Browning or In-The-White?

[Pete G.]

I like to brown the barrel and grey the lock. I've been using phosphoric acid, sold as a rust remover at marine hardware stores, on the lock. It gives an antique grey look and seems to help with protection.

[dannybb55]

Has anyone tried Ospho for metal treatment?
 Years ago I greased my rifles bore, wiped the flats with denatured alcohol and stood it in a corner of my forge for six months. Once a week I wiped the flats smooth with fine steel wool. When the barrel was even and dark enough I worked in gun oil and mounted it to the stock. She has a nice dark brown colour.

[Pete G.]

Ospho is what I use for the gray finish on the locks. It is a dilute phosphoric acid. A quart is a lifetime supply.

[wilkie]

Hi folks, I'm new to this forum but have been tinkering with cf and ml guns for abouit 50 years.  I've come up with a slightly different bluing process that might work for some projects.  I have used Brownell's Dicropan I M bluing but WITHOUT the boiling water.  You polish however you want it, degrease, then I apply the bluing like the old rust blueing with a tooth brush and brush it pretty good.  Let it set for a couple of days then steel wool it off and coat it again.  It takes very little blueing for each coat till you get what you want, usually four or five coats.  This blueing gives the same black rust coating that the hot imersion blueing does but without the tanks and heat.  I used this like the instructions say with the boiling water but had trouble with using unfiltered tap water so I tried this way and it worked pretty well.  I've also used small stainless steel brushes to card off the scale but if you are trying for a polished surface you would be better off using steel wool.  I've left this stuff on for several days at a time and it seems like it might work better, then a few days after the last coat you should oil it.