Well, I've finally finished the antiqueing of my new 1858 Remington. I managed to get some birchwood casey plum brown and over the Christmas weekend I browned the 58. The plum brown that I got said on the instructions to de-grease the metal and then heat the metal up to 275 degrees, so I took the gun down to the last screw and washed all the metal I was going to brown in a sink full of hot water with a lot of dawn dish liquid, dryed off everything and stuck it all in the oven on a cookie sheet I bought just for this.
After it was all heated up, I put on the first coat of browning and let it work until everything was cooled off to the point of being able to handle without getting burned and then back in the hot soapy water for a wash down then back in the oven for another round. After the second coat of brown I took some 0000 steel wool and took some of the brown off and then washed everything again and did the whole process three more times and then the steel wool again. Everything is re-assembled now and I also took the steel wool to the grips to take some of the shine off and make them more dull looking.
I'm very pleased with how it turned out and I have a comparison picture of an original 58 remington that I got off the net that looks very similar to how mine turned out.
Heres my brand new out of the box 1858 Remington
Here's the first stage of the refinish, took all the blueing off
After it was all heated up, I put on the first coat of browning and let it work until everything was cooled off to the point of being able to handle without getting burned and then back in the hot soapy water for a wash down then back in the oven for another round. After the second coat of brown I took some 0000 steel wool and took some of the brown off and then washed everything again and did the whole process three more times and then the steel wool again. Everything is re-assembled now and I also took the steel wool to the grips to take some of the shine off and make them more dull looking.
I'm very pleased with how it turned out and I have a comparison picture of an original 58 remington that I got off the net that looks very similar to how mine turned out.
Heres my brand new out of the box 1858 Remington
Here's the first stage of the refinish, took all the blueing off