Barrel Corrosion

[Whutface]

Hey guys, I have a Savage 23a Sporter .22, The barrel looks corroded and also looks like it has been covered in scotch tape? Possibly to prevent further corrosion. I don't know much about this stuff but I understand you cant just sand and paint because of the way its blued it will just corrode faster?

What would be my options for restoring the barrel? What can I do to make it paintable without allowing further damage?

[mtnboomer]

I hope the inside of the barrel doesn't look that bad!

Did you remove all the tape? If you did, any good rust remover will take the corrosion off the steel. My favorite is Evapo-Rust, but Naval Jelly and a Scothbrite pad will work, too. Remember though, anything that removes rust will remove blueing. after removing the rust, a stainless steel wire wheel on a Dermel will burnish the steel and ready it for refinishing.

[Helix_FR]

mtnboomer has good suggestions. Naval Jelly you can brush on, downside is that it will slightly etch the metal so a finish sanding would have to be done. Evapo rust is my favorite b/c it will not attack paint and won't etch, but you have to soak it in a bath of it for it too work. brushing it on will do nothing but leave a film.

[JLA]

another approach would be to strip it down to the barreled action and abrasive blast it and apply a bake on gun finish like KG gunkote or my personal favorite cera-cote.

[jim brady]

Looks like you have a mess on your hands, but at the same time could be a fun project. That rust and corrosion has to come off. It will only get worse if you leave it like that.

First off, any refinish job will take away from a collectable gun's value. Assumeing that you just want to stop the rust and make it look decent again, if I were you I'd take the metal action out of the stock and remove the rust with fine steel wool - say 0000 grade (wrapped around the barrel evenly to avoid creating flat spots). That will remove the scale and polish the metal. You may have to EVENLY sand it with very fine 900 grit wet or dry sand paper, then re-polish it with the steel wool.

Second, wearing rubber gloves (to keep your body oils and salts off the metal), after the metal is really bright and shiney, clean it with a degreaser. Do this a couple of times to get ALL the oil off.

Third, warm the metal to at least room temp or higher to open the pores of the metal. Warm to the touch is best. Apply a good cold blue, like Birchwood Casey "Super Blue". After it hazes over, polish it down again with that fine steel wool, and re-aplly like that about 4 times. The more you do this the darker and more even the final finish will be. Remember to keep those rubber gloves on while blueing and handling the metal parts.

Finally, for the final step, I'd LIGHTLY polish the finished barrel with clean 0000 steel wool saturated in good gun oil, then rub it down with a soft cloth with clean gun oil. Some of the surface blue will come off on the cloth, but the blue should be deep enough after 4 times to leave a decent finish.

Don't mean to insult you, but always remember to wipe down the metal on firearms with a soft oily cloth after handeling, and keep them clean and oiled to prevent rust spots. I'd keep the oils off the wood as much as possible, as that soaks in and eventually damages the wood.

Should look bunches better, or just have a gunsmith do it for about $150. Only worth all of this if the gun is shootable and you like to work with your hands.

[flintlock]

Jim Brady has the right idea here. A good project for the next cold weekend. Savage 23A's are often really good, accurate rifles. Enjoy it.