It seems to work fine when I dry fire it. What’s the best way to get the rust off and refresh this thing?
Edit 4/8/20 added more photos.

Oh, that poor little guy.  He needs a home.

I'd clean it up with a wire wheel and cerakote it.

I'd be real tempted to look inside .
If its good just clean the rust off with oil , some people swear by rubbing it with a nickel.

Or some a scotchbright pad with oil .

If the insides are rusted , you need to disassemble the guts .

How are the bore and cylinders ?

I am thinking that is going to be nasty under the grips.

Generally when I am thinking about refinishing a firearm the only time it makes any sense is when the firearm has great sentimental  value and you are willing to spend
in a big way to make it look better. Any other time the cost is way more than it will ever be worth.

If the chambers and or barrel have any of that rust it may never shoot worth a darn.

Might be a fun project to duracote or something similar, even just rattlecan it after grinding off the snot.

I would mess about with it to get it running and try shooting both jacketed and cast bullets,one or the other might run better if the bore is bad.

What the hell happened to it? Wasn't in a fire was it? If that is the case I wouldn't pull the trigger myself

Kroil - let it soak for 24 hours or so
Then 0000 wire or copper wool, gently
Repeat as required

Post AFTER pics

Bronze wool and a penny. Check the guts. If there is significant rust in the guts send back to Ruger or take to a good pistol smith.

You cant post a picture like that and not tell us how it got that way!

Thanks guys I'll get on this in the next few days and try to get some pictures up with results. It looks dirty in the barrel but not really rusty



It actually was a fire. It was in a safe buried under a bunch of stuff. Why do you say you wouldn't pull the trigger?

Been using the 0000 steel wool for years when someone brings me a rusty gun.  Just put some oil on the steel wool and rub lightly, you'll be amazed.  

It won't remove pits, but it will remove a lot of the rust and you won't even know it was rusted in that spot.

Remove those grips, those Rugers are easy to take apart.  Don't even need a tool once you get the grips off with a screw driver.

Inspect the insides, removed any rust, lube it up.

Don't know who abused/neglected that poor gun but if it's going to be mistreated in the future I'd get it satin nickle coated or black nitride.  Nothing will remove the bad pits, but at least the right refinishing/coating will better protect it in the future.

As mentioned a true copper penny with oil will work well in removing the heavier rust, I use penny's from the 70's as sometime in early 1982 they went a 97.5% zinc copper plated pennies.

Spent some time today working on this. The finish is pretty trashed, but I'm hoping its still functional. The bores dont look bad, I'm more concerned if the barrel is too damaged to shoot it safely.

Hit the bore with a bronze brush and some Kroil.  Maybe try a Lewis Lead Remover to remove something stubborn?  But if the bore is pitted, there's no fixing that.  It might still shoot, it might not.

The concern about the fire is if the gun was exposed to heat, which can change the temper of the metal.  But if the fire was far from the gun safe and the guns simply got wet, you'd probably be OK.

If you aren't concerned about preserving the factory finish (looks blued?), electrolysis will clean up all the rust without attacking the base metal.

The heat treat should be fine, if those were the grips that were on it when it was in the fire. The rubber would melt before you reached a temp that would effect the heat treat.

Myself, the very first thing I would check is the action. If it dry fires OK, then move on to the cylinder charge holes and barrel. The pic of the barrel just appears to be greasy schmutz. The charge holes may or may not be schmutz, could be corrosion. If it is, then it may not be worth even trying. If it is corrosion and results in pitting, cases may stick after being fired.

If they clean up OK, then move on to the exterior. If it is just surface rust, not a big deal, steel wool should work, although it may remove the bluing. If not pitted but the steel wool removes some bluing, I would be tempted to just leave it alone and keep it oiled. If it is pitted, then that gun seems like a perfect candidate for parkerizing, since one of the steps is to sandblast. That should remove or hide all but bad pitting.

It is worth trying to clean up. GP100s are good, strong, accurate revolvers and, when the action is "massaged", they can have surprisingly good triggers. I have a stainless 4" and, after just some light stoning of the internals to remove burrs and sharp edges where there shouldn't be any (quite a few of the internal parts are stampings and mine came with lots of burrs and sharp edges), it has a very good trigger. In fact, it is smoother than a lot of S&Ws I have shot. It is still a little heavier than a S&W because I left the factory springs in it, but it is very smooth.

Good of you to save it.  I've soaked some in motor oil before and then done the steel wool and oil, but usually not that bad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-1ZbYXz2zs

That should clean up just fine, as long as you are not too fashion conscious.

As far as safety goes, it should be safe.  If it had gotten hot enough to hurt it, those grips would show it.  If the springs are still good, the whole thing should be good.

I would think it would be a good candidate for rust bluing.  Paint is another possibility.  Nothing too expensive, as that would be uneconomical.

No guarantees it will be accurate, but it should be plenty safe.

Before and after pics

Damn that cleaned up nice! Let us know how it shoots.

Well done. Shoot her a bunch and if she still has it consider sending it out for a refinish job.

I love projects like this and really wish more of them fell into my hands around here. I'd gladly forego buying new stuff to buy neglected ones for pennies on the dollar and turn them into shooters again.

I would see how it shoots and then if that's ok, glass bead blast the outside a reblue it, leaves a nice matte surface.

Good work OP