Aussie Chris said
Not to rain on your parade Tyke, as I have not tried this.

But, from what I have read, you do not want to use any type of steel wool on blue – it will scratch it. Brass wool is recommended on this forum on many occasions. Steel wool should not be used on Winchesters with blue. I would certainly not use it on mine.

Again, I have not and will not test it to see. Just going off the experience of some of the advanced collectors here.

Cheers  

Chris,

To quote Tyke:

“Bottom line….it did remove the rust (moderate) without any noticeable affect on the bluing.  I scrubbed lightly but constantly.  It works as advertised.

There are assorted caveats, of course, but used carefully it works quite well.”

I worked part time for a local gunsmith and had the opportunity to use it to clean up neglected more modern, non collectible click bang firearms.

It works surprisingly well when used carefully with some good gun oil on blued rusted barrels and such.  Just take your time and don’t get too aggresive.

And wrap some around a bristle brush to remove plastic wadding and lead from slugs in shotgun barrels.  Quick and easy.

Give it a try and I suspect you will be pleasantly surprised.

Jolly

Interesting. So what is the general consensus to remove rust? You have a rusty reciever and barrel.

Would you use steel wool, brass wool, bronze wool or copper wool? 

Ive always used OOOO steel wool and and an oil (havent looked hard enough to find brass or copper wool to try).  There have been times when I used a penetrating catalyst and other tools to break up rust.  It depends on the type of rust (surface or pitted), rust coverage (how big an area), and so forth.   Whatever the abrasive material, moderation and patience will help identify when your on the cusp of doing something that could be detrimental.  The main thing is to mitigate the rust and keeping it from getting worse — for some guns that may mean just a light brush with OOOO wool or brass, copper as mentioned by others, and stopping the active rust, treating with oil, and calling it a day. 

Here is a clunker that was practically given to me years ago.  You can see the receiver has both heavily pitted rust areas and some areas with only surface rust.  It was pretty far gone.  Cant say its the best cleaning job in the world but you get an idea of what comes off and how it can look.   OOOO steel wool and oil were also used to lightly clean the wood. 

Tyke said

I’ve used the stainless pad many times and been very happy with the results.  No offense, but the rust on my musket barrel mentioned was far worse than that on the 94 pictured above.  And, I have to say…my results appear better using the stainless pad.  No offense.  Anyway, to each his own.
 

No worries or offense taken, everyone is entitled (hopefully still in this day and age) to provide an opinion.  This 1886 went through the ringer and was wasting away in a barn for months after being submerged in water then set in the corner and left (its a long story).  The expectation of removing that amount of rust and having an unblemished blue finish underneath is all that was intended to illustrate.  A better photo wouldnt have made much difference as to the eye and in hand, your cant discern any scratches in the finish – maybe if you got out a magnifying glass it could be a different story And I agree that everyone has their preference of tools.  With this particular gun, I dont think it would matter what you tried to clean it with the results would have been the same.  The rust had already penetrated through the blue and into the metal. You cant reverse that and keep it original. Although there are some out there that are tricky in that way  

Bert, Thanks for the info on the copper wool.  Will look into it.

Chuck,

I use a product called PB Blaster penetrating catalyst, you can pick it up at any auto parts store, walmart, home depot, etc.  Comes in a spray can.  Doesnt smell that great though.  Havent noticed any adverse effects on metal or blued finishes in the years Ive been using it.  Have not tried on wood finishes to see if its safe or on CCH.  Ive used it to break up heavy rust between magazine tubes, barrels, and retaining bands if your trying to remove a froze magazine tube.  Mostly I use  it to break away rust around frozen screws or pins.  Just takes a few minutes to work in most cases.  

A friend of mine ended up with an 1892 carbine that was found in an old house after the owner passed away.  The guy that lived there had moved out of the house 10-15 years prior when the trash heap inside forced him to sleep on the trunk of an old car by the house.  After he passed, my friend helped his relatives go through the house and locate any family photos and such when he found this carbine in the corner of one of the rooms, likely been there for 50 years.  My buddy asked me if I could do anything with it.  It looked like one of these guns that gets dug up somewhere.  After removing the dirt dauber nest from the end of the muzzle you could see that the bore was pristine, so it looked to be something worth trying to salvage to use.  You couldnt distinguish the magazine tube, barrel or forearm wood due to the solid tube of rust that formed on the surfaces.  You couldnt see that it had a front sight till some of the caked on debris/rust was chipped off.  The receiver was frozen as were all the screws, pins, etc.  Once I worked my way down to metal I thought it would be impossible to get all the screws, magazine tube, and receiver unfroze.  I used the PB Blaster to break away the remaining rust and was able to totally disassemble the carbine and clean.  Got it in working order and my buddy still uses it to this day.  If there was ever a before photo I wish I had taken, this would have been the one. 

Chris