Phosphate finish questions

C

Coronach

New member
I noticed this the other day. I have a FAL with a military phosphate (parkerized?) finish. I keep it nice and oiled with CLP, yet fingerprints keep showing up on it...the SAME fingerprints, each time. You pull out the rifle, note the slightly wet-looking prints, you wipe it down and they go away. A week or so later you pull out the rifle and the same prints in the same locations are back again. What is causing this?

Thanks,
Mike

PS Don't say 'gremlins' or 'snipe.' ;)
 
Just a guess on my part.

They CAN'T be prints from before the park job, the park wouldn't stick to the oil.

Maybe the natural finger oil is less prone to evaporation than the CLP.

Try acetone or another mild degreaser, then CLP the whole thing.
 
Try de- greasing with Gun Scrubber or Automotive brake cleaner. the metal will then appear very light in color, then re- oil... The prints maybe preventing the oil to penetrate the same degree, causing the prints to show
 
It could be that after the part went through the phosphate dip, someone inspected the part by holding it bare handed. Thinking that the parkerizing was not complete redipped the part in the phosphate for futher treatment and continued on. After handling it with dirty fingers, he should have started all over and stripped the part in the acid dip, wash and clean it, then phosphate it again.

If this is the case, you will have to strip and refinish it if you want to remove the print.
 
Thanks. Obviously I'll try the degreaser first. (:D)

I suspect they are my prints, possibly from me fondling the gun prior to be putting the first dose of CLP on. I don't recall them being there when I first picked it up from my FFL.

Mike
 
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