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9422 cold blue or just oil it?
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jim mac
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July 9, 2025 - 3:30 am
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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

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JWA
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July 9, 2025 - 3:38 am
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Just oil it and enjoy it even more without the worry of scratching the finish.

Best Regards,

WACA Life Member #6284 - Specializing in Pre-64 Winchester .22 Rimfire

http://rimfirepublications.com/  

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Zebulon
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July 9, 2025 - 6:38 pm
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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.  

 

  

- Bill 

 

WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist

"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.

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TXGunNut
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July 9, 2025 - 11:29 pm
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For me the answer would depend on how the finish was removed. It may be worth professional rebluing but may never look right if the metal was damaged, eg: buffed out lettering and corners etc. If it’s not to your lik8ng re-home it and find a 9422 you like. Lots of nice ones out there!

 

Mike

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jim mac
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July 10, 2025 - 1:37 am
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the  rifle looks like a well used and never taken care of finish. It wasnt stripped of the blueing just looks like a old rifle on its way to becoming a brown gun. its not worth professional refinishing, that why I was thinking of trying cold blue but ive tried it on a m1917 colt revolver and wasnt happy with the results. Ill leave it as is and just keep it well oiled and enjoy it. jim

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Anthony
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July 10, 2025 - 11:18 am
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Jim,

You’re a smart man to listen to the advice give, as I agree with everything they suggested to you! IMHO!

 

Anthony

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Zebulon
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July 11, 2025 - 5:39 pm
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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!

- Bill 

 

WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist

"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.

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TXGunNut
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July 12, 2025 - 3:57 am
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One of my first vintage Winchesters came from an old friend. It suffered a heavy-handed metal refinish job years ago and it must have been heavily rusted because some pits remain after someone wore out at least one perfectly good buffing wheel on the metal of this gun. Attitudes have changed since this gun was refinished, in those days this was probably considered normal maintenance. I don’t care because I bought it right, it belonged to a friend, and it has a pretty good bore. I bought it as a green collector but even then I knew it would never be much more than a shooter. 
Over the past few years I have been trying to sell two very nice 9422’s. I’ve had dozens of folks tell me they have one or know of one just as nice. It seems the market may be flooded with very nice 9422’s so my advice is to invest accordingly. If the gun is special to you, do whatever your heart tells you to do. If you purchased it for resale any money you spend towards reconditioning will not be recouped. Good work takes time, skilled work costs money. It will never bring the kind of money I finally got out of my 9422’s. Everybody loves that gun but no one will give much for them other that some of the more desirable models.
Good luck!

 

Mike

Life Member TSRA, Endowment Member NRA
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Smokeless powder is a passing fad! -Steve Garbe
I hate rude behavior in a man. I won't tolerate it. -Woodrow F. Call, Lonesome Dove
Some of my favorite recipes start out with a handful of depleted counterbalance devices.-TXGunNut
Presbyopia be damned, I'm going to shoot this thing! -TXGunNut
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jim mac
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July 12, 2025 - 4:13 am
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the rifle isnt anything special to me, it was at the last swap meet for $300. I’ve never seen a winchester .22 lever gun so I went ahead and bought it ( along with a Belgian British bulldog in .450 Adam’s.  I like the rifle because its different enough from the run of the mill 10-22’s. Actually this will replace my 10-22 which will get handed down to my grandkids. jim

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Vince
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July 12, 2025 - 5:12 am
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I would rust blue it. Easy low teck answer. 

Vince
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Teddy Roosevelt 

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Zebulon
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July 12, 2025 - 6:39 am
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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. 

- Bill 

 

WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist

"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.

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Vince
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July 12, 2025 - 8:09 pm
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⁹Zebulon said

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,….

Sorry, for this long reply. But doing nothing to this 9422 might end up damaging it. IMHO

Rust bluing is not as difficult as it sounds. I’ve rust blued a dozen different rifles,  most of them Winchester 22s that were given up as ruined.  I due a complete disassemble, while video the operation so I can get it back together.  

I don’t worry about plugging the barrel on most because I’ll reline it after. But I  have just plugged the muzzle and the chamber. There’s no high heat or submersion iinvolved so plug with anything that stays dry in humidity. 

A humidity box is a length of plastic pipe over a steam vaporizer or heated pan of water. 

Rust bluing doesn’t require as high a polishing job as hot dip. But hand polishing is not hard,  just time consuming. I have a honor guard model 69 that I draw filed and polished to 3000 grit tto match the original chrome that Winchester used for their company honor guards rifles. It has not been oiled or wax in 4 yrs and there’s no sign of rust.

Small parts get oil blued,  heated and quenched in oil.

Relining a barrel only takes getting long drills, or welding a rod onto the drill, and the rifled tube.

And of course you need a good rust bluing solution. 

It’s a project but a fulfilling experience. And you end up with a family heirloom and a how I did it video. 

Vince
Southern Oregon
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Fraternal Order of Eagles

 “There is but one answer to be made to the dynamite bomb and that can best be made by the Winchester rifle.”

Teddy Roosevelt 

4029-1.jpg

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Chuck
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July 14, 2025 - 6:04 pm
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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.  

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jim mac
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July 14, 2025 - 6:32 pm
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im going go follow the advice of members that said just leave it alone. I oiled it up and tossed it into the safe. Next trip out to the desert, it’ll definitely be taken out to shoot. rncouple years ago I sent pics to a member who posted pics here of my 1894 saddle ring carbine that was found in a wall when the demo’d a building in tombstone. its totally brown, wrong crescent stock with a cracked wrist etc. I ended up getting it functional epoxied the broken wrist and sprayed the old wood with black rubber bed liner. couple months back i finally took it out and shot the thing. Glad to report it goes bang, the primer does back out a little but it functions. if you go to my user name, there might be a way to see the pics in the old posts. rnjim

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Chuck
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July 14, 2025 - 7:18 pm
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Good choice.

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Anthony
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July 14, 2025 - 7:49 pm
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Yes!

 

Good choice!

 

Enjoy it, as it’s a lot easier shooting one that’s not, a so called pristine rifle, yet very serviceable, and used at it was designed! Smile

 

Anthony

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jim mac
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July 20, 2025 - 5:00 pm
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none of my guns are prestine, I can toss them in the truck and not sweat getting a ding or scratch. Heck as crowded as my safes gotten, the long guns all packed in there touching each other. jim

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Chuck
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July 20, 2025 - 5:38 pm
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Jim, that’s fine.  But many of us have collector guns and don’t want them damaged. I too have hunting and shooting guns and another scratch doesn’t matter.  First rule of collecting is to collect what YOU like. 

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jim mac
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July 28, 2025 - 2:21 am
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buddy messaged me last night and said we needed to go out and shoot some guns today. Took mostly .22s along with the 9422. I can say the rifle shoots more accurate than me. smooth functions great, I think this gives me a excuse to let my other .22 bolt guns go. jim

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