Posted: 7/29/2004 12:36:09 PM EDT
| I had my .308 deer rifle in storage for over a year. When I pulled it out rust had attacked it kind of bad, whats the best way to remove it without further hurting the finish? |
| In order to not harm the finish, the rust must be VERY light. You can take it off with some oil and fine steel wool, but go easy. However, it sounds like yours is not a candidate. You can remove it, but your finish is shot! Let me guess, stored in a plastic/eggshell foam case... |
A $6 silicon impregnated cotton gun sock really can't be beat. You can't dream up a worse scenerio than a plastic/egg foam. The plastic traps what moisture is in there, and the foam gives no room for what air is in there to circulate. Anything that breathes will work, which is the problem with the plastic ones. I use plastic ones for transport, as they are superior for protection from getting knocked around, but don't leave them in there for long unless you know it was not humid when you shut it (like you live in the high desert). |
The foam envelops what is in there. They may dry out the area an inch around them, but if the air cannot circulate, those are useless. This would depend on the nature of the foam inside, but they are all fairly similar. |
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Before anything like steel wool, try using Flitz cleaning paste. I know of a PD that puts their disassembled service guns in a case tumbler full of standard media and a teaspoon of flitz, and then lets it run. Chance that Flitz will hurt anything, very very very low. Chance that it will remove surface rust stains, very high. Steel wool and oil will remove it, but virtually guaranteed to remove bluing in the process, and will certainly take the surrounding finish from gloss to matte. |