Hot blueing Parker effect on barrels?

[roland sadler]

Have VH 20 gauge, been hot blued, including receiver.
Barrels have a decent ring to them, no rib separation,
Noticeable suspect places , rattle, pitting.
My question is-if damage had occurred, would it be evident or could
The blueing salts have a negative effect over time at deteriorating the
Solder joints, etc, should I have barrels re- rust blues?
Any helpful info greatly appreciated.
Keith Sadler- new member

[J. A. EARLY]

If still tight ribs, shoot it and don't worry. No need to rust blue. I had a Fox A grade that had been hot blued. Blew air from compressor into weep hole. Solder had turned to powder and it most all blew away, so had to have ribs removed and relaid before rust bluing. Question is, are you sure they were hot blued? Is there a weep hole drilled in the under rib? Some smiths would hot blue and then rely on flushing everything out and then neutralizing the hot blue chemicals to get by with it. Just my 2 cents.

[roland sadler]

Thx for info

[Jeff Higgins]

Vinegar will take the bluing off the receiver.

[B. Dudley]

The ribs may still be attached, but that does not mean that the solder joints have not been compromised. The joints can get softened and allow things to move before setting back up and reduce the holding power of the solder.

Salts can get between the barrels and get trapped and cause rusting from the inside out.

Or, nothing can get compromised at all.

If you see no evidence of issues, it is best to just shoot it until something does or does
not happen.

Re-bluing them by the slow rust methos does nothing to “fix” the problem beyond cosmetics and polish. If there are actual issues from the hot blue, the only way to correct them is to take the barrel set apart and re-solder everything.

If you have a set of barrels that were hot blued, I would stay away from very high volume shooting, which will generate a lot of heat in the barrels.

[Mills]

If you have barrels that have been hot blued, even if they still ring well, is it best to go ahead and relay the ribs and reblue the correct way?

Just curious . . .

[edgarspencer]

The melting temperatures of tin is about 450 degrees, and lead is well over 600 degrees F, but when alloyed together, 50/50 Sn/Pb, the melting temperature drops to about 375-380 degrees F.
Hot bluing, if properly controlled, shouldn't be much over 300 degrees F, so, it's pretty unlikely that the solder will be softened, as the steel won't get any hotter than the bluing solution. The problem arises when, not paying attention to the tanks, the temps get higher. The bluing salts will only rise to a certain point, but like water won't go over 212 degrees at sea level, bluing salts won't go over about 330-340 degrees.
The bigger concern, as Brian points out, are residuals, trapped beneath the ribs, causing rust. Rust then creeps beneath the surface of the solder, and pretty soon you have a barrel kit.