Cosmetic Metal Repair

’ve I heard it said that the two biggest dangers a firearm faces are rust and politicians. Positive results of a given election shows how the latter works. Rust, on the other hand, is sneaky and may strike when you least expect it. I’ve worked on many rusted and pitted firearms over the years and the traditional method of removing pits in the metal has been to draw file the piece until you cut below the pitting, then rebluing or refinishing. That is still the recommended method when such action is possible.

I have come across a few gun parts that could not be saved by the draw file method because they were very thin and removing enough metal would have left little more than steel foil. For example, I did an article for Brownells Web Bench about restoring a pitted Remington Nylon 66 receiver cover. After using rust and blue remover to get it down to bare metal, I used three coats of black Brownells Aluma-Hyde II to fill and finish the piece.

That worked out extremely well as the self-leveling properties of the Aluma-Hyde allowed the first two coats to fill the pits and the third coat left a smooth clean surface. I was very pleased with the result. I’ve been experimenting with using auto body repair methods to fill pits, scratches, and the like in noncritical areas to cosmetically repair the surface of the metal. Recently, I purchased a pre-64 Winchester 94 that had been put down on something wet and left.

The result was a receiver, tang, barrel, and barrel bands heavily pitted on one side. Parts like the barrel band can be simply replaced. The barrel can be draw filed or turned but that would also remove the factory markings. I elected to replace the barrel on this gun because it had been rechambered to .30-30 Ackley Improved and I wanted to return it to the original .30-30 chambering and to draw file the receiver to restore the surface finish.

Draw filing is the process of using a single cut file on a secured workpiece at the far end of the worked area and pulling (drawing) the file toward you. This is repeated over and over until all pits are removed and the surface has been brought to a flat state. While filing you may be surprised how irregular the surface of the firearm is. Very few are truly flat but they will be when you are finished.

I also filled all the screw and pin holes with modeling clay to keep the filings out of the interior of the gun as much as possible. Once all the pits and high spots have been reduced, the surface is polished and blued. The magazine tube presented a different problem as it was too thin to file. Taking a page from the auto body folks, I wondered if the magazine tube pits could be filled much like dents are filled in an auto body shop.

Based on the rough handling firearms are subjected to and having had some experience with

This is about the time you are ready to give up. Don’t. plastic body fillers in my youth, I ruled them out. Going way back in history, there was a time body work was done by filling the rusted-out metal with lead. That might work if I had the skill of those old bodyand-fender guys but soldering is not one of my strong suits. Stick with the file and avoid making the job harder. The method I used was application of Brownells Acraglas Gel as my filler.

This is the bedding material gunsmiths have used for decades to bed actions into rifle stocks. It doesn’t shrink and stands up to the punishment of even the heaviest recoiling hunting rifles. The procedure I used was to remove all the rust and finish remaining on the magazine tube with rust and blue remover. Any of the commercial rust removers will do a great job.

The idea is to remove the rust all the way to the bottom of the deepest pit so when epoxy is on, there is no rust underneath continuing to attack the metal. I scrubbed the rust remover in with a stiff brush and heated the area afterward with a hot air gun to remove any lingering moisture. The Acraglas Gel was then mixed, dyed black, and spread on the tube like butter on bread. Once the epoxy was cured (I gave it 24 hours) I then sanded it down to leave a smooth surface.

After that, a cold blue was used to reblue the tube.

The result was not all that I hoped for as the pits could still be seen as dark spots. Of course, epoxy won’t hold up in a bluing tank so hot bluing is out. However, the tube could be replaced or painted with the black semi-gloss Aluma-Hyde II, an air-cured epoxy coating. This can render the gun very presentable, certainly more so than the pitted remains of a once-proud Winchester.

Successful as this procedure can be, heavier and deeper pitting will require more coats of finish and you’re left with a painted finish on the gun, something a number of people object to. Again, even high temperature epoxies will not stand up to the high temperature and corrosiveness of a bluing tank. The body filler method will only work with high temperature epoxies if used on barrels subjected to heating via long strings of fire.

If bluing is the only acceptable finish, you’re left with the traditional, labor intensive method of draw filing, polishing, and rebluing. Draw filing is not difficult, it just takes a lot of time, work, and patience. When it seems you aren’t making any progress, don’t give up. Just persist in your filing and you will get there. I tend to be impatient and have tried to hurry the process by using a belt sander.

Unless you are very good with one, it’s easy to cut a groove in the metal with the edger of the abrasive and that will double the work you have as you now must remove the new groove along with the pitting. I know from experience. Stick with the file. The gun was fully disassembled before work started. This offers the opportunity to detail clean and inspect all the parts as well as replace any that are worn or broken. One part I will almost always replace on any old tube-fed firearm is the magazine tube spring.

Over the years, many tube springs will have lost much of their original power and many feeding problems can be cured by simply replacing the spring with anew one. After the finish work and reassembly the gun is much more presentable. I no longer get any, "Oh, what happened to your ‘94?" questions when I take it to the range or hunting. That alone has made the whole job worth while. AG Top Bottom Not an invisible repair but a much improved look.