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March 16, 2018
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A lot of Saddle Ring Carbines are found missing the saddle ring so, here is my solution for the one that was missing on mine. As you can see in the picture, my rifle has most of its bluing missing or browned out on the receiver so, installing a new replacement saddle ring would have looked out of place. To age my new replacement ring to match the patina of the receiver, heres what I did:
1. Stripped the bluing off of the new saddle ring using Evaporust and steel wool.
2. sprayed the ring with white vinegar and let dry for about 15 minutes in order to etch and slightly pit the new metal.
3. mixed a solution of salt, vinegar, and hydrogen peroxide and soaked the ring until it had rusted (about 10 minutes)
4. Removed the ring from the rust solution and let dry
5. lightly buffed the ring with 0000 steel wool and repeated steps 3 and 4
6. Applied Oxpho-Blue cold bluing solution with a Q-tip .
7. Lightly buffed the ring with steel wool again
8. Oiled ring to stop rust and bluing process
To install the ring to the staple on the receiver, I tape it up with masking tape and use 2 adjustable crescent wrenches to spread and close the ring. This is the easiest method I have found. Be sure to close the ring gap in a vice prior to installation. I close the gap to just past the point of no gap as the ring will spread slightly as you close it with the wrenches. If you follow this method, there will be no gap in the ring after installation. It would take a real expert to tell that the ring is not original to the gun.
December 1, 2012
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Thanks for that recipe. When you look at the bottom of the ring against the receiver background, one can’t tell it’s a replacement.
"This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
