1803 Harper’s Ferry barrel browning

[CooleyS]

I am finishing up an 1803 Harper’s Ferry type I and have been experimenting with barrel browning. Early military browning looks to be more brick red in color instead of the standard LMF or similar brown, and almost translucent like a lacquer. So far the closest I’ve come to this is using Mark Lee browning solution. Has anyone had success achieving a military style brown for a barrel? I couldn’t find anything in Angier’s book and am hoping that someone has a reddish brown browning recipe out there.

[Clark Badgett]

Unfortunately we are looking at 200 year old guns. All the browned military weapons I've seen looked dark brown, even close to black at least under museum lighting anyway. I've never had the good fortune to examine a real 1803 in person, so I have no idea what they were like.

[CooleyS]

I completely agree, everything looks different after 200+ years.
I have had the opportunity to inspect a Hall rifle in un-fired and as perfect condition as you’ll find. The browning on the barrel was different from a “regular” brown. There is also an 1803 in Cody that is in very good condition, and the browning appeared to be the same brick red, lacquer looking brown job.

[Mad Monk]

I am finishing up an 1803 Harper’s Ferry type I and have been experimenting with barrel browning. Early military browning looks to be more brick red in color instead of the standard LMF or similar brown, and almost translucent like a lacquer. So far the closest I’ve come to this is using Mark Lee browning solution. Has anyone had success achieving a military style brown for a barrel? I couldn’t find anything in Angier’s book and am hoping that someone has a reddish brown browning recipe out there.

I remember a quip in Angier's book stating that they once used ferric nitrate to brown barrels.  That would be the same ferric nitrate (nitrate of iron) used at that time on curly maple gunstocks.  When I used old nearly pure iron bars from the 1800s to make my nitrate of iron stain with nitric acid shortly after I would pull the bars out of the acid reaction bottle the bars would turn a very red brown.  So of course I could not pass up on that one.  Then the BIG problem set in.  That worked on old nearly pure ion but not on any of the modern barrels made with some form of steel.   The old wrought iron was fairly corrosion proof bu the nitric acid would continue to work on my bars until they dried.  Then washed in water to remove any acid I would wipe the bar with a thin coat of raw linseed oil and the bar would retain the red color.  But I could never get that red brown color on modern steels.

When I showed my work to Chuck Dixon he thought about how he has never seen an original longrifle with browning on the barrel below where the stock wood covered it.  So did they brown the barrel mounted in the stock when they stained the rifle. 

Anyway.  You might just not be able to get the color browning and appearance on  a modern steel barrel.

[borderdogs]

I once owned an original 1803 Harper's Ferry and  the barrel was originally bright although the one I had had developed a patina over 200 plus years.
Rob

[smart dog]

Hi,
Is this the color you seek?






It was done using Waukon Bay browning with a little ferric chloride and alcohol added.  The barrel was well polished and degreased, then the browning is applied very sparingly with a swab.  The barrel is left to rust the first time only for 4-6 hours depending on humidity.  You want slow, slow rusting.  Then the barrel is washed in very hot water but NOT boiling.  The water should be about 180-190 degrees. Then the barrel is carded using a soft stainless steel wheel on my lathe (or drill).  Browning is applied again sparingly but for every subsequent application, the barrel is only allowed to rust for 2 hours.  Repeat the washing and carding and the entire cycle until you get the color and finish you want. I found that no other commercial solution gave me that color only Waukon Bay.

dave 

[CooleyS]

I should have known you’d come through with what I was looking for smart dog! Do you happen to recall the ratios used in that browning process? I already have ferric chloride crystals and 90% alcohol ( I am assuming you used isopropyl and not denatured).

[Daryl]

That soft brown is quite prevalent (I think) on British SxS's.
 IIRC, that was the colour on the 1803 repros too.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

This pistol was created by mt friend "Sydney" on this site.  He achieved that watery red brown on both the barrel and lock and perhaps, if he sees this, he'll join in the conversation and make comments.

[CooleyS]

With the influence that English made firearms may have had on the 1803's, it makes sense that a browning process may have been borrowed or a similar method used...thanks, and I hope he does chime in.

[smart dog]

Hi,
My solution was Wahkon Bay rust browning (2 oz bottle) to which I added 1/4 oz of ferric chloride (Radio Shack etchant) and 3/4 oz of denatured alcohol.  Having studied a number of British guns with reddish brown twist barrels I am convinced most of the red color is the result of just a few applications of browning solution.  With the twist barrels, the figure or marbling obscures any uneveness in the browning.  It just looks like marbling, and a few coats usually yields a rusty red. However, the challenge is as you do more coats to even the browning on modern (no twist) barrels, the color darkens to the usual deep dark chocolate color.  However, by using many very thin coats, short rusting periods, hot water wash,  and thorough carding with the soft stainless steel mop, the red can be mostly preserved. 

dave     

[Craig Wilcox]

That beautiful reddish brown is very apparent on my 1850's double 10-bore.  Girl friend said it should be bluish-black as with my modern firearms.  I replied, "Not on your life!"

The double 16-bore is close, but no cigar.  And the 15-bore, with it's clearly Damascus Twist, is no where near - it remains a nice gray, and shows the twist very well.

Still trying to remove the nipples on the 16-bore.  They are totally mangled,  as with the single-barrel 10-bore.  Just about to take them to my machinist friend.  I have sprung two different nipple wrenches on these rascals.  I have plenty of new nipples for whenever they get removed.

