Cleaning Rust Off Of Guns

[todd]

Good afternoon gents. I have a sad story to tell and it is all my fault. I just dug out my Dad's collection of guns and found to my horror that mom had wrapped them in blankets and put them under the bed! I knew before I opened them up I would find some with some rust. I did. Most were unharmed thank goodness. However, a few of them have some pretty serious rust pox on them and need to be dealt with straight away.

Now I am pretty proficient with guns. Been around them all my life. Routine maintenance is no issue. Rust removal is. So lets here some ideas.

I have seen the 0000 steel wool mentioned frequently and most say to use it gently and dry. Oil would cause rust particles to suspend in it making more abrasive. Sounds reasonable to me, what about you?

Lets go to another idea I hadn't heard of till recently but evidently has been around a long time. Molasses mixed 1-9 with water and soak the offending parts. This one will also take off the bluing so it is said so I approach it with reluctance.

I am REALLY SORE at myself over this. My dad and I NEVER let our firearms get into any kind of disrepair and I am embarrassed to admit but had to own to it as well. I just want to get them cleaned up and stop the attack of the rust nasties. Thankfully none of the collectibles seem to have taken a hit. Whew.

Todd

[franz]

You got one hell of a problem there, but you knew that.
Any rust removal technique from electrolosys to chelation and back is going to also remove bluing since bluing is esentially rust.

PHOSPHORIC ACID WILL CONVERT THE RUST TO Iron Phosphate, and leave a color change as well as screw wit the bluing.

Molasses is chelation, no good.

I'd mix up by volume 7 parts mineral spirits, 1 part white mineral oil & 2 parts lanolin and work the rusted spots with that on a soaked steel wool pad, as fine as I could find. You can increase the lanolin percentage, and leave it on for protection.

[markkw]

Depends on how deep the rust is, if it's only surface rust, as in not pitted deeply, steel wool will normally do the trick but you're going to loose finish too. Email me some good close-up pic's of the rust and I'd be able to give you better advice.