Gun Bluing – Blue it, Don’t Ruin It!

If you are looking for the highest-quality gun bluing kit on the right of marvelous prices, you have come to the right place. The bluing operation is one of the most delicate processes of finishing.

As bluing is a process of treating steel to create a thin protective shell around it, and that’s why quality bluing kit has the ability to take your gun to a new level! The bluing kit offers an exceptional way to maintain the metal finish by resisting superficial scratching, preserve the metallic shine, and helps to minimize glare to the eyes of a shooter when looking down the barrel of the gun.
There almost countless types of gun bluing kits to choose from. This means that you can look for a special type of kit that you have always wanted to buy. Importantly, all of our products are proudly made of the best materials available.

Actually, by going through all of our listed options for bluing kits, you stand a much better chance of finding a particular kit you’ve always been looking for.

Check out our most innovative gun bluing kits available.

Our Ultimate Choices: Best Gun Bluing Kit for 2021

Types of Gun Bluing

Gun bluing is a conventional finish applied to firearms. Bluing shields protect the steel from corrosion and gives the metal a very dark blue finish. The manufacturing plant bluing process hasn’t changed much over the years, and gun owners can likewise now purchase home bluing kits to touch up or refinish their firearms.

There are main three basic types of gun bluing.

1. Hot Bluing

Hot bluing is the most preferred method due to its effectiveness. This method uses the heated alkaline liquid to heat metal instead of the heat gun. Sodium hydroxide & potassium nitrate are common solutions in this process. And, that is why many people know it like this. 

Hot bluing offers protection for the steel from rust and gives a lasting look.

Hot bluing mostly you will find on factory-blued firearms.

It involves all of the following steps:

1. Polish a gun barrel & other parts to be blued.
2. Make ready the parts to be dipped in the cleaning & bluing solutions.
3. In the third step, put the gun parts in a cleaning solution bath.
4. Rinse off a cleaning solution in cold water.
5. Put the gun parts in the bluing solution.
6. Then, Properly rinse off the bluing solution in cold water.
7. Submerge the gun parts in boiling water.
8. Submerge the treated parts in the bath of water-displacing oil.

2. Cold Bluing

Cold bluing solutions are technically made for touching up scratches on already blued steel surfaces, this bluing can also work well to finish larger areas. The cold bluing solutions usually are sold in little bottles and are applied with a brush-type applicator.

This bluing is not so effective as a protective covering as hot bluing, but for small restorative touch-ups, it is perfect. For cold bluing, there are a few steps that you need to follow:

1. Remove the old bluing, if required
2. Polish the gun metal properly.
3. Clean a gun metal and then heat the metal gently.
4. Apply effectively the bluing solution.
5. Apply the solution several more times until you have the level of bluing you desire.
6. Season the finish with gun oil once you have the level of bluing you expect.

3. Rust Bluing

Rust bluing was created among hot and cold bluing processes. This is one of the older methods of bluing and provides the best rust and corrosion resistance. The process of rust bluing is normally only for double barrels or very old firearms. In the past, bluing commonly used a chemical containing Cyanide. Cyanide was the active agent that produced the blue/black or blue/gray color.

Today’s new ‘salts’ along with high heat can have an adverse effect on any solder used to fasten the barrels to the rib. Instead, using a ‘rust’ process with lower heat produces a color closer to the old blue/gray color and it does not have the adverse affect on the solder. But, this process is much more labor-intensive, involving up to six or eight applications of the rust bluing process.

There are few steps of rust bluing to bluing gun properly, Let’s have a look.

1. Polish the gun parts to be blued.
2. Clean away any oil, dirt or grease that remains chemically.
3. Coat gunmetal parts with a mixture of hydrochloric & nitric acid.
4. Submerge the gun metal parts in boiling distilled water.
5. Scrub away red oxide rust that has formed, leaving the black oxide finish underneath.
6. Repeat an acid treatment, boiling, & scrubbing until you have achieved the desired level of bluing.
7. Coat all gun parts with oil.

All these bluing types will effectively improve your gun’s resistance to corrosion, and give your gun a unique, vintage-style finish.

The length of time to perform the above steps of all type of bluing may vary depending on the age, type, style, and condition of your firearm.

How To Use Gun Bluing Kit?

For every type of bluing kit has the same way to follow, only for hot bluing there is some minor change in processes. The overall process of bluing is simple and easily completed in a few hours. The common steps you need to follow for bluing using the gun bluing kits are listed below:

Before to start, reduce the original bluing, if require it. You can apply a phosphoric acid-based rust remover or white vinegar or remover that available in the kit.

After that, you need to properly polish the firearm metal to remove the surface scratches and rust with the help of sandpaper or steel wool.

Then, you have two options to clean metal, you can use cleaning solution to clean it or can apply cleansing oil to specific parts.

Once you done these three steps, then you have to heat the metal using heat gun, torch, or dryer. This heating technique help in the metal’s better absorption of the bluing liquid to get a shinier finish.

Next, apply the bluing liquid according to the ideal number of coatings. You need to apply a number of layers for perfect bluing and for each new layer should be applied with a new applicator.
Apply firearms oil to season the last wrap up. It can be applied once every few hours to increase the finish, too.

Why Should Have Gun Blued?

Bluing will restore your firearm to its original finish or, if you want, to a matte or high polish finish. If correctly maintained, your gun need never be reblued again! Bluing will keep your gun from corroding and will add value to it in the long run.

Final Thought:

There are lots of brands producing gun bluing kit as they offer the least expensive finish, and this finish is also the least effective at providing rust resistance.
Bluing provides an exact solution of the protection against corrosion. That is why the best bluing kit for guns is the perfect solution for your firearms.