What Is the Best Cold Blue for Guns

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I have an old very messed up 16 Gauge shotgun. It is a bolt action tube fed repeater. It has been hacked and it is all dinged and nicked up. The barrel had the choke cut off and someone put a rifle front sight on it. I thought for something to do this winter I would refinish it the best that I can. I plan on sanding the metal down and re-blueing it. If it doesn't turn out I will paint it. I am planning on using it for throwing slugs at deer.
Brownell's Oxpho-Blue, when used as directed, is the best cold bluing chemical I am aware of, or have used over the last 55 years.
http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/metal-prep-coloring/metal-bluing/liquid-cold-bluing-chemicals/oxpho-blue--prod1072.aspx

However, it is just cold blue, and will never match a hot blue job in appearance, or longevity.

Rust bluing is much more durable, and better looking.
But it takes a steam cabinet, and lots of hand carding between coats to do it.

http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/metal-prep-coloring/metal-bluing/specialty-bluing-chemicals/classic-rust-blue-prod22820.aspx

rc
Agreed on Oxpho. Both points. It's the best cold bluing. Cold bluing is ok for touching up but not for what you want to do.
I have no experience doing rust bluing but RC always offers good advice.

I would consider browning. It's very forgiving on rougher metal and would give your slugger and interesting look.

I have had extremely good success with this Laurel Mountain Forge decreased and browning solution.

http://www.laurelmountainforge.com/instructions.htm
Never had much luck with cold blue.
Gave up on the stuff years ago.

Then I got a .22 rf barrel that had almost all bluing gone.
So I degreased it, lightly sanded and degreased it again.............and then hit it with the heat gun. Clean cotton gloves..........bbl was almost too much to handle.

Used Birchwood Casey bluing.....paste. Did it three times.

No, it's not wonderful, but it actually looks decent. And is the best cold blue job I've gotten.

But with the heat gun.........that might disqualify it as a "cold blue" job LOL.
Rust blue doesn't require a steam cabinet, I've done it by turning on the hot water of my shower until the bathroom filled with steam, turned of the water and closed the door to the bathroom for a couple of hours. With a good bluing chemical the gun will rust properly and after four or five cycles of rusting, boiling, and carding you will have very nice deep finish that will wear well. Go to rustblue.com and choose the chemical that produces the kind of blue you want.
This is how a nice Colt 1917 started out

This is the rusting stage

The boiling stage

The finished gun after carding and polishing with steel wool

The owner wanted a finish like the military used on the original which is a subdued blue so I didn't polish the steel as finely as you would for a deep shiny finish. The trick is in the preparation, you have to clean the firearm really well, I used a sandblaster with silicon beads and I washed it in acetone after each carding (wash the gun and then coat it with the rust solution, steam it, then boil it and card it again). After you boil the gun you need to card it and I used fine steel wool, you need to make sure that you get in to the corners and details of the gun. Rust bluing isn't hard to do it's just a slow, detail intensive process. The more coats you give it the darker and deeper the finish will look. Rust bluing has the advantage of being easy to refinish without having to remove all the old bluing. Just steel wool around any scratches or places where the bluing has been worn off and then rust blue it like normal, the finish will blend in like the original.

Last edited: Jan 15, 2016
Last edited: Jan 15, 2016
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maxxhavoc Contributing Member
I'm going to vote for Oxpho-Blue as well. I never had any luck with the over-the-counter Birchwood Casey gun blues (never tried the paste though.)
I had to blue a 1903 barrel and tried the Oxpho-Blue creme. It was easier to get consistent coverage using the paste, and the final finish was beyond my expectation.
Easy way to make a steam cabinet is get a metal bucket or coffee can and stand a piece of PVC pipe up in it. It helps to drill some holes in the side of the pipe (keep them below the water line) or block it up off the bottom a little bit. Put a couple inches of water in the can/bucket and then point a small space heater at it. You won't get rolling steam, but the humidity in the pipe will rise enough for the browning solution to work. Lay a stick of wood across the top of the pipe and hang your parts from it with a piece of cord.
I did this on a muzzle loader barrel and got great results. I used Dangler's Browning Solution,its good stuff but keep it away from your workbench and all of your tools
"...sanding the metal down..." No sanding. It'll scratch the metal and double the amount of work you need to do. The quality of any bluing job is in the polishing. No point adding scratches. Plain white vinegar will strip bluing to bare metal.
Cold bluing is really a touch up thing and isn't made for rebluing entire firearms. Usually comes out kind of blotchy no matter what you do. However, the paste type is better than the liquid.
I have used "Vans Instant gun Blue". I guess it can still be bought.
Macgrumpy, that's beautiful work. My hat's off to you.
And all these years I've been using muriatic acid....
Another vote for Oxpho-Blue.
I'm surprised this one hasn't been mentioned http://www.brownells.com/search/index.htm?k=mark+lee&ksubmit=y
If you have the means to boil the parts this stuff is awesome.
One word of warning, anything you purchase from Brownells is subject to their grossly inflated S&H charges. The Oxpho-Blue can be found at Bass Pro or Cabela's.
As many said, cold blue does not last long and may not look even if you do it on a complete gun. Tried several brands, not much difference. Some metal takes cold blue better than other metals. Heat the metal before bluing helps. I like to try rust bluing myself but to me finding something to boil a long barrel is the hard part. Parkerizing is another option. I did Parkerizing on rifle barrels in a steam table tub by turning barrel around and park in 2 steps, just keep pouring hot park solution on the exposed end and turn it around every 5 minutes or so, won't see a distinct park line when you are done. Rub the piece with cold blue when still hot and you get a long lasting nice deep blue. Not sure if rust blue boiling can be done in 2 steps by turning around the piece.
The gunsmith who refinished my guns salvaged after exposure to smoke and water in the house fire following The Incident had developed a whole gun technique for Oxpho Blue.
My guns LOOK as good as any reblue, and have not faded with time. I am not working them as hard as I used to so I cannot say how they will wear.
Even used like rust blue, Oxpho Blue will not give as good a result for durability.
Rust blue is the best alternative to tank blue and, by the way, is the same as rust browning; the only difference is the chemical used.

FWIW, for Macgrumpy and A5werkes:

When polishing a gun that comes apart or has a sideplate, it is better to polish with the parts in place; that way you don't get that "ditch" between parts you see when the parts are polished separately.

Jim