Evaluating Browned Guns|General Discussions & Questions|Forum|Winchester Collector

I far prefer this kind of uniform patina (even though I know the “brown” is inactive iron oxide) to a blotched, flaked, scratched, etc, rcvr with 80% or better blue EXCEPT for all the disfigurements.  But technically, I think you’d have to say there’s no remaining blue, which in this case would be a carbonia blue.  (Actually a form of temper blue, as someone here explained recently.)  But better than this, I like the grey or gunmetal appearance, which is not much different cosmetically from the French Grey finish used on many engraved guns.

Ron,  what a handsome 1894 with character!

Speaking only for myself, if the entire stock and forearm are in the same admirable condition as the Walnut visible in the two photos — that is, no chunks missing and no previous owner’s Knights of the White Camelia Klavern number carved in deep relief — I’d have the barrel re-lined, the gun professionally disassembled and the action cleaned to remove any decades of carbon buildup on the various small parts, and a coat of brown or black carnauba wax applied to the wood and gently polished off to consolidate and protect what appears to be an original finish.  If you or your trusted gunsmith are skilled with a set of screw slotting files and a small hammer and punch and emery cloth, the various screws with distorted slots could be restored (on a block, not in the gun) without calling undue attention. 

if you want a grey receiver, with a soft cotton cloth rub BreakFree CLP on the browned steel. Do this at regular intervals and it will eventually creep under the oxidized layer. In the meanwhile it will stop further oxidation. Don’t try to abrade it off, rub gently and only with a soft, non-abrasive cloth wet with the BreakFree. And only for a couple of minutes. The idea is to let the BreakFree do the work over weeks and months. 

And by all means, carry it in the field and shoot it. 

Thanks for showing it!

Bill

Concur. The rational response for an irrational society of people anxious to drive for several days to infect others. 

I always find the discussion of “Brown Guns” interesting. 

From the aspect that supposedly Winchester made a factory “Brown Finish” that would probably be rarer than a gold or silver finish, as so few were ordered.

Yet I have yet to find anyone that has one or knows what exactly a Factory Brown Finish is supposed to look like.

Sincerely,

Maverick

steve004 said

rwsem said

I appreciate all the input guys.  I have a few 1894s in this condition and didn’t know how to describe them in my inventory listings.  The feedback helps a lot. 

Mike- my 32-40 barrel is toast so; I will probably have it relined as there is maybe 10% visible rifling left.  I couldn’t get it to group minute of deer, no matter what I tried. 

Ron

  

   But will it at least group minute-of-barn?  Okay, how about if you are standing inside the barn?

I like brown guns.  I like nicely blued guns.  I like grey guns.  I like silvered guns.  We must remember, it is a sickness

  

I’m with you, an equal opportunity liker!

rwsem said I need to try to dig up some 165 grain pills before I absolutely decide to re-line; just in case the heavy for caliber bullet is too much. 
  

Certainly!  And others, esp jacketed.  In a .32 Spl with a bore far worse than yours, 150g 8 mm Sierras shrunk my groups by about half.  Lining job probably going to cost $300, so worth the cost of buying some bullets you don’t already have. 

I’ve always associated browned barrels with military muskets. I’m fairly sure it was an arsenal process for British weapons of the 18th Century and perhaps earlier.Zebulon said

 

Yes it was, as “Brown Bess,” the common soldier’s nickname for the Brits’ standard 18th C. musket, implies.  But most US muskets beginning with the earliest flintlocks were finished (or rather, unfinished) “bright,” according to Flayderman’s descriptions, my only source for these guns.  But there were many exceptions–certain models with bright furniture, but browned brls, so it’s evident there was no official standardization in the pre-CW period.  CW rifle-muskets, however, beginning with the M 1861, were bright, & this was not begun as a war-time short-cut.  Ordnance manuals from the Trapdoor era through to the Krag always referred (confusingly) to bluing (which by then was the standard finish) as “browning.”

And among custom gun & brl makers in the post-CW period, there was one hold-out who never gave up on browning: George Schoyen, whose Schuetzen rifles are now considered the apex of that genre.  I’ve seen a couple & can’t say I’ve taken a shine to that finish, though it’s quite a striking, almost startling, sight.

I suppose a bright, presumably polished,  steel or iron barrel and furniture would oxidize and slowly  turn brown from exposure to the air but remain reasonably smooth if regularly  rubbed with some form of oil or grease to prevent or moderate destructive corrosion. Sort of a DIY brown finish.  

I wonder how the red coats and Yankees were instructed in field care of their muskets? I’ll bet somebody versed in military history could tell us.