Browning a brown Bess barrel

I don't know how much this will help, but here's my GPR "in the white":




See post #5 above for the results of the 1st coat before carding.

After carding:


2nd coat, before carding:


Final product is in above post #9 above.
 
There's a message in those photos that shouldn't be missed: browning, whether by the hot or cold process, looks terrible at first. It takes some patience and work to get it to clean up, so don't get discouraged.
 
there are several different ways to do French grey .
normally what i do is cold blue , then bring the blue back with either naval jelly or Bleach . Bleach you have to be careful with because if you rub to hard , the heat generated will produce a green color .
In this case i brought the blue back with muriatic acid . Slowly reducing the blue by lightly wiping with a cotton ball in long strokes so as to get an even finish , then neutralizing with baking soda .
here is another photo of the barrel prior to the stock being finished
Dsc01499.jpg
 
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Well the process went really smooth. There was an area on the underside and a little on the sides of the barrel where the browning would not take. It shows a little when the barrel is back on the gun, but not enough to be concerned.
The picture doesn't do it justice as it picks up a lot of light, but it really looks great. Thank you all for the advice.
 

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sorry for bumping up an old thread, but I just found this on a google search of rust browning with bleach.

Thanks Captchee for posting the photos. The info on the process and helpful tips are a great value to the rest of us!!

I normally haunt the C & R and shotgun sections, but I would like to ask a few questions here and see if any of you may have some insight.

I have recently decided to do a project shotgun and had intended to do a cold blueing of the entire barrel and reciever, it is a pump, no colector value, savage springfield from 1952.

After some research I have almost decided to do this bleach rust browning method. I love the color and patina and really want to try the process.

Do you think this would be appropriat for the kind of steel this shotgun is made of?

Thanks again
 
the bleach method may not take to well as the modern steel has less iron in it . but frankly i have not tried it on modern steels. Frankly I have not tried iton such a barrel . Now I have done it on old Remington’s , Winchesters and such as rust Black was a process that was often used . Especially on Parkers.
In the long run it will produce a far more resilient finish then cold blue .
If it were me , I would use a slow rust method using laurel mountain. By using that with repeated boils and carding , you will get a very nice smooth black color

Chicken ,
you need to oil the barrel with a good oil . i use motor oil . do you best to keep it good and wet for 12 -24 hours . then whipe it down . doing so will help stop the rusting so that the finish stays fine and smooth
 
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