Cleaning up a stainless barrel

J

jd3020

New member
Ok so i finally got this guy to sell me his ruger m77 mark II and its the black synthetic stock with stainless barrel. Now i know i did well on this gun for picking it up for 280 because the guy i bought it from was my ex-brother in law. Yeah you could say it could of been a little bit of pay back but any ways thats beyond the point. Now while i was around him he did hunt with it but i never saw him clean it. as to seeing it yesterday i could tell it was pretty dirty. After cleaning it up it looked pretty good and then i noticed all the fine little scratches on the outside of the barrel. I did my normal cleaning procdure on the and it cleaned some of them up but i was wondering is there a way to polish the barrel and get those fine scratches out? I thought about a really really fine sand paper but i dont want to scratch it any more.
 
Stainless steel scratches easily believe it or not. I would say steel wool might do it but use a fine grade and try it first in a small spot. It might make a "shinier" spot then the rest and look worse then the scratches. SS also dents more easily then chrome moly even though the hardness is the same. And finally SS "wears" better then chrome/moly slightly. Strange. I have the identical rifle and stupidly let my BIL take it on a hunting trip to Alaska. It came back with a nice dent on the o.d. of the barrel crown. I filed it as best as I could and it didn't affect the grouping but I was PO'd. No one ever borrows my rifles anymore.
 
Shoot it. I think if you try removing the lottle scratches out, you will loose barrel life.......
 
i plan on shooting it see/make sure the barrel isnt bent. it dosent look like it but like i said this guy dosent take care of his stuff very well. i think i can achieve this with my bore sighter. any ways im not nessicaiarly wanting to file the barrel down just polish it up to clear the stuff away. i have a nice set of aluminum wheels on my boat trailer and they are constantly getting scratched and stuff and mothers polish always takes them out but i didnt know if i could do the same with this ss barrel or not.
 
Don't use steel wool. It rusts and you will imbed pieces in the barrel and it will show rust.
Flitz or 'mothers something' are the two polishes people like to use.
I used Flitz on a Ruger GP100 police trade in that was pretty beat up. I was very happy with the results. I did the whole gun and the finished part was shinier than the unfinished, so doing part may not be an option. I kept it by the TV with an old T-shirt and the polish for a week.

SOme people use dremels or polishing wheels on grinders, but it causes minor aesthetic problems I can't think of how to explain b/c it is round. It is easy, but it takes time.

I don't see how you can reduce barrel life polishing the exterior unless you are using an aggressive power tool.
 
I used to be a big fan of stainless steel guns, until I realized how easily they scratch. Now, I'd rather have carbon steel with one of the newer hard-chrome processes like Tanfoglio's "Wonder Finish". Same look as stainless, similar resistance to corrosion, but much tougher against scratches.
 
You bought a work horse, not a showhorse. Those tiny scratches won't hurt a thing. If it were mine I'd have the whole thing beadblasted to match the finish on the newer Hawkeyes's if I were doing anything. I'd probably just leave it alone.
 
i had wondered about using a drimmel. i have one of those mothers balls that goes on a power drill and i dont think its to agressive to hurt any thing. i know the gun is made for hunting and its a great one at that. I have 2 ruger pistols and this makes my 3rd rifle from them one a m77 mk II 243 stainless and a ruger hawkeye. I guess when it comes to my guns i like to keep them in tip top shape. not only for resale but if someone comes to buy a gun i have for sale and they see the condition of the others they will know i take care of them. i guess you could say im anal that way
 
No Dremel !!! Just wipe it down with gun oil to clean it .Don't try to remove scratches unless you want to polish the whole barrel
 
I used to be a big fan of stainless steel guns, until I realized how easily they scratch. Now, I'd rather have carbon steel with one of the newer hard-chrome processes like Tanfoglio's "Wonder Finish". Same look as stainless, similar resistance to corrosion, but much tougher against scratches.
Click to expand...

And they (Remington and TC) have the tri-nite nitriding (heat treatment) over stainless which is almost impossible to damage and won't rust. Then there are other coatings as you mentioned that work well. Being a retired metallurgist I like the heat treatments better as the tri-nide etc will also drastically increase barrel life.
 
i dont mind polishing the whole barrel. i was actually considering tearing the whole thing apart to do so. so on that note what should i use to polish it wil and what should i use for polish?
 
You can polish the scratches out if you want. But the first time you take it out of the safe to actually use it they will be right back. Go shoot the darn thing.
 
First, make sure the barrel doesn't have Ruger's "Target Gray" finish.
This is some sort of finish that gives stainless a true gray color. It isn't just bead blasted.
If you try to polish this type of finish you can't restore it.

If the barrel is standard stainless steel, remove the barrel and action from the receiver and use strips of very fine sand cloth "shoe shine" fashion on the barrel.
Once the scratches are out, buy a couple of Scotchbrite synthetic polishing pads from an automotive supply house.
Pick a "grit" that most closely matches the original grained finish and rub the barrel crosswise to even out the finish.
 
I'm sorry, I was thinking the problem was on the inside of the barrel. Use the mildest means to clean up your barrel.
 
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