Touching up the blue on a Mini-14

[SpaceFrank]

You may have seen my thread a little while back about my Mini-14's gas block being rusted shut. CLP and brute force got it working again, but after cleaning everything up, I decided to try touching up the bluing so this doesn't happen again. I picked up a Birchwood Casey Perma-Blue kit and read through the instructions. It seems pretty straightforward, just a little patience and thoroughness required. I also read the thread found here:
http://www.usacarry.com/forums/handgun-maintenance-cleaning-gunsmithing/5608-blue-am-i.html

What I'm not sure about is how far to go. I really don't want to remove the blue completely from the affected parts; I'd much rather touch up the spots that are slightly rusted or have no blue left. The tricky part if I'm only touching up would seem to be in the application of the blue & rust remover, which seems to be step 2 of the process. The really tricky part involves the cylindrical holes in the slide and gas block, the former having been rusted to the gas tube. Any tips on bluing the inside of that hole?

I'll post some "before" pics of the affected parts tonight; my camera battery died before I could upload. But the parts I plan to work on are the lower half of the gas block, the gas tube, the slide (at least the hole where the tube goes in), and the piece that fits into the forearm of the stock.

 

[KimberPB]

I'd try to keep as much of the original bluing as possible. Since this the hot bluing is much more durable then the cold blue. With a little patients you shouldn't have any problem matching the cold blue to the factory blue, or at least close enough no one will be able to tell.

As far as getting into the pits left from the rust, a normal cotton pad should work. The liquid shouldn't have a problem getting down in there. After you've touched everything up just check and see if any pits look like they’ve been missed. Then take a Q-tip dip it into the cold blue and touch up those spots.

Hope this helps. If you have any other questions feel free to PM me and I’ll try to help.

 

[KimberPB]

The tricky part if I'm only touching up would seem to be in the application of the blue & rust remover, which seems to be step 2 of the process. The really tricky part involves the cylindrical holes in the slide and gas block, the former having been rusted to the gas tube. Any tips on bluing the inside of that hole?

Use a Qtip and dip it into the rust/blue remover. Then work it around the area that needs cleaned. This should allow you to control how much you remove and still allow you to get into the pitting.

 

[SpaceFrank]

Well, the gas tube and slide turned out pretty good after I figured out what I was doing. It appeared to take about 3 treatments to reach the right color. Unfortunately, I went a little overboard with the rust remover on the other pieces. I ended up having to redo almost the whole gas block, rather than just the inside where the slide makes contact. It looks okay, but I think it might rust. The other piece from inside the forestock looks terrible. No matter how much I cleaned it up, it still got this bronze color in some places.

Also, my camera's memory card died, so no pictures available yet. I'm going to the range today, and will see how it holds up.