parkerized bolt action feel?

[jram]

I have a PTG trued Remington 700 action that had "chatter" when cycling the action. On the bolt bearing surfaces, i noticed some machining marks that i thought to be the cause. I worked the action with rubbing compound then polishing compound and finished it with jewlers rouge and now the action is silky smooth. But I'm a little concerned it may oxidize quickly and keep a healthy slathering of mil com tw25 on the bolt now.

Im convinced that at a minimum I need to coat the bolt and was leaning towards Ionbond DLC on the bolt only. But, I have been really intrigued by parkerizing laterly, the prices are very good and to me, the multitudes of surplus military weapons with this finish speak volumes to its durability. If i go the parkerizing route i would park the entire action not just the bolt.

Right now the action is SMOOTH and i would like it to stay that way. If anyone has experience running a parkerized model 700 can you give me your thoughts on how the action felt?

One last thing, If anyone feels the parkerizing route is a poor choice Id love to hear some feedback as to why.

 

[Supersubes]

DLC is extremely hard and very thin. It doesn’t alter the base metal, but since yours is already slicked up, you’d be in good shape. In the friction department, there is no comparison here, dlc wins.

FWIW, it doesn’t take very much preservative to keep the corrosion away. You don’t need to slather it with a ton of lube, especially if you’re actually shooting it.

 

[supercorndogs]

Just wipe it all with a little oil. Wipe it clean. Put a little grease on the bearing surface of the lugs.

 

[flyer]

Parkerizing is usually done on a rough surface like freshly blasted steel and then the surface seems to trap lube in the roughness.

If you have a highly polished surface, the park won't penetrate.

Bluing would probably work better but not as rust resistant.

 

[jram]

Thanks for the responses guys, I try to shoot it as much as I can, which is about once every 5 or 6 weeks. I wipe the bolt down before use and grease it up when it goes back in the safe.

I don’t have a rust problem, just didn’t know whether or not I made a ripe environment for it. I think I’ll keep it as is since it’s seems my routine is already overboard

 

[Vodoun daVinci]

I was making knives for a living in Summer of 2007 - just before the crash/recession/depression and orders for one off custom ground blades evaporated over a period of months. I had about a dozen blades in various stages of grinding from freshly ground to virtually finish polished and had to find a real job pronto. So, I wiped all the bare steel down with light mineral oil with a few drops of Breakfree CLP mixed in....wiped all the blades with a saturated chamois, hung 'em on the wall in my basement shop. It's a typical partially finished Midwestern US basement - it doesn't leak but the humidity is high especially in the summer.

Every one of those blades has hung untouched for 11 years and not a speck of rust. If you use good lube with rust inhibitors in it even bare steel will be fine for quite some time.

VooDoo

 

[jram]

Great input, thanks for sharing. I’ve been thinking uncoated / unpainted equals raw steel and really discounted the lube.

 

[pmclaine]

I love parkerizing.

It requires some maintenance but you should maintain your stuff anyway.

Lube it up. It patinas nicely. Gets better with age. Initially will feel "gritty" but the crystals will wear down.

 

[jram]

Thanks for describing the feel.

 

[jram]

Well, when you described the feel as gritty a lightbulb turned on in my head. I have an fn spr that feels gritty, just looked it up and the finish is a phosphate finish which as far as I know is parkerized.

The fn is black, not gray like most parked metal. If it’s indeed parkerized I know that different solutions yield different colors, could explain the deep flat black. I like the way it feels, gritty but not slow, thanks for the deacription!

 

[pmclaine]

If the FN is stainless steel in any locations than its likeley black oxide. Similar but different. Stainless wont take parkerizing so black oxide is the fall back.

Black oxide on stainless wont wear as well as parkerizing on carbon steel.

You are correct though initial appearance would indicate black oxide is parkerizing.

I think oxide is as the name suggests some chemical is put on the metal in order to create an oxidizing action to impart a finish, basically some form of "rust".

Parkerizing though I believe to be the deposition of a finish on the carbon steel part.

Kind of a different processes but they have a similar appearance.

The smart guys will confirm or refute my post hopefully if Im incorrect.