For those wanting a good Ferric nitrate, pure iron (Fe) in powder form can be obtained through Fisher Scientific.  However, from what our resident Monk says, the barrel also needs to be iron, NOT steel.

[Bob Roller]

Dave,
Does that long rifle have a slight concave in the top flat?Looks like it.
Taylor,
Is that one of my locks on the cased outfit?
Bob Roller

[smart dog]

Hi Bob,
It is flat.  It is a 34" barrel by Charlie Burton and is a straight taper 1 1/16" at the breech to 15/16" at the muzzle.  I am sure it is 12L14 steel.

dave

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Bob:  I don't think so, but if I talk to my friend soon, I'll ask...looks like an L & R or Davis to me...

Taylor

[fahnenschmied]

At least the 1841 US Rifle, and the 1855s, and quite a few Halls carbines had a barrel finish that was not browned or russetted, but rather lacquered, with a lacquer colored with, or made from, a plant extract called Dragons Blood.  Possibly such a similar stuff was used on our older martial rifles as well.

[Clark Badgett]

M1855 rifle muskets did not have a lacquer coating. They were armory bright. Lacquer would be about the dumbest finish to put on a martial arm since it's prone to coming off when wet.

[fahnenschmied]

I wasn't referring to the 1855 rifle musket - I was referring to the 1855 rifle.  Like the 1841 and the later Remington 1863 "Zouave", they had brown barrels when new.  The lacquer used on US military arms stayed on pretty well - I've handled and shot a few that still had lots of it left after a century and a half.

[Clark Badgett]

Straight from the 1841 Ordnance manual. Not lacquer, but very probably polymerized oil.

114

CHAP. VI. -SMALL ARMS.
BROWNED ARMS.

The barrels and mountings of rifles and carbines are browned at the armories before being received for the service; the locks, ramrods, band springs, bayonets for 6 in. from the points, triggers, receivers and screws are not browned. The parts of these arms should be thoroughly inspected before browning, and the finished arm after being browned.

Instructions for Browning Arms.

Materials for Browning Mixture.
1 1/2 oz. spirits of wine.
1 1/12 oz ' tincture of steel.
1/2 oz. corrosive sublimate.
1 1/2 oz. sweet spirits of nitre.
1 oz. blue vitriol.
3/4 oz. nitric acid.

To be mixed and dissolved in 1 quart of soft water - the mixture to be kept in glass bottles and not in earthen jugs.

Previous to commencing the operation of browning, it is necessary that the barrel or other part should be made quite bright with emery or a fine smooth file, (but not burnished,) after which it must be carefully cleaned from all greasiness; a small quantity of pounded lime rubbed well over every part of the barrel is the best - for this purpose. Plugs of wood are then to be put into the muzzle of the barrel and into the vent, and the mixture applied to every part with a clean sponge or rag. The barrel is then to be exposed to the air for twenty -four hours; after which time, it is to be well rubbed over with a steel scratch card or scratch brush, until the rust is entirely removed; the mixture may then be applied again, as before, and in a few hours the barrel will be sufficiently corroded for the operation of scratch brushing to be repeated. The same process of scratching off the rust and applying the mixture is to be repeated twice or three times a day for four or five days, by which time the barrel will be of a very dark brown color.

When the barrel is sufficiently brown and the rust has been carefully removed from every part, about a quart of boiling water should be poured over every part of the barrel, in order that the action of the acid mixture upon the barrel may be destroyed and the rust thereby prevented from rising again.

The barrel, when cold, should afterwards be rubbed over with linseed oil or sperm oil. It is particularly directed that the steel scratch card or scratch brush be used in the place of a hard hair brush, otherwise the browning will not be durable nor have a good appearance.
The browning mixture is applied to other parts of arms in the same manner as to the barrels.

[Hungry Horse]

They called it plumb brown for a reason. Have you ever seen a brown plumb that wasn’t rotten? Over years all browned barrels become browner. A clear red-brown is the color you should be looking for. 

  Hungry Horse

[Scota4570]

"1/2 oz. corrosive sublimate."

AKA mercuric chloride, very toxic stuff that is readily absorbed.  In old BC plumb brown, a solution containing it that is swabbed on to a hot barrel produces steam.  It also produces nice rust.  The steam is inhaled, you are permanently poisoned by mercury.  Avoid mercuric chloride. 

[Daryl]

"1/2 oz. corrosive sublimate."

AKA mercuric chloride, very toxic stuff that is readily absorbed.  In old BC plumb brown, a solution containing it that is swabbed on to a hot barrel produces steam.  It also produces nice rust.  The steam is inhaled, you are permanently poisoned by mercury.  Avoid mercuric chloride.

I stopped using it due to the steam/vapours - smelled VERY toxic.

[Bob Roller]

Ted Cole,now long deceased (1962) sold what he called corrosive mercury at his display at Friendship and the various gun shows he attended. He cautioned all who bought it about its dangerous potential and told me his only sister committed suicide by drinking it and it was not a quick way to die.
Bob Roller

[Clark Badgett]

A lot of these old formulae are pretty toxic stuff. I posted this not to advise usage of this formula, instead as a reference as to whether the rifles were rusted brown or lacquered brown. While the regulation from 1841 cannot be the sole authority as to the metal treatments, I do believe there are extant correspondences that mention the usage of a solution that often kept on working on the steel after the arm had entered service, dating back to the 1820s at least.

[fahnenschmied]

Thanks for posting that formula - I knew I had seen an ordnance manual for browning somewhere but couldn't find it.  I had thought I had seen a formula for a lacquer with dragon's blood a long time ago - maybe for a Halls carbine - not sure.