Gunsmithing A little rust on the bolt?

[carbonbased]

I have a bolt action, a CZ 527 to be precise, that developed a little rust on the bolt. We're talking about ~10 tiny >1mm flecks, randomly scattered about. None on the lugs or boltface, and most on the Mauser-like extractor outside face. But a few were on the bolt itself. There was no rust on the lugs.

The bolt was out and laying on the cleaning table. I gently rubbed the minimal rust off the bolt with a brown scotchbrite pad (for metal) and Nevr-Dull Wadding Polish. I did NOT shoe-shine the bolt, and did not touch the lugs.

My question is: Is this a huge deal? Should I partake in additional preventive measures? I don't want rust spreading inside the action.

Background
I was cleaning it in a basement back room in an air-conditioned house during the summer. In general, it is not humid in the house.

Used Patch-Out, which ideally is left in the bore for a while, so I left it there a few days.

Normally, my rifles are in an air-conditioned house, locked up in a safe with a golden rod and, in the summer, a dehumidifier running full time next to it. I never have rust issues.

While I await your advice, the bolt is covered in Ballistol and not in the rifle.

 

[KnowNothing256]

I’ve found it pretty difficult to keep guns from getting rust spots. I got tired of fighting it, I use Hornady One Shot cause it’s easy and did great in a corrosion test of a bunch of protectants, and I just use 0000 steel wool for whatever shows up. If you’re concerned about long-term storage, you’ll need to put it away in a sealed container with a desiccant. The Russians used Cosmoline…

 

[carbonbased]

I’ve found it pretty difficult to keep guns from getting rust spots. I got tired of fighting it, I use Hornady One Shot cause it’s easy and did great in a corrosion test of a bunch of protectants, and I just use 0000 steel wool for whatever shows up. If you’re concerned about long-term storage, you’ll need to put it away in a sealed container with a desiccant. The Russians used Cosmoline…

I use the gun in the warmer months, but maybe I’ll try that One Shot stuff for “wintering”. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Mike Casselton]

Wash your hands before handling rifles.
We sweat out salts and that transfers to anything we touch.

Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers used to keep an oily rag handy for wiping the rifle down after handling them.

If the room that you're cleaning in has temperature swings, it's also causing the humidity level to swing. That will enable rust to form much easier.

 

[XP1K]

My grandfather always kept an oily rag soaked in 3 in 1 oil with his guns. One was never put away without wiping it down. Even if it was just pulled put and looked at it got wiped down. He had some pristine old guns that never had a spot of rust on them.
I keep a small rag in a glass jar soaked in an old silicone lube from herter's (inherited from my grandfather)in my safe. I don't have any issues.

 

[carbonbased]

Yeah, all good tips.

But it is cool to just scrub the rust off the bolt, as I have done, and lube it up and get going? Not sure what else to do.

 

[KnowNothing256]

Yeah, all good tips.

But it is cool to just scrub the rust off the bolt, as I have done, and lube it up and get going? Not sure what else to do.

Yep. You could try to blue it, but it’s not worth the hassle at all in my opinion. Polish it off, apply lube/protectant, call it a day.

 

[DIBBS]

Barricade (used to be called sheath) Comes in aerosol as well as oil can.

If I get a small rust spot use barricade on steel wool and gently rub the spot away.

Barricade® Rust Protection, 10 fl. oz. Aerosol

www.birchwoodcasey.com

 

[Baron23]

I have a bolt action, a CZ 527 to be precise, that developed a little rust on the bolt. We're talking about ~10 tiny >1mm flecks, randomly scattered about. None on the lugs or boltface, and most on the Mauser-like extractor outside face. But a few were on the bolt itself. There was no rust on the lugs.

The bolt was out and laying on the cleaning table. I gently rubbed the minimal rust off the bolt with a brown scotchbrite pad (for metal) and Nevr-Dull Wadding Polish. I did NOT shoe-shine the bolt, and did not touch the lugs.

My question is: Is this a huge deal? Should I partake in additional preventive measures? I don't want rust spreading inside the action.

