Need some help - I've got rust bluing in chamber?

[Copperking81]

I've got a problem that I'm not sure is a problem. Here's the background. I bought a new bolt action rifle a couple of months back.

Took it to the range and the thing is unbelievably accurate. I've got a lot of guns and have been shooting for sometime but have never had a gun shoot this good right out of the box. The gun however, had a serious issue with ejecting brass. So, I sent it back and asked them to fix and return the gun. Gun comes back, ejects brass great but I noticed they had pulled the barrel and looks like applied another round or two of rust bluing. This time however, they did a very, very poor job of polishing it up. The chamber was covered in it, it was in the receiver threads, and when combined with the gun oil, looked like liquid rust was pouring out of the chamber where the barrel threads into the receiver. I cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned some more but could not get rid of it. So, I sent it back, initially asking for a new rifle in return. A couple of days later, a tech/gunsmith calls me and says he'd be happy to send me a new one but after test firing it, strongly encouraged I allow him to clean it up and send that one back. He too was supremely impressed with its out of the box accuracy. I told him clean it up and send it back. He said no problem, he would ensure all rust would be removed and the gun would look clean as a whistle.

Well, just got the gun back and there is still rust in the same area. Not as bad but its still there. I'm trying to polish it up the best I can (have no way to remove the barrel). I'm half tempted to send it back again but this is starting to get ridiculous. I've never seen a "new" gun, or any gun look like this. I'm concerned that there might be rust in the threads too that I can't see.

So to my question, is this a serious problem or something that is not out of the ordinary? Like I said, I've never seen this before and am not sure if the rust might get worse as time goes on. It is rust/oxidation after all. Or if there might be rust in between the threads of the barrel and receiver, if that could become a problem. Just looking for some thoughts.

 

[g.willikers]

It's pretty obvious that the folks who've been working on it ain't getting it done.
Sending it back yet again sounds too much like the definition of insanity.
You know, repeating the same action over and over and expecting a different result.....
See if you can find someone in your area to finish the job to your satisfaction, or something close.
With a rifle that shoots that well, sometimes it's best to quit while you're ahead.

 

[Copperking81]

Thanks. Yeah, taking it to someone local has crossed my mind. Unfortunately, I don't have any experience nor do I know anyone who has with a proven gun smith in the area and that makes me nervous.

I'm really not that anal retentive about these types of things but rust is rust and rust and guns never mix...especially on a brand new, not cheap rifle with less than a box of ammo through it. At least that's my thinking....

 

[alexander45]

Chamber blued - not really a problem but both end of a barrel are normally plugged so that there is somthing to suspend and grab the barrel by.
As for there being rust in places still yeah big problem they didn't clean it properly and there may even still be rusting agent in the nooks and cranies

 

[joem1945]

I use a smith in Silex MO for all my bluing needs. I like old C&R forearms but like them to look new and he does just that.

 

[g.willikers]

Since it's been apart twice, maybe it won't be difficult for a local guy to separate it once more and do it right.
Just a thought.

A little story about rusty guns:
I once traded for a neglected and rusty old rifle.
A 30-06, maybe.
The barrel was pitted and the barrel wasn't going any place, rusted tight to the receiver.
And it was accurate.
A one piece gun, like the famously accurate old muzzle loaders.
I left it that way and let it amaze my friends.

 

[Al Thompson]

We'll run this one down to gunsmithing and see what we find.

Welcome to THR!

 

[rangervoss]

I'm a little confused on your post (I can be a little slow). Did you send the gun in to get reblued? There are few people who actually do rust bluing and the residue you talk about is another part that is confusing. If you had it hot blued then any residue left by the salts will easily be rinsed off either by a Hoppes style cleaner or even just hot water. Just run it through the barrel. I don't know what you mean by "chamber blued" so I am missing something. Also, if you hot blue, NEVER plug the barrel! You will only do it once and then you will probably be blind from the resulting pressure explosion.

 

[Copperking81]

Thanks everyone for the replies and thanks Al for moving this to the gunsmith section for me. Good call

Rangervoss - my explanation and description probably wasn't the best. Let me try and clarify. The gun has been sent back twice. The first time because it wasn't ejecting brass. The spent case would leave the chamber but remained fixed to the bolt face when cycled back.

When the gun was returned from the manufacturer, there was a significant amount of rust in the chamber. To clarify my posts , yes I know the chamber and barrel face in the receiver should be "blued". However, when the gun was returned following the ejection problem fix, the chamber and face of the barrel in the receiver were covered in rust. I can only speculate as to how or why it was returned covered in rust but I suspect that they either...
1. pulled the barrel as part of the ejection problem fix and reblued everything (no idea why that would have to be done).
or
2. tried to reblue the interior of the chamber and barrel face without disassembling the barrel from the receiver after they fixed the ejection problem.

When I sent it back for the ejecting problem, I noted that the face of the barrel in the receiver appeared marred/scratched...and thought that might be a symptom of whatever was leading to the bad ejection process so I pointed that out to them. My guess is they noted that and wanted to reblue the scratched area. From there I'm guessing that the bluing process was done haphazardly and the agent used was not thoroughly cleaned and the rust as part of the process, was not thoroughly polished. To your point and the more I think about it, I'm betting they tried to reblue the interior of the chamber without disassembling it and as a result couldn't clean it up as well as if the barrel had been removed. So I sent it back again (this was the second time) and called them about the rust issues. They said they would fix it however, when I got the gun back, little had been done. The rust is still visibly present.

I sent their corporate office an email yesterday and I have to say, they were very responsive. They followed up with an email first thing this morning and two phone calls. Unfortunately, I was swamped with work from the minute I walked in and never got a chance to call them back. At this stage, I think the right folks might be involved to ensure this gets resolved. I'll call them tomorrow and see what they have to say. I have a bunch of guns from this manufacturer and have never had an issue. In fact, I'm very much a fan of their product and I've intentionally left their name off of this thread so I can give them one more opportunity to make this right. Like with any company you do a lot of business with...you're going to run into some defects and on occasion, some mishandlings. Given my past experience with them, I don't want to write them off just yet. I guess time will tell and if this doesn't get straightened out after this go around, I'll probably be a lot more critical....

 

[rangervoss]

Ok Copperking81, That makes more sense. I would bet that they did not blue it as it would be very difficult to blue just a section of it. Since there is rust in the chamber and bolt face, it sounds like it is probably void of any bluing therefore it would rust faster. It probably sat in their shop and just got rusty from the humidity in the air. It would seem like an ejection problem would be simple to fix but it sounds like they didn't even look at it the first time you sent it there. If they don't make it right and you have to choice, you might try a chamber brush on a hand drill with some WD40 or the like, and spin it until it becomes rust free. But as you already know, they should make something like that right without you having to do this. It sounds like you are on the right track and I hope this gets resolved for you.

 

[boom boom]

Use Kroil or a homemade ATF mixes mentioned in another post. Kroil is light enough to get under the rust and help lift it. However, you may have chamber pitting after removing the rust depending on how deep it penetrated. At that point, a new barrel would probably be in order.

 

[Garrobo]

Never plug

a barrel when you plan on hanging it in a hot blue tank.