gun bluing

[neil w]

Got a quote from a gunsmith to re blue a o/u shotgun barrels with some minor pitting on the barrels bluing and very thin bluing through use.The quote was £200 to do the job, good deal or not. !! Your thougts please.

[Ruster]

I had a quote a couple of days ago to re-blue my ultra XS barrels from a place called #### for £165 plus vat so £198. Sportsman gun center said about £160 plus vat and ladds guns also around £160 plus vat, So £200 seems on the money to me but I am fairly new to the shotgun world only had my licence a couple of months so I am no expert

[Bungle The Bear]

For that money that should be top end work - try Barrell Browner on this forum - the price is about right for top Quality though

[brett1985]

richardH on here is supposed to be very good. drop him a p.m.

[neil w]

Thanks for your replies.I forgot to n add the vat on the quote,the barrels have some exterior pitting so would have to be draw filed this guy is quite local to me,so when you take post into consideration probably would work out the same.I will contact the members you mentioned though. Thanks

[Westley]

A lot depends on what sort of job that you require doing. Cheap blacking is just that CHEAP and is unlikely to last. I had my side by side reblacked, including the 'furniture' for £100 some 20 years ago. At that time I could have had the barrels done for around £50 as a 'cheap' job. Twenty years of use and the gun is just showing some slight wear on the blacking at the muzzles and the breech, from the gunslip and traces of wear to the top lever and trigger guard from my hands. Remember each time the barrels are blacked, metal is removed and with thin walled English guns, this may render them VERY thin walled. I would be asking if I could see an example of his work before I left my gun there.

Edited November 28, 2014 by Westley

[neil w]

Thanks Keith much appreciated.

[clayman]

There are several different processes that can be used to blue/black/ brown or case harden a gun.

 

Just quoting a price without knowing which finishing process is being applied is used makes comparisons difficult. Is the quote for selenium process; caustic process; rust process? etc.

 

The different process types have differing resilience to wear and differing end colour tones ( eg selenium is the cheapest process, but wears easily and can be greyer and patchy)

 

Hot caustic allows toning through the blues and blacks according to how the process is applied.

 

Rust finish is oxidising the outