cold bluing a slide

2002gti

New member
i just received one of those handy dandy sig P6 police trade ins and it has a bit of holster wear on the slide. i wouldnt mind touching it up, i have some birchwood casy paste and brownells 44/40 that ive used on some milsurp stuff with decent results but am just wondering how they would fare on a slide with thinning blue. i dont want it to look blochy. TIA.
 

Ruger4570

New member
Instant bluing is just not going to stand up to much, if any holster wear. It doesn't even stand up to handling all that well. Brownells does in fact have some bluing solutions that work somewhat, but again, it will wear off quickly.
 

Don P

New member
Wear?

IMO, why refinish? It has class and character, plus if you should happen to ding or scratch it it won't hurt as much. I have a Para alloy Commander with alot of wear on the slide. Looks great to me and the pistola shoots real, real good without skipping a beat. The Para was purchased used WITH the wear.:eek:
 

Scorch

New member
If the wear bothers you terribly, have a gunsmith polish it and hot blue it. Better than cold blue any day. Other wise, just shoot it. Putting cold blue on it will make it look nasty.
 

Clark

New member
Clean the steel with detergent, like Simple Green or anything like that.
Rub on the detergent with an old tooth brush, and get the brush clean in the process.
Rinse and dry the brush.
Hot rinse the steel in the sink.
While the steel is still hot, dry with paper towel, without getting finger prints on the steel.
When the steel is dry, but still hot, rub on G96 bluing flakes with the tooth brush. Scrub the blue in. It will turn black right away, but keep scrubbing for ~15 seconds.
Rinse the blue off under hot water while scrubbing with the tooth brush.
Clean the steel with detergent again.
Dry.
While still hot, apply Oxpho Blue with a tooth brush.
Scrub it in hard for a minute.
Cover the coating of Oxpho Blue with motor oil. Do not scrub the motor oil on.
Wait overnight.
Wash off the motor oil and Oxpho with detergent.
Rinse and dry.
Apply motor oil.
Wipe off excess motor oil.


Repeat if necessary to get a jet black and wear resistant finish.
The idea is that the G96 is dark, but not wear resistant. It is on the micro valleys of the steel surface.
The Oxpho Blue is wear resistant, but not that dark. It is on the micro ridges of the steel surface.

Sometimes a steel will not like these blues. Try Dicropan instead of G96.
 

Sarge

New member
GTI,

I've had older Sigs and the factory bluing ain't much more durable that the cold blue you're going to put on there. Their carbon steel slides take cold bluing real well, and color up nice & dark.

The result will be better than bare metal and a bottle of cold blue will touch it up many times.
 

Bill DeShivs

New member
There is always somebody who THINKS they know how to do a good bluing job with cold blue. It can't be done with any degree of regularity, and it won't last.
Whether you THINK your gun looks better is a matter of perception. Anyone who knows anything about guns will spot your "good lookin' blue job" from across the room.
Cold blue is for touching up small areas and scratches.
Have someone do a proper refinish.
 

Clark

New member
Guys who have $10M net worth from doing many things right [not talking about Microsoft employees in the 1990s], always look for a way blame themselves for things that go wrong, so that they can improve.

Guys who are in good health, but homeless, are egotistical and vindictive. They blame someone else for everything that goes wrong for them.


What does this have to do with cold blue?
A guy who can learn to make cold blue work well for him is probably successful in many things in his life.
 

Bill DeShivs

New member
Clark
I'm pretty successful, and very resourceful. I have been refinishing guns for 35 years.
I have done the cold blue thing many years ago. I can actually make a gun look good with it, but it won't last.
For the time and experimentation it takes to do a decent looking cold blue job (that will NOT last,) you may as well rust blue a gun.
Cold blue is for touch ups.
 
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