I recently picked up an 18-2 4" that was in pristine condition except for a small patch of rust on the cylinder, on the edge of one of the flutes. Nothing liquid that I used touched it to include a number of really tough bore cleaners (such as Sweet's). I happened to read the package of the Birchwood Casey Lead Removal Cloth and how it should be used to thoroughly clean surface of guns. So I cut off a small square and gently rubbed just the rusty portion. Little by little the cloth removed the rust and much to my surprise left a perfectly blued surface behind. Then I saw that what I had rubbed was noticeably smoother and shinier than the rest of the cylinder. So using that same half used piece I polished the rest of the cylinder to match. Once finished, I carefully sprayed it down with Break Free and wiped it all down with a soft cloth (old flannel PJs). The gun looks new and without a trace of rust or thinning to the blue. Yep, dodged another bullet.

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Keith Herrington

Good post. Glad to hear that this worked well for you.

I have used 0000-grade (very fine) steel wool on blued steel for many years. It will polish off light surface rust without damaging the bluing.

I once picked up a Winchester Model 1873 rifle that had been stored in a cellar for years. The entire metal surface was covered with rust. I disassembled the rifle and cleaned it thoroughly using 0000-steel wool, then oiled it and reassembled the rifle. To my pleasant surprise, there was very little pitting and about 60% original bluing remained! Beautiful old rifle, and I tripled my investment on it.

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Life of the party until 8:00PM

Corrosion-X applied liberally and let soak for a day, then a paper towel to gently rub the rust off. This can be applied several times, and it shouldn't hurt any kind of surface.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

The best thing I've found for removing rust from a blued firearm is bronze wool or a copper pot scrubber used with Kroil or Break Free CLP. Copper and bronze are both harder than the rust, but softer than the bluing. Many people use 0000 steel wool with oil of some sort. With a light touch it works well, but if you get too enthusiastic you can still damage the bluing.

An old timer I knew told me to use a penny with oil to scrape off small spots of rust. That worked well when pennys were still made of copper. I don't know how well it works with the copper plated zinc pennys that are made now.

You can buy bronze wool from Brownells. My preference is to buy coarse bronze wool for removing rust, or copper pot scrubbers from the grocery store. The fine bronze wool comes apart too easy and leaves bits of bronze wool everywhere. The copper pot scrubbers are nice because they are woven and don't come apart so easy.

My main hobby is fixing up old .22 rifles and giving them to kids who would like a .22 rifle, but whose parents, though they wouldn't mind if their kid had a rifle, would never think of buying them one. (I call it my "Arm America" program. So far I've given away 26 rifles.) Because of this, and the fact that I live in Southeast Alaska where EVERYTHING rusts, I've had to remove an awful lot of rust. The bronze wool or copper pot scrubber and Kroil method is the best I've found.

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SWCA 2379

Thanks to all the posts for all the useful info.

I agree using copper to scrub off rust works well, I use a copper bristle brush and a little oil and have removed rust from an old pellet gun and .22 rimfire rifle, and it removed the rust but not any blueing. I'll keep the Birchwood Casey Lead Removal Cloth in mind and try it next time.

Sometimes, when using copper or bronze wool to remove rust, the bluing will appear to be discolored by the copper. If this happens, use a bore cleaner designed to remove jacket fouling on a rag to remove the copper color. Hoppes #9 works, but Butches Bore Shine works better. Just wet the area with the bore cleaner, let it sit a couple of minutes, then rub it off with a clean rag or patch. Then oil like you normally would to prevent rust.

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SWCA 2379

I trust anyone that uses KROIL .....been using it for decades of my old Land Cruisers(and now guns)

ACE also has bronze wool

Try a blunt tipped #2 leaded pencil.

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Where we go one, we go all