Unblueing an enfield rifle?

[Clark Badgett]

Re: Unblueing an enfield rifle?

Cold rust bluing is actually black, not really blue. Of the blued enfields I've seen none were "saffire blue" which actually indicates charcoal bluing job, which would lead me to think it had been reblued after the fact, due to the fact that most firearms that exhibit this finish were done well after the war.

[privstull]

Re: Unblueing an enfield rifle?

In the book "Uniforms, Weapons, and Equipment of this Civil War" on page 242-243 there is a great picture of an original 1853 Enfield longarm that is unblued. If anyone has this book then let me know what you think of the musket. I know many have probably already seen original unblued enfields and pics but for those of you who are still unconvinced this should help.

[Clark Badgett]

Re: Unblueing an enfield rifle?

Ryan, unconvinced of what? Everybody that has devoted many hours of study to Enfields know they are to be found both bright and blued, and even somewhere in between. It's the folks that say they were all one way or the other that I wonder about.

[privstull]

Re: Unblueing an enfield rifle?

I was refering the picture toward those who thought that unbluing was "out of the question" and those who might have thought there would have been no unblued enfields.

[skunkboy]

Re: Unblueing an enfield rifle?

Howdy folks,

Just a quick thanks to Curt for his well done recipe. Also thanks to Leland for finding Curts recipe. I'm going to give it a try. Also to anyone who's interested, Dixie Gun Works is selling Laurel Mountain Forge's Barrel Brown and Degreaser for $7.50 for 2.5 oz.

Sincerely and with best regards
Pat O'Melia
Poison Oak Mess

[Southern Cal]

Re: Unblueing an enfield rifle?

An authentic way to remove bluing and keep up the shine on bright gun metal is to use a thick piece of buckskin and elbow grease. Keeps the troops busy too, idle hands...etc.

Using modern but authentic to the period materials one can also remove bluing. 1/2 pure turpentine to 1/2 boiled linseed oil solution used as a carrier for a fine abrasive like 'rottenstone', all found at a good paint store. Take a cotton cleaning patch, dip in the solution, then into some poured out rottenstone, then rub the metal in one direction. Blue will soon come off. Polish with buckskin (a little horseless carriage polishing compound on the non visible side of the buckskin will make polishing go faster.

The same solution using ground pumice takes the dirt and accumulated grime from old gun stocks without damaging the original 'patina'. Rub with the grain, changing patches when dirty, until the whole stock receives equal treatment. Repeat until the desired result is acheived. For a little sheen, follow with rottenstone. The oil/turpentine is actually good for the wood. V/R

L.J. Bach

[markj]

Re: Unblueing an enfield rifle?

Greetings,

For whatever it's worth:

"United States Army and Navy Journal," 4 August 1866

BURNISHED GUN-BARRELS.

To the Editor of the Army and Navy Journal:

SIR : --Wise men will learn even from enemies. And an opportunity is now afforded us to profit by the experience of Confederates as well as our own. Many ex-Rebel officers now bear witness to the fact, that the movements of our Federal forces were often made known to them by the sheen from our burnished gun-barrels. A captain in the Sixteenth Virginia infantry, which lay behind the famous stone wall on the heights of Fredericksburg, assured the writer of this letter that they (the Confederates) discovered the positions occupied by our troops the night before the attack on the 15th of December [1862] by the light which was reflected in the moonshine from our muskets. Their leaders surmised at once where the assault would be made, and their precautions were taken accordingly. At the Second Bull Run a movement of our troops from our centre to left was seen through all the smoke and dust of battle by the glittering of our guns. Confederates who were in the trenches here at Petersburg, say they were often made aware of our movements to the left by the light that played above our moving columns, when they could not see the troops at all. But why multiply instances?
Who that has had any field experience in the late contest will not recall instances where he has seen our picket line clearly defined through woods and meadows by the gleam of our polished weapons?
What better mark could possibly be desired than blue uniforms and burnished gun-barrels?
Why would it not, then, be better to have a bronzed or blued barrel, with a strip of polished metal, say one-fourth of an inch in width, extending from the guide-sight to the muzzle of the gun? CENTURION.

PETERSBURG, VA. July 24, 1866.

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[jmbyrnes]

Re: Unblueing an enfield rifle?

Sir,

After reading many of the other posts it seems as though people have pretty much covered all the possibilities for both blued and bright. I heard from some pards in a sister unit that a decent reason for deblueing your enfield is because todays blueing is not very authentic to 19th century standards. I must warn you now I don't have nor have I seen documentation to backup his accusation. However, he claimed that in many cases the repo guns are too black when it came to the blueing. I purchased an enfield 3 years ago and he pointed out a shade of blueing on my lockplate that was far more blue than the barrel seemed to be. Just something to think about.

Best regards,

Pvt. J. Byrnes

[Michael McComas]

Re: Unblueing an enfield rifle?

>he pointed out a shade of blueing on my lockplate that was
>far more blue than the barrel seemed to be

The blue color on your lockplate is from color casehardening, a process by which the metal part is heated and quenched to produce a harder surface layer. The color is secondary. It's in no way related to the 'bluing' on the barrel, which is a form of controlled oxidation which keeps the barrel from further rusting.

As for the type of bluing or 'browning' as the British called it, yes, it is different. The old method was called 'cold rust bluing', and consisted of painting on browning solution (which was mostly acid and other less friendly substances) and letting the barrel stand overnight, to be repeated several times until the barrel had a deep finish. The modern method is called 'hot acid bluing', and the barrel is dipped once into a bath of hot acid, which causes the nearly the same chemical reaction in the steel, more quickly because the hot acid speeds up the reaction. But the hot acid blue is not as deep, because the process is not repeated. It's a matter of expedience. In either case, your barrel should not actually be blue.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Unblueing an enfield rifle?

Hallo Kameraden!

"The blue color on your lockplate is from color casehardening, a process by which the metal part is heated and quenched to produce a harder surface layer."

Actually no...

The process used involved packing the part(s), in this case lockplate(s), in animal bone charcoal in a crucible and then heating it in a controlled temperature furnace to the proper temperatures.
This imparts the "nice" mottled or wavy blue, grays, and golds to the thin layer of hardened steel on the surface.

Older Parker-Hale "Enfields" used this process.

The Italians usually use an inferior cyandide gas process, although recently (on some of the revolvers I have seen) they have been applying chemicals that produces what looks like dried blue water-color or poster paint. This is worse than cyanide coloring, as soap has been known to remove it- let alone mild cleaning agents.

I have seen some originals "restored" using an acetylene torch to create wavy areas of blue... :-(
Curt-Heinrich Schmidt