# re-bluing a rifle



## 400BULL (Nov 16, 2007)

I have an old Marlin bolt action 22 that my dad gave to me when I was eight years old. Over the years of use and abuse most of the bluing has been rubbed off. I'm considering having the rifle re-blued. I notice that they have some bluing kits so the do it your selfers could do it, I've never heard of anyone re-bluing their own rifles. Have any of you re-blued your rifle? If so would you recommend doing it your self again or sending it off to a professional? How much will it run me to have some one do it for me? I'm looking for all the info I can about getting the rifle re-blued.

Thanks 
400bull


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## byuduckhunter (Dec 2, 2008)

I just finished a blackpowder revolver kit and I blued the receiver and some other parts. I bought a bottle of bluing chemical from sportsman's for like $8. It worked pretty well for what I used it for but if I were re-bluing a whole rifle i might get a better one. I think you might have to completely remove the old blueing to. They had blueing remover stuff at sportsmans as well.


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## izzydog (Jan 18, 2008)

I just did a friends rifle with the cheap kit and it turned out 1,000 times better than it was before. He took it to a gunsmith I recommended and they told him $300 to start and there were no guarantees. $400 for the best dip. He's definitely happy with the $10 he spent. Just take your time and follow the instructions and it does a pretty decent job.


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

First off, when you say "old Marlin" I hope you arn't talking about some sort of antique firearm. If you have an old model 60 or something like that , go ahead, but please, please don't re-blue any of the old (or even not so old) lever action Marlin guns. 
Secondly, I have never seen a re-blued gun that didn't look like hell! Save yourself the money and just keep the old piece oiled up and ready to go. I promise you, you're really going to hate that gun once you have it re-blued.


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

I agree with BP, when I was younger I refinished a gun for my father-in-law, both the stock and the barrel, the cold bluing works ok and the gun looked great and my father-in-law loved it, however I did find out later that it reduces an older guns value greatly, my nephew owns it now and it will never leave the family so the reduced value to a collector does not matter, but it being a Winchested Model 70 pre 64, it did reduce the collector value.


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## Frisco Pete (Sep 22, 2007)

I have heard good things about using OXPHO-BLUE cold blueing which is available both as a liquid and no-run creme from Brownells if you can't find it locally.
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=1072/Product/OXPHO_BLUE_reg_


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## deadicatedweim (Dec 18, 2007)

I had a old shotgun re-blued awhile back. I used the Birchwood Casey (sp) from Walmart blue remover and bluing kit and it removed the blue alright but it never looked half decent with the bluing kit. I ended up stripping it again and taking it to the gun smith in Payson sport and Trophy and I don't know if he sent it out or not, but when I got it back it looked better than new and it has held up very well and was well worth the 100 bucks.


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

OK you guys, they are your guns and you can re-blue'em if you want but here are a couple things you might want to give a little thought to. If the firearm has any, even just a little bit of collector value or future collector value, you will destroy that collector value!!! That gun will never look like "new" again and will forever be "the gun I had re-blued back when I was young and dumb". Whenever someone sees the gun the first thing they say is..."gee, did you have this gun re-blued or something"? In 40 or 50 years your grandkids are going to say, "this is a pretty cool old gun, to bad grandpa re-blued it". If you want to sell it before that time the buyer is going to take one look at it and offer you about half what you think it's worth, that is "if" he has any interest at all. And worst of all, you spent your hard earned money just so you can take all this abuse!


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## 400BULL (Nov 16, 2007)

BP,

The rifle that I am concidering re-bluing is my first rifle my dad gave to me at 8 years of age, a Marlin bolt action. Sorry I don't know the model right now. As far as I am concerned the rifle will never be sold. I may give it to one of my boys when I get to old to shoot any more. Until then It's going to be in my hands or no ones hands. The only value in this rifle that I know of is completly personal. I dought that I could get more the $50.00 bucks for the rifle. I don't mind the way it looks now but it sure would be nice to clean it up.

Thanks to everyone else for your suggestion. I have read several post on re-bluing a rifle it sounds like they ether love it or hat it. I going to check arround to see what a gun smith would charge to have it done. If I can get it done for a reasonable price (less then $100.00) I'll probably give it a go.

400bull


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## Frisco Pete (Sep 22, 2007)

If you decide to re-blue it yourself, don't use the Birchwood Casey stuff from WalMart. Use the one I recommended earlier.
Your Marlin bolt action .22 is not really a collector grade rifle, so I would not be concerned about it losing too much value re-blued.


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

Frisco Pete...do you do any gunsmith or bluing ? I don't care for the choice's I have around my neighborhood..


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## Frisco Pete (Sep 22, 2007)

No I don't but I do pay attention to products and places that do a good job, just in case.

The place that I have used for hot blueing is Hot Flash Gun Refinishing Service http://www.hotflashrefinishing.com and they do excellent work, perhaps because that is all they do. A lot of 'smiths send out customer guns to them because it is not economical for them to do only one or two guns at a time. They take individual orders as well. You do not need a FFL to ship to them.

The refinished guns that I have seen them do have all been excellent factory+ quality and a friend recently raved about the job they did on his old Ithaca side-by-side. You have different grades to chose from as well. They are in Whitmore CA.

Downsides are: that you have to ship your gun to them - and the cheapest grade 1 rifle blueing is $159. For something like 400BULL's Marlin bolt, that would be almost the entire value of the rifle.


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