TVM nearly done

[oldtravler61]

Black Jack your last sentence says it perfectly an what the other's have stated. Every gun you build there will be something you want or should have done better. Maybe even wiser but this craft takes time. So of the few of us that can go to classes or have (lucky) a mentor to help them along. But you an I, an so many other's have this sight to guide us. With so many talented people on here makes it  Priceless beyond compare. At that we are so lucky.....

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

and rust bluing can be done without the pitting and rough look. 

Chowmi, or do you prefer Norm?  Now I'm curious.  What needs to be done to prevent the pitting or rough look?  Vigorous carding between applications?  Or do you have to start with a fairly smooth surface to begin with?

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

It is looking even better!  I worked up from 30 grains of FFFg and at 40 grains the group shrunk nicely.  This is just sitting my butt in the grass with my elbow on my knee at 35 yards.  The blue holes are the 40 grain charge under .350" buckshot and deer tallow greased cotton drill and a small glob of tallow between the patch and powder.  

The lower set of 3 blue holes are from before I filed the sight.  Filed it a little bit . . . and boom!  In the black.

DSC07602 by frozenfrizzen, on Flickr

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Great fun!!

[frogwalking]

With either browning or rust bluing, pitting and a rough finish can be prevented.  start with a pretty good finish on the steel.  I like a 320 finish, but listen to the more experienced folk on this issue.  The main thing is to card often.  It is letting each rusting period go on too long that creates the pits.  I do not use a humidity controlled box, so summer sometimes finds me carding three times a day, and leaving the parts not treated with rusting liquid over night to prevent the pits.  In winter, once a day, or even every two days is enough carding.  Depends on temperature and humidity.  Carding too often can only make a shiny finish at the expense of putting too much work into it.  My friend does not even polish the locks, but browns the bead blasted finish.  It is not shiny, but sure is less work.  Listen to these folks.  They are giving you priceless advice.

[Chowmi]

Black Jaque,
Norm or Chowmi is fine.  Chowmi is my old USAF name (pronounced: chow-my.  don't ask...)

Frogwalking's advice is good.  There are also several topics here on the forum relating to browning, and specifically with LMF. 

It is very dry where I live, and I did not use a sweat-box.  In fact, I had a hard time getting a good, deep brown, and really did not have to avoid pitting.  I draw filed and sanded to about 220 grit, maybe 325 or so.  I over polished the lock, and had a really hard time getting some of it to brown.  The browning solution does need a little bit of a rough surface to take hold. 

The browning process took me about a week, with probably 4-5 applications, and I even let a few lock parts sit for 3 days while I was out of town.  I believe this is due to the low humidity and possibly the overly smooth surface on my lock parts.   The barrel probably took about 5 days.  I wouldn't take my experience as the normal.  Most guys I see talking about LMF can do it in 2 days. 
Anyway, my point was that I did card between applications, but due to the low humidity, was not in danger of pitting. 

I boiled the lock parts in distilled water and for the most part had very good results.  There is a section on the cock that is not as nice as I'd like, but I'm sure that is because the browning didn't go as well as I wanted for that piece. 

I also learned that the pieces don't necessarily need to be in a full boil.  I got a 2 inch diameter PVC pipe and capped one end to rust blue the barrel.  I put the barrel in the pipe, and then filled it with just-boiled (i.e., very hot) distilled water and left it for 20 minutes.  It came out real nice.  I'm having issues with Flickr right now, but will try to put a picture up when I get it sorted out. 

Cheers,
Norm

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

I examined the barrel and lock again.  I don't think it is pitted.  I did nothing to the lock other than degrease it.  So the lock had that bead-blasted look when I began rusting it.  I didn't do much to the barrel either, other than file some tool marks.  So the surfaces were pretty rough to begin with.

The other thing that I did was applied Johnson Paste wax after pulling it out of the boiling water and letting it dry some.  Johnson's Paste Wax has a lot of solvents that evaporated pretty quickly on the warm metal.  I think part of the roughness is just a "knocked down" look from high spots of wax.  If that is the case it should smooth out with mild use, I'm sure the wax won't be that durable. 

Still learnin'. . .

[Mike Brooks]

I examined the barrel and lock again.  I don't think it is pitted.  I did nothing to the lock other than degrease it.  So the lock had that bead-blasted look when I began rusting it.  I didn't do much to the barrel either, other than file some tool marks.  So the surfaces were pretty rough to begin with.

The other thing that I did was applied Johnson Paste wax after pulling it out of the boiling water and letting it dry some.  Johnson's Paste Wax has a lot of solvents that evaporated pretty quickly on the warm metal.  I think part of the roughness is just a "knocked down" look from high spots of wax.  If that is the case it should smooth out with mild use, I'm sure the wax won't be that durable. 

Still learnin'. . .

Don't worry about it, it's fine.

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

And the best part. . .

20161108_092635 by frozenfrizzen, on Flickr

20161110_103849 by frozenfrizzen, on Flickr

[Chowmi]

Black Jaque,
that all makes sense now.  It was hard to tell in the photos.  
Glad your rifle shoots well and goes bang when you want it to!  It sounds like you perfecty achieved your goals on this rifle, and that is all anyone could ask for.
Your post got me thinking, and I went and looked at my Pedersoli Pennsylvania rifle.  While the inletting etc. looks good from a distance on the Pedersoli, it's not as good as you did.  I think you got what you were looking for.

Ha ha! as I was writing this, you posted the successful hunt pictures.  Well done!

Cheers,
Chowmi

[rfd]

bjj - BEAUTIFUL rifle!