Why bluing ?
 

Why do guns come with blued finishes ? I mean bluing is so delicate, just finger prints cause guns to rust. Why cant other finishes be aplied. Could they be powder coated black or in colors. Even painted ?Why do westill have blued finishes ? Isnt there something better ?

RE: Why bluing ?
 

You have them teflon coated to protect them. Theres others also. If it was left bare, it would rust almost instantly with a fingerprint.

RE: Why bluing ?
 

Lots and lots of em out there much better. But not everyone likes parkerizing, diamond coat, or teflon. Cant' get the bling with them like you can blue.

RE: Why bluing ?
 

Why: production cost and demand. Anything better? Stainless Steel. Custom work such as teflon, etc are options you can explore.

RE: Why bluing ?
 

There are many other finishes out there.
http:// www.lauerweaponry.com
Offers DuraCoat which is basically a painted on finish.
Kimber, springfield and few others offer a duracoat like finish on their handguns.

There are many others out there and I am not going to debate which is better, they are all basically the same and prevent rust by providing a barrier between the weather and the steel.

Blueing is more of a cosmetic finish than a form of protection, it is a form of rust in itself and really offers no corrosion protection, but looks nice.

The military parkerizes most of their weapons, this leaves a semi rough surface that sucks up and holds oil to protect the metal (this is also a good "primer" for the Duracoat type finishes).

Do a Google search on gun finishes or you can pickup a fairly cheap book on metal finishing or browse through Midway or Brownells web sites for metal finish options to get a taste of what is out there for free.

Are you looking for anything in particular? Blueing is fairly cheap to do in batches and is the typical finish most people have come to expect, I suspect that is why it is so comon.

RE: Why bluing ?
 

I use stainless myself,but powder coating works well as does teflon.

RE: Why bluing ?
 

Tradition, be surprised how many guns sold by looks.

RE: Why bluing ?
 

The Indian Ishapore armory painted the metal of the Enfields they produced. Most of the rifles being 30-60 years old look like crap as cleaning solvents soften the pain and the paint flakes off from wear.

Nothing wrong with blueing, if you take care of your firearms. If you leave your guns bouncing around in the back ofyour pickup truck or are apt to leave it laying out side in the rain overnight, blueing is not hte finish you want.Contrary to what some posters have stated, blueing does offer pretty good rust protection so long as you don't expose it to salt water and wipe your greasy (salty)prints off after handling it. Even stainless will rust under the same conditions, but it takes longer.

RE: Why bluing ?
 

So basically no real corrosion protection.
I have never read, never been taught, and never have experienced bluing as a good corrosion inhibiter. If something has changed in the past hundred years please educate me but even professional hot bluing does not offer much in the way of corrosion protection. A freshly blued gun that is taken out of the final rinse tank and left exposed to the air will rust about as fast as bare metal, typically the gun is coated in oil and wrapped at least overnight. Bluing is basically coloring the metal, it offers possibly ever so slightly some corrosion protection but to no real degree, it is a finish for appearance.

Some people feel that the “high gloss” bluing offers better protection, this may or may not be true but the high gloss is not a result of bluing; you are looking at colored metal. IF the metal is polished and glossy before bluing, than it will appear as a high gloss blue, if rough like after bead blasting and you blue the metal it will be a matte appearance.

On that note you can keep bare metal from corrosion if you care for it. I know many who had the bolt bent on their mausers so a scope could be mounted, they left the bolt bare metal, it doesn’t rust easily, just wipe it down with a little oil once a month when not in use, same as a blued rifle especially but really for any rifle.

RE: Why bluing ?
 

Actually it does have some corrosion protection. I had crown recut and put off cold blueing. Went hunting in the rain one day, the hot blue section had no corrosion but the bare metal had surface rust within an hour.

Both were oiled before hand, but definately shows the facts. Not sure where people get that it doesn't have any corrosion protection.

RE: Why bluing ?
 

There are a lot of newer, much more protective, forms of finish that can be used on guns.

IMO, bluing is still used because:

A. It is traditional
B. Many people like the way it looks

Personally, I prefer a nice smooth, soft plum brown, like you see on some muzzleloaders.

RE: Why bluing ?
 

Bluing does offer protection, oiled properly good protection. Bluing is just a controlled oxidation, rust is oxidation too, the idea blue it and get a good finish before rust can get it. Trouble is that bluing is very shallow into the metal, so it has to be used with oil.

Parkerize is zinc or manganese treatment chemically changes the metal to a less reactive compound, it too needs to be oiled.

RE: Why bluing ?
 

I've done a lot of hunting on the Alaska Peninsula and the islands where liveing in a tent with days of rain and wind will rust a gun quite fast! I had one of my guns "rust blued" the old way, and it's amazeing! Everyone would be working on there guns daily, but i never had to do a thing to mine. It's done rusting, and to this day it does NOT get rust on it. I rarely wipe it off with anything but my hand and i've yet to ever see any rust on it.

It wasn't cheap, but for me it was $$ well spent, not to mention i really like the way it looks.

DM

RE: Why bluing ?
 

Has anyone noticed that older guns seem to have better bluing. These new guns seem to rust much easier.
I just think manufacturers should do something, bluing does offer some protection but not much, you have to take care of it. Powder coating would be much much better

RE: Why bluing ?
 

Man, I have moose hunted in rain for 9 days straight. Deer hunted in salty swamps on the coast in rain. And can't say I had much of a problem with corrosion. Only issue I ever had was I had some pinching from the stock swelling.

Only think I have learned (on my stainless guns beleieve it or not) was you got to oil the hardware on the Cheasapeake bay. Like screws and such. I use rem oil mainly out there. It doesn't get much rougher on a gun than that.

I guess I am confused on the problems your facing. Living in southern humid climates can get ya.

I buy and sell alot of guns. And go to some estate sales. What I notice is people get into a sport like clays or target. Take care of their guns for years, and then all the sudden, maybe they have kids, or lose interest or die. And don't oil down thier guns every year (I suggest twice). Then they pick up the interest or I come buy them when they die, and I see surface rust.

I don't know if its teh blueing not as good, but more the smoothness or finish of the metalpreblueing.

Last year I bought two fine rifles from a estate rem 700's. Both are from 1970's. Blueing is so deep and uniform. Wood top notch. And it shoots .5MOA, no lie. You set either of those guns beside a 2005 700, and you definately see the difference.

RE: Why bluing ?
 

Bluing does have SOME corrosion protection as I said, but in general it is not nearly as effective as some of the other methods discussed. I have nothing against bluing, I like the look personally but wanted to drive the point home that you really need to take care of a blued gun, that is all.