Hey all,
Anybody have a formula for a homemade concoction for painting/coating the metal work on a gun. I have several older guns that are purely workhorses and will never, ever be pretty....but they are very functional. Most of these plebian guns have a lot of the blue gone, various conditions of some pitting, some rust damage.I tend to grab one of these workhorses when the weather turns nasty so I can protect my other "beauties"
Years ago I read an article where the author claimed that by using a flat black primer mixed with a thinner, applying seveal coats to the metal and then following with several coats of synthetic floor polish gave a lasting and very protective coating to their "barn gun".
Anybody else have some formulas of this kind.....or even an over-the-counter suggestion for such a coating. These guns I have in mind aren't worthy of a good old salts blue, but I want to protect them nonetheless.

Brownell's carries some bake-on spray laquers that are pretty durable. If you know someone with an air brush, there is a product called Duracoat that is great. They have a website - www.duracoat.com - can buy small quantities of the two part solution. Good luck. Roskoe.

Thanks,
I checked out both the Duracot stuff and the Brownells bake on products. Both look like promising items.
Any other suggestions out there? Either over the counter or homemade concoctions?

Any of the thermoset epoxy coatings that Brownell's sells will work well for you. You can also try Blue Wonder, a coating process that looks like blueing, but requires much less equipment. Good stuff, pretty wear resistant, and easy to apply. You could also use Oxpho Blue, a cold blue available from Brownell's. I used to use it for a lot of touchup work, until I discovered Blue Wonder.

Thanks for the additional tips.
I'm getting into this mostly for my Savage 110 that I lent out a buddy. On his Virginia bear trip this year he got rained on for 7 days and he did not care the the gun properly. So, my Savage which left the house with 95% blue in good condition arrived home with a couple dozed pin spots of blue worn off from water and surface rust damage. I can't see spending the $ on a full hot blue so am looking to...
1. restore the protection, and...
2. restore it's look a bit.
I think I'm gonna try the Blue Wonder and if it doesn't come out to my satisfaction I'll try the bake-on lacquer coating from Brownells.
My buddy already offered to pay for all the materials and help me with the process.
He's a childhood buddy and close hunting pal so I'm not gonna let a few dollars come between us.

I would let the "buddie" have it reblued.......

eldequello,
I know how you feel. That was my initial reaction......but this guy is a friend...and it might follow that he ought to take care of it without a word, but we have shared a lot, and the gun is among my more plebian tools. Granted, it was in good condition when it left and came back with some finish damage, but I was planning on doing one of the protective coatings to it anyway. Now the coating I select will be put over the current damaged finish instead of the 95% blue that was there before he borrowed it. In the long run it won't make any difference once it's covered up. He did tell me he would take care of it no matter what I decided, but since I planned on the "cover-up" coating in the long run anyway he'll just have to pay for all the materials.

Still, I just wish he had broken it out of the stock each evening like I do and given it a good silicone spray and wipe down each night. Would've saved a little angst.

I see.......

8MM/06 I tried the blue wonder thing waste of time and money I needed to refinish a military floor plate ,I call them the company there statement could be the metal on the A3-03,gave up.
I used a guy over in PA called E R Shaw he charges around 85 buck to hot blue and I can say this guy does a great job.
I also have used LMF browning chemical on m/l barrels ,this is a slow rust chemical and takes up to a week to get a great brown finish ,which does't come off.I read the intruction and they do state the browning will turn blue if used in distill boiling water for 20 min: you may want to look into this stuff
here a picture on a t/c Renegade that I buil from a kit flinter

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...7/P1040008.jpg
try again on the link