Refinish BLR receiver, part II: Pitting or Porosity?

[Jeff, CA]

I followed the suggestions given here and by my local gunsmith, that is, go over the spots in question with some #0000 steel wool and Hoppe's #9.

It pretty well took care of the old fingerprint (90%). A little more elbow grease would probably take it off altogether. However, the 1/8" spot was strange - it wasn't a shallow depression. It was more like an area of the original, intact surface with about a half-dozen pinholes in the steel. I'd swear they look like tiny air bubbles. Are these small, individual rust pits, or could it be a flaw in the steel?

 

[Badger Arms]

Without seeing it, I have three theories.

1: It's rust pits. These shouldn't be shiny though.
2: Dents from some idiot trying to drive the pins out. I've got some on my BLR 358 also.
3: This was the result of an Alien probe. They combine the little divits of steel with laser-cut Cow ears and manufacture mutant, rifle/cow hybrids.

If you think it's theory one or two, you should not worry about it as both of these are harmless in that area. It was, after all, a used gun and that won't effect how it shoots.

If it was theory three, I have the solution. The alien headquarters is in my garage. If you ship all of your firearms and money to me, I'll make sure the aliens don't vaporize your eyeballs on the day of the invasion. Please do this BEFORE you put on the Nike's and take the poison.

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God made us in his own image.
Thomas Jefferson made us free.
John Browning made us equal.

Without Browning, we might not know about the other two...

 

[stuckatwork]

Jeff,

I would hazard a guess and say that what you are discribing is a forging/casting flaw. Since Iseem to have missed Part I of your saga, I am assuming that it is an older rifle. Another possiblity is that someone tried to gas weld on the barrel (for what ever reason) and the puddle got too hot and started bubbling. This would account for the tiny pits at the bottom of the depression. Just a guess.

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You can find the price of freedom, buried in the ground.

 

[Jeff, CA]

I'm going to go with either rust pits or a casting/forging flaw. I think the holes are awful small to have been caused by a punch of any size. I also don't think it's from a torch, either, because the overall spot is small, and the bluing around it is still good.

As far as the aliens - those b*stards lied to me! They said they were holed up in FUD's hurricane shelter. All my guns and money are on their way to Florida. Besides, they won't vaporize my eyeballs - they spent too much money implanting the little cameras in them.