is easy to touch up if needed. You can buy those barrels very cheap, so they are great for projects.

Dave

 

[ederue]

WD-40 for light surface rust like remauto mentioned - can't beat it. I recommend storing you long guns in a silicone treated gun sock if you are not going to use it regularly.

 

[dmazzio]

Update- tried the wd with some success. Finally got around to getting some 0000 sw and that did it.
Thanks everyone for the advice.

 

[andyoz]

Its been around for years....WD40! Im not sure why not many people know that WD40 will lift rust right off of metal. Then all you have to do is wipe it down. If the rusting is heavy then the process may require 2 or 3 evolutions of WD40 applied.

To prevent the rusting in the first place......Tri-Flow!

Try them both...you'll thank me.

WD-40 with repeated applications has worked for me, specially on matte finished barrels.