9422 cold blue or just oil it? |Winchester .22 Rim Fire|Forum|Winchester Collector

Jim,  JWA has given you.sound advice and his recommendation, if carefully and consistently followed, will effectively protect the steel from corrosion, will not degrade the value of the gun in the eyes of the collector fraternity and is the least expensive of the possible alternatives. 

Of the other alternatives,  my own opinion is applying cold blue is the least desirable, even if applied by a gunsmith skilled in the art of metal refinishing.  It will never look right and will degrade value..

The third alternative is one serious collectors regard with fear and loathing because, if detected, it seriously detracts from the value of what was thought to be an immaculate original finish. To the extent many prefer to put up with a really scabby-looking gun rather than restore it. 

The art of bluing – or rebluing – gun steel is almost entirely the art of polishing. Assuming there has been no corrosion — no pits in the surface but merely bare steel — an artisan who knows the polishing methods and materials employed by the manufacturer can replicate the color and texture of the original finish to an extent undetectable by experts in the field.  

This is particularly true of field grade guns where some underlying polishing marks can be detected and are thus expected as proof of originality.  A skilled artisan knows this and does not ignore the issue, polishes in the right direction and does not over polish. 

Likewise, the skilled artisan does not blur or “pull” original stamped or marked lettering. 

It does not require spending thousands of dollars with Doug Turmbull to get a fine job of rebluing if the gun has not suffered corrosion, always provided the gunsmith is chosen based on samples of his work. It can and should be a matter of hundreds of dollars, but not thousands. 

I discovered the foregoing when I bought a very nice grooved receiver Winchester Model 61 most would consider to be in 97 to 98 percent condition — except the owner had scratched his driver’s license number on the left receiver wall with a sharp tool or a nail, the letters and digits crudely and deeply cut into the steel at least 72 points high and widely spaced. The sight brought tears to the eyes of decent men and several,  in a tightly controlled voice, asked who had done such a thing and where he lived. 

The Model 61 had to be fully disassembled and the left receiver wall stoned to the depth of the cuts. Then the existing finish of the gun was carefully polished off, some areas entirely by hand, degreased  and hot salts blued closely replicating Du-Lite.  Red paint in the safety button,  of course. The bill was $400, sometime after the turn of the Century.  

Mike has hit the nail on the head. How the steel’s original blue was lost is critical to the decision. 

1.  If worn off by handling– a bolt knob or the receiver at carry point – but no significant rust. Discoloration but no pitting. 

2. Polished off by a skilled artisan, without altering the steel AT ALL. 

3. Significant corrosion that has eaten steel away, resulting in rough edges and pitted surfaces. 

4. Polished off by an unskilled worker with a powered buffing wheel, ruining edges, creating waves in surfaces, and blurring marks and stamps. 

Cases 1 and 2 are candidates for a professional reblue at moderate cost. 

Case 3 can sometimes be restored but at significant cost. Very rare, valuable guns can sometimes benefit. 

Case 4 is often an unskilled blue job on an otherwise nice rifle.  Shoot and enjoy unless it hurts your eyes, in which case take the loss and score it as tuition. WE HAVE, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, ALL BEEN HERE. 

I have a 1949 Model 62A that is very nice except wears a decent but not flawless hot salts reblue. The facing serials on bottoms of receiver and barrel extension are slightly pulled.

I’ve installed a Sourdough front sight I can see, blanked the rear sight, and installed a new Marbles two-axis adjustable tang sight.  It’s my favorite for woods walking and has its own Boyt canvas and leather takedown case.

Not a  thousand dollar “collector” but you’d pay serious money to pry it from my hands!

Vince said
I would rust blue it. Easy low teck answer. 

  

If by “easy” you mean a DIY project,  it may be low-tech but, from what Ive seen, requires considerable skill to do successfully, including the skill to do a complete disassembly —  removing the barrel from the receiver so it can be plugged to prevent damage to the rifling. A high humidity box helps, too. 

If the rust is widespread, some parts are not amenable to rust bluing — screws, pins, springs, and other small parts. When rust bluing was used to color barrels, receivers were usually heat blued in Carbona ovens or by a similar process. Small parts were sometimes nitre blued. 

And, of course, the person doing the job must first do a careful polishing job, which is something a lot of gunsmiths can’t do well. 

There is a reason the gunsmiths capable of a fine rust blue re-finish charge serious bucks for it. 

jim mac said
just picked up a 9422 xtr without any blueing left. am I better off leaving it as is and just oil it or will cold blue work? maybe have it professionally ceracoated? I don’t want to get crazy spending my limited fun money on the rifle. thanks. jim

  

I’d sell it and buy a nicer one.  No matter how “high end” the refinish is smart people can still tell.  And I am not the smarter one for sure.  

Good choice.