Background
I was cleaning it in a basement back room in an air-conditioned house during the summer. In general, it is not humid in the house.

Used Patch-Out, which ideally is left in the bore for a while, so I left it there a few days.

Normally, my rifles are in an air-conditioned house, locked up in a safe with a golden rod and, in the summer, a dehumidifier running full time next to it. I never have rust issues.

While I await your advice, the bolt is covered in Ballistol and not in the rifle.

Not having seen the rust in question, this is to some degree supposition...but if you could get it off with Never Dull then it was just surface rust and nothing to worry about.

A light coat of oil....pretty much anything like Rem oil to CLP...and I mean light..on the bolt will help prevent this. I rather like Bob Marvel's Custom Oil but really any light oil will do.

Products - Bob Marvel's Custom Oil

Marvel's Custom Products is the only supplier of Bob Marvel's Custom Oil, a metal treatment that provides extreme pressure lubrication properties.

www.marvelscustomproducts.com

 

[WannabeWoodsman]

You can take some jeweler's rouge and a scrap of leather and polish that out. I do it all the time with my axes, knives and cutting tools that I restore and use. They get rusty, dirty and banged up but I clean the steel and rust off as needed.

For those who want to say anything about them or me, I would, and have, stake my life on their dependability and my skills using and keeping them.

 

[strikeeagle1]

Using Barricade for about 10 years now. Thin and light creeps into fine spaces internally, externally wipe down with moistened microfiber cloths.

 

[Jigstick]

I get a little rust on my bolt on my birthday and anniversary. But that’s it

 

[ma smith]

OP question is really about critical surfaces, tolerances, and possible contamination from shedding abrasives.

Red scotch brite is equivalent to 600 grit sandpaper. It is filled with oxide grit in lieu of sand and scotchbrite in lieu of paper ad the carrier.

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/b40071750/

 

[Doug k 042414]

While it sucks getting rust on things, it is not completely avoidable. Some of it might depend on how your guns are stored. I would go either all dry or all light light lubed.

As for the rust, if it is not heavily pitting, you can use a pre-1982 penny and gun oil of choice to buff out surface rust and light pitting. The pre 1992 pennies had a higher tin content and will not damage your gun guns finish. I know it sounds dumb as shit, but it works.

 

[carbonbased]

OP question is really about critical surfaces, tolerances, and possible contamination from shedding abrasives.

Red scotch brite is equivalent to 600 grit sandpaper. It is filled with oxide grit in lieu of sand and scotchbrite in lieu of paper ad the carrier.

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/b40071750/

Thanks for bringing that up. I did a poor job on exactly explaining my question.

Grit contaimination and tolerances are good topics. I neglected to say I disassembled the outer pieces of the bolt and flooded it with CLP to rinse the grit off after I was done scrubbing.

I’m not too worried about screwing up the critical tolerances, but I mentioned what I think was important not to touch in case someone was wondering if I messed things up. I’m far from a gunsmith, ha! Let me know if I did bad.

The base question I had was around “rust never sleeps.” I’m guessing that my scrubbing of the rust was (necessarily) incomplete, as it seems it’s near impossible to remove rust once it starts. So, I thought if I installed the bolt into the gun, the rust would slowly creep from the bolt to the receiver and perhaps someone knew how to stop that.

I’m probably overthinking this and should just doubly make sure the bolt is adequately lubed (and not left in that back room!). All steel eventually is doomed anyway, except maybe that wonder-stainless without carbon in it.

 

[n2ishun]

What I do.
After scrubbing off whatever rust is there I clean very thoroughly with either 90+% isopropyl alcohol or acetone.
Then you have to use a high grade pure carnuba car wax and don't be shy.....wax on wax off like a mofo.
Now you don't have to worry about it for at least a year.
You can oil it however you feel like but *somehow* that wax hangs in there and gives a bit better rust proofing than anything else I know.
Just remember you need to do it about once a year.
This lesson provided by ownership of rusty Remington bolt actions and the hate of rusty Remington bolt actions.

 

[KnowNothing256]

Thanks for bringing that up. I did a poor job on exactly explaining my question.

Grit contaimination and tolerances are good topics. I neglected to say I disassembled the outer pieces of the bolt and flooded it with CLP to rinse the grit off after I was done scrubbing.

I’m not too worried about screwing up the critical tolerances, but I mentioned what I think was important not to touch in case someone was wondering if I messed things up. I’m far from a gunsmith, ha! Let me know if I did bad.

The base question I had was around “rust never sleeps.” I’m guessing that my scrubbing of the rust was (necessarily) incomplete, as it seems it’s near impossible to remove rust once it starts. So, I thought if I installed the bolt into the gun, the rust would slowly creep from the bolt to the receiver and perhaps someone knew how to stop that.

I’m probably overthinking this and should just doubly make sure the bolt is adequately lubed (and not left in that back room!). All steel eventually is doomed anyway, except maybe that wonder-stainless without carbon in it.

Rust comes from moisture in contact with susceptible steel; it's accelerated by corrosive contaminants in the moisture or on the steel (such as salts from skin contact, as mentioned above). When rust really takes off is when moisture is present on the steel, then dries slowly; as it dries, the corrosive components get more concentrated (as the droplet gets smaller but the contaminant quantity stays the same), and if this happens slowly, it gives the more-concentrated corrosives time to work on the steel.

Now, that said, rust isn't really "contagious" so to speak. What DOES happen though, is that the bluing on steel, which is corrosion-resistant, gets compromised which then allows for rust to happen more easily in the future in those areas. This is what you're seeing when you mention "once it starts." It's actually not hard to fully remove rust at all; CLP will do it, as will abrasives, but what's hard is to take only the rust off while leaving the bluing behind (which is just another form of rust).

Minor superficial rust isn't a big deal; even aggressive corrosion, that results in visible/tangible pitting, is more cosmetic than anything on most gun surfaces. The two main places where it's much more problematic are the bore and the crown; if it's in the receiver or on the bolt it doesn't really matter unless the thing is basically rotted away. It's definitely a cosmetic problem though, and will degrade resale value, but I've gotten to the point of just not caring when I have to wipe away a thin veneer of rust from the exterior of the receiver after a chilly shooting session or hunting into the evening. I don't like it, but I'm tired of getting upset by it. I'd consider cerakote, but it's just kinda expensive, I'm not gonna cerakote the interior of the receiver cause that messes up tolerances, and it's not actually super durable. Long-term, I'm leaning towards a stainless or titanium action, but we'll see; there are other priorities in my action that might steer me towards a non-stainless (mainly I'm interested in the ARC Archimedes, so). My barrels will all be stainless going forward though; it's basically free insurance against mild bore corrosion, since stainless barrels cost the same as chromoly nowadays.

 

[Baron23]

Using Barricade for about 10 years now. Thin and light creeps into fine spaces internally, externally wipe down with moistened microfiber cloths. View attachment 7806265

I LOVE Barricade and have been using it for decades on my skeet guns. Don't know how long you have been using it, but it used to be called Sheath and they changed the name....dunno why, maybe they thought Sheath sounded too much like a condom! haha

IMO, its great for outside of guns as a rust preventive...yeah, I have seen the articles on testing many various brands of stuff on metal in salt fog....but Barricade works very well and doesn't smell like ass. haha

I suppose it would work just as well on the outside of a bolt....but have never used it for that.

That Bob Marvel's Custom Oil I linked above is apparently a product well liked for semi-auto (AR type) bolts as it lubricates as well as inhibits rust. I have a custom rifle that I bought virtually new from a fella and he used a Seekins action for some obscure reason. The bolt movement was fairly rough when new but a bit of Bob's oil when cleaning and running it a couple of hundred times smoothed it out.

IMO, Barricade is very good for rust but really doesn't offer any lubrication if that's part of the requirement.

Great product and I use the BC Gun Scrubber as an all around solvent for gun cleaning and like it a lot also.

Cheers