Protect Bore When Blueing a Barrel??

[jds holler]

Just wondering what the pros do. What do the factories do with new barrels? What do shops do on a re-blue? Is it a big thing or not??

Seems like it might be difficult to keep one reliably plugged through the hot-bath process. As picky as most guys are with their cleaning chemicals and technique, the thought of a surface etch in an acid process should give everyone the willies.

Heck, let's include Parkerizing in the discussion to cover that base also. jd

 

[Preacher]

Blued tons of CM barrel over the years and never took a chance on plugging the bores....
Never noticed a problem doing it.....

 

[DickE]

Bluing is not acid, quite the opposite, its alkaline based. All modern hot blued barrels are blued inside and out. Does not do any etching or affect the surface or texture of anything going in the tank.

 

[people]

I have had several Blue Sky M1 carbines over the years and they were reparked by the Koreans. They did not plug anything just cleaned them and dropped them in the park tank. In each case the chamber was so rough I needed to do a steel wool polish job on them. The rest of the tube smooths out just by shooting.

If you are going to parkerize a CM barrel plug the barrel. I did a re-park job on a M1 and I just used clay to plug it up.

 

[msinc]

I would not parkerize the bore of any of my barrels...Parkerizing does eat into the surface some, it also causes some dimensional change. It makes the bore slightly smaller. You can see the etch if you have something parked and remove it with naval jelly.
As to bluing, if it's a re-blue make sure you have all {as in zero left behind} copper out of the bore. JB Bore cleaner or something that will take it completely out must be used because copper, even small amounts, will kill most bluing solutions. Oxynate No. 7, the old Brownell's standby is very susceptible to being ruined by copper.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I use foam earplugs for park, cork for blue

 

[DickE]

I use foam earplugs for park, cork for blue

What kind of bluing are you doing that you are corking the barrel?

 

[GaryL1959]

I use foam earplugs for park, cork for blue

I've never plugged a bore for hot tank bluing. Was told years ago by an older gunsmith that to do so was not a good idea, due to the air trapped inside the bore heating up and blowing the plugs out while the barrel is submerged. True or not, I don't know, but I'm not willing to take a chance on a scalding hot bluing solution shower.

 

[Preacher]

I've never plugged a bore for hot tank bluing. Was told years ago by an older gunsmith that to do so was not a good idea, due to the air trapped inside the bore heating up and blowing the plugs out while the barrel is submerged. True or not, I don't know, but I'm not willing to take a chance on a scalding hot bluing solution shower.

Exactly why I would never plug any bore...with anything...