doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Cleaning up an older Uggie

Thanks, I hadn't been there before. Looks like lots of guys are messing around with these older Spanish doubles.



Thanks for the advice. Two questions, though...

1) What do you mean by "protect the checkering"? Do you mean just don't sand it, or would I need to do something to it while soaking the stock?

2) I might give the faux grain thing a shot. Like you said, I don't have much into this and it's picnic table wood right now. Does anyone have any techniques to recommend? Is it actually paint, a small torch, or something else? Kind of amazing what can be done: http://www.larsongunart.com/

Protect the checkering means tape it off so it isn't covered in oil, varnish or whatever the rest of the stock gets. Carb cleaner can get all the schmutz out of the checkering while being coaxed with a brass brush that follows the angles of the checkering.

One more quick question: Given that the boxlock was case hardened I understand that it might not be the same color as the barrels if it gets reblued with them.

If I used some sort of acid (boric?) to get all the old colors/grime off, would I have something similar to a French grey finish? Would it need anything applied over the top to keep it from rusting, or is the steel hard enough that it will be fairly rust resistant?

Thanks, good to know!

The steel on the frame will retain its hardening after the colors have been removed. You might try a thorough cleaning on the frame before you try to remove the colors, so that the patina remains but the crud is gone. If you decide to remove the colors with the wood on the gun, tape off the wood and polish the frame with Flitz or Simichrome. Some have reportedly gotten a nice French Grey finish by using EasyOff Oven Cleaner on the frame, but this would require disassembling the gun. It may look nice, but it won't look right on a boxlock Uggie. Regarding the barrels and considering the value of the gun, you might consider refreshing the bluing with Oxpho Blue, available from Brownell's.

Blue Wonder is also a nice bluing agent.

Its a "warm" blue vs a hot salts blue or a rust blue. I refinished a cylinder on a Ruger Blackhawk this way and it came out looking rather nice. (holds its color still, after several cleaning sessions with Hoppes #9)

I've known guys who will build their own "swamp box" in there garage and slow rust blue old barrels in the middle of summer.

Rust blue tends to hold up better than a hot salts blue...