After many typical poor experiences with cold blue, reading this thread gave me the inspiration to learn something new. We have a few projects that are best suited for "student" work.
A couple of older - but not collectible- 22 rifles, and I recently found a FN made Mod. 98. The Mauser is in pretty bad shape, no 2 parts have matching serial #s, and some previous owner was fond of using a hammer to punish the bottom metal for some imaginary sin. ???? Anything I do to this rifle will help it survive and function as it should.
Found a bottle of Brownell's Belgian Rust Bluing solution, took off the magazine floorplate for a test piece, used 220 grit, got most of the ugly off of it, cleaned /degreased, boiled and swabbed it 5 or 6 times and WOW. I am hooked!
Working on setting up a boiling tank big enough to fit a barreled action.
Would it be wise to re-finish the barrel separate from the receiver?
A new barrel will be fitted regardless, so should I index mark it after setting headspace, unscrew and reassemble after bluing?
I'm concerned about lube from the threads muffing up the process, or corrosion/galling if assembled without a bit of something on those threads.