Rifle Re-Bluing?

[bigred1]

Hi All,

I have a HW90 that has recently gained some serious sentimental value, the action has lost a lot of its bluing and I'm torn as to what to do, so I would greatly appreciate any thoughts and/or advice on the following:

If I leave as is but maybe treat it to a frequent oily wipe down would I be able to conserve its current condition or is the process of degradation inevitable, how much worse could it get?

How much would a full re-blue likely cost (ball park) and does anybody have any recommendations for gunsmiths in the south west who could do a good job?

And finally, given the sentimental value... restore to its former glory or leave as is, what would you do?

Thanks in advance,

Richard

[angrybear]

Much of the sentimental value will be due to the patina imparted by years of use.
If it's restored all that gets lost so you might as well just buy a new one.

How it further degrades depends on how you now look after it, but that's just the next chapter in its history.

[Neil54]

A wipe over with an oily rag now and again.
Avoid WD40 and anything acid based.

Restoration is a personal choice.
I learnt to shoot with a Meteor MK1. I acquired one which I restored. It have a soft spot for the rifle but not really sentimental. Just good memories.

[rapidresponse1]

as above i just use a oily rag

[Travis299]

Ballistol is your friend.

[Mark Palmer]

Paul Chell is your man for a top end reblue, I'm guessing in the ball park of £120-150 for better than new finish, but I believe he has personal issues and it'll be a while before he takes on any more, there are various cold blue options if you wish to have a go yourself, search the forum, there should be plenty of advice as to how to go about it. I've had reasonable results myself with a few cold blue systems

[BC312]

I now do my own after learning to rust blue the traditional way. There is a good tutorial how to rust blue on some of the BBS threads, give it a try.

[thisisdonald]

I once had a theoben sirocco classic reblued and it never shot the same after I put it back together - no amount of pressurizing and depressurizing ever got it back to how it shot before. Just something to consider with a gas ram. Also if you decide to reblue you'll need a charging adapter for your ram - bestfittings do these.

[bigred1]

Thank you all, I never thought about how the shot cycle might change and I love the way it shoots currently, plus, it is what it is and hopefully it will remain that way for the next generation... Where's me oily rag!

P.S. Great rifles, underrated I reckon!

[maximus]

Definitely underrated. I have two, a 90tb in 22 and another standard 90 that I put a .25 barrel on to scratch the .25 itch. Both shoot fantastically, especially the .25. As to whether to restore or not I think that's up to you. If you like mint things then get it re-blued and the stock done. It's still the same gun as it was. I have my dad's old game shotgun, it had a few things that needed sorting, not least of which was that he was a lefty and I'm not. I've had it sorted but it will always be dads gun and I love shooting it for that reason.

[HW777]

Thank you all, I never thought about how the shot cycle might change and I love the way it shoots currently, plus, it is what it is and hopefully it will remain that way for the next generation... Where's me oily rag!

P.S. Great rifles, underrated I reckon!

In these circumstances of having a item with sentimental value.

Cold blue is a option that will make the rifle look better without changing it's character of whom it used to belong to.

[Troubledshooter]

G96 Gun Blu gives a good finish, so I've been told.

[acmsarh]

personally i would want to keep is as is as long as bad rust/ has not set in , Clean it down with a solvent and use knife and gun wax https://www.henrykrank.com/flitz-rif...tle-fzgw02702/ , and just reapply as needed , This has kept my bare bright steel henry 1860 fingerprint and corrosion free and a formulation of this is used in museums to keep exhibits in A1 condition.