doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Winchester Mod 21 Question re: Barrel Bluing

I have a couple of tricks also.
The shine is possible, and honestly not all that difficult. I'm not sharing either.
I never polish beyond 400gr and usually only 320. Experimenting with finer grits never showed any improvement to my eye.

The baking soda neutralizing is new to me. Never done it. Honestly not even sure I have heard of it before this thread.

I have polished to 1000 quite a few times. To get the first few applications to "bite," I simply use a very minimally damp applicator and wipe repeatedly and evenly. Thus has always been sufficient, but I can think of a few other ways to reduce surface tension in the solutions that would also help.

21's always blued the best when using the older formulas which contained the Mercury Bi-chloride or other such chems that will send us all to an early grave.

I've had problems doing 21 bbl's with MarkLee Express. The bluing develops a reddish coloration on some edges after a while and is not all that wear resistant as you'd expect from a rust blue.
Laurel Mtn Slow Rust has worked better as far as the above issues. But the need to allow it to rust longer (cycles) is hard to end up with a shiny surface. The LCS Field Grade look isn't my first choice on a 21 thought it is Blue and wears well.
Less rusting/shorter cycles and more of them doesn't seem to give the desired result. Only a weaker finish that wears easily.

I've got some of the Brownell's Orig Belgian Blue formula , the new issue stuff that is supposed to be the same as the original formula. That orig had Merc Bi Chloride in it.
I tested it back when I got iy by swiping some onto some warmed up clean brass surface. It plated out what appeared to be Mercury onto the brass just the orig formulas would do (Like Herters).
Smelled like it too.
So I never used it. I figured at that point I had inhaled and eaten enough silvery metal after 35yrs (at that point) of rust bluing.
Mark Lee's Express and L/Mtn for slow Rust.
I have a feeling that New/Old Belgian Blue formula may work pretty good on 21's but have never tried it.

Now I don't take on any rust blue projects anymore. I just do some of my own accumulated projects,,,and if I never see a Winchester 21 again it'll be way too soon.

FWIW, L/Mtn is known to afterrust quite easily and I had problems with it doing that as did/do a lot of people.
A couple things I found to easily avoid it..
1..after the last boiling and carding cycle of the L/Mtn,,go right after the surface and apply a coating of Mark Lee' Expree Rust Blue.
Just as if you had been Express Rust Bluing the piece all along.
Warm the metal if needed, thin coating, etc, etc,
Back into the still boiling water tank.
10 to 15 min pull it out and card it off.
Use your standard after blue oil procedure from there.
The Mark Lee single Express Blue coating for what ever reason kills the L/Mtn from after rusting.

#2,,and easier yet... After boiling and carding the last cycle of L/Mtn
Hang and let the parts cool a bit till just warm.
Then coat the parts all over with 'Refined Linseed Oil' I use some labled Winsor & Newton brand. It's an Artists supply thing.
Here's a link to some
https://www.dickblick.com/products/winsor-newton-refined-linseed-oil/
The warm metal will help to spread and cover the parts.
Let them hang and sit for a day at least. 2 is better.
The oil will be hardened or nearly so when you go to handle the parts and assemble but the coating will wipe off with a cloth dampened with your fav gun oil.

The best part of this is that the Refined Linseed Oil prevents any After Rust.
No blackened cloth or towels when rubbing down the parts afterwards or the next day or week.

Boiled Linseed Oil doesn't seem to do the same magic.
'Refined Linseed' does it.