bluing salts

[one shot]

https://ammoniumnitrateforsale.com/Ammonium-Nitrate-For-Sale-Non-coated-prill-form_c8.htm is this the same stuff that when mixed with lye is used to hot blue guns .

[lyman]

dunno, but I doubt it,

thanks for the post tho,,

for whatever reason it reminded me I needed to place an order with Brownells,,,

[Merc]

Here’s a method of hot blueing that only uses heat and oil. Very interesting but probably a far cry from the original method of hot blueing firearms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sty5upsadY

Edit: He makes a great point concerning hot blueing hardened or heat treated parts and when cold blueing should be used.

[Allen]

Not meaning to alter the course of this thread but I have had pretty good luck with cold blueing if applied properly.

What I have found that alters the appearance a lot is the hardness/alloy of the metal.

Examples were a Win 22 bolt action: The blueing came out as a factory looking, deep dark blue/nearly black. (soft metal/high carbon?)

A Remington 870: The blueing came out looking more like chrome with very little color being added---very pale grey. (hard metal chrome alloy?).

In all cases the prep has been the same removing all old blue and finishing the metal to a near mirror finish before appling the blueing.

I have not hot blued but looking at the different finishes on different new guns I would have to assume the metal composition also applies to hot blue applications. Different salts may have to be used to produce the desired color on different manufactures due to their metal chemistry.

[one shot]

Won't be till spring but this is what I'm going to do https://www.guntechtips.com/bluing/bluing.htm . Of course I need a shed because of the corrosion and a tank and burner setup gonna cost some $ but It's what I want .

[barretcreek]

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