Newly reblued VH light dusting of rust

[Bill Holcombe]

Opened my safe up to put something in it tonight and noticed rust on the reblued barrels of my VH.

The barrels were rust blued about 2 weeks ago. I wiped off the rust and sprayed the barrels with oil and wiped them down good and put it back in the safe.

Pulled out my other 3 parkers, 1 superposed, colt AR, and all 8 of my colt pistols and revolvers and didn't find even a hint of rust.

Checked my moisture absorbing can and it was good.

First time I have ever had a rust problem in the safe. None of the rest of the VH had any rust on it, just the new blued barrels. It was just the exposed metal as well, flats and under the wood were clean.

[charlie cleveland]

got no idea what to tell you king except glad you found it before any problems...charlie

[Rick Losey]

long shot here- but i had a set of barrels I browned that were doing that- oiled them several times, in a week or so the light rust was back.

then I degreased them, rubbed them down with a thick paste of baking soda and water (to neutralize any left over solution) cleaned and dried them and lightly oiled them- no rust has come back in months now

of course- if it was just redone- you might want to contact the person who blued it, see what they say

[Dean Romig]

I agree. Seems they weren't properly neutralized after the last iteration.

[greg conomos]

Is your safe indoors? or in a garage?

[Bill Holcombe]

It's in doors.

[Brian Dudley]

Likely lack of neutralization when the bluing was done. As others suggested. I always clean off barrels that I blue with baking soda and water after finished and before oiling. It assures no further rusting after the fact.

Usually issues from lack of neutralization shows itself in cracks and crevices of the barrels. Especially around the extractor area.

[Leighton Stallones]

I have rust blued several sets of barrels and individual bbls as well. If they are not
neutralized after bluing with baking soda etc, they always have after rusting.

[Bill Holcombe]

So I should just wipe it down with a mixture of water and baking soda and then wash it off?

Contacted the place that did it and they said to wipe it down once a week or so and keep it oiled and it would stop rusting after a couple of months.

[Rick Losey]

So I should just wipe it down with a mixture of water and baking soda and then wash it off?

Contacted the place that did it and they said to wipe it down once a week or so and keep it oiled and it would stop rusting after a couple of months.


:shock:

Obviously - its not my gun but

I would do two things -

#1 wipe it down with a baking soda paste ( thick slurry) clean it well, dry it well (hair dryer) and oil it

#2 lose the number of that "gunsmith"

[Brian Dudley]

De-oil and neutralize. Then re-oil heavily. Then just keep it oiled going forward.

I do not think that all rust blue solutions say to use baking soda in their instruction steps, but anyone who knows better will do so as a precaution. I personally use Mark Lees bluing solution at it is very fast acting and the instructions specifically say to use baking soda after the last cycle.

[Bill Holcombe]

As an update it has been 3 weeks since I wiped them down the one time with oil and the rust hasn't come back, so it may have just been a random thing. If the rust doesn't come back, I don't think I will bother with neutralizing.