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Can a painted gun be touch up blued?

Shaneo7

Private
Minuteman
Dec 26, 2023
13
0
Yooper
Wondering if anybody has any experience with touch up blueing of guns with baked on paint. I have an H&R pardner pump shotgun that had some feeding issues and long story short I was able to take care of the problems by doing some grinding and deburring around the inside of the mag tube, also did some deburring of the right side shell latch and loading gate area. I've read some forums suggesting that the guns not really blued, it's baked on black paint from factory which is what it definitely looks like. My concerns with bluing the bare metal areas is that the paint could be melted or rubbed off by the cold bluing solution leaving an insufficient covering no matter what. Thoughts?
 
Wondering if anybody has any experience with touch up blueing of guns with baked on paint. I have an H&R pardner pump shotgun that had some feeding issues and long story short I was able to take care of the problems by doing some grinding and deburring around the inside of the mag tube, also did some deburring of the right side shell latch and loading gate area. I've read some forums suggesting that the guns not really blued, it's baked on black paint from factory which is what it definitely looks like. My concerns with bluing the bare metal areas is that the paint could be melted or rubbed off by the cold bluing solution leaving an insufficient covering no matter what. Thoughts?
Not sure about the bluing solution ruining the painted parts. Is there a reason why you don’t just use black paint?
 
Not sure about the bluing solution ruining the painted parts. Is there a reason why you don’t just use black paint?
Thanks for your reply. I've never heard of a gun being painted, do you think the paint would be as durable without being baked on? If so maybe that would be the way to go. Thinking a heat gun to bake it on? I just don't have much experience with gun finishing to begin with.
 
Generally, baked on paint is more durable than air dry paint but this totally depends on the prep work and the paint itself. I can paint a rifle with regular old Krylon, bake it, but that's not going to make any more durable than air dryed Duracoat or Aluma-Hyde II.

How much money are you willing to throw at this thing?
 
Generally, baked on paint is more durable than air dry paint but this totally depends on the prep work and the paint itself. I can paint a rifle with regular old Krylon, bake it, but that's not going to make any more durable than air dryed Duracoat or Aluma-Hyde II.

How much money are you willing to throw at this thing?
Not a lot to be honest, it's a cheap gun to begin with and I'm not worried about the looks a whole lot especially in areas that aren't going to be seen, I just don't want it to be constantly rusting and the areas that are bare are areas that will see lots of abuse i.e shells going in and out and fingers rubbing on the loading port area.
So long as the exposed metal is steel, you can use cold bluing on it no problem.....shouldn't harm the existing painted finish at all


If it's aluminum, they make "aluma-black"....which I've never had great luck with.
 
So long as the exposed metal is steel, you can use cold bluing on it no problem.....shouldn't harm the existing painted finish at all


If it's aluminum, they make "aluma-black"....which I've never had great luck with.
I think I'll just try it out, I already have bluing solution on hand, the parts are all steel I believe. I'll check with a magnet before hand to make sure. Thanks!
 
Eh, it's better than leaving it bare but in my experience it doesn't hold up well over time and wears away quick. I've had better luck with Brownell's Oxpho-Blue, you can get it on Amazon pretty cheap. If you're looking for a cheap, durable paint, Rustoleum Professional Flat Black is pretty good. I've touched up a couple muzzle brakes, barrels, and such with it and it's held up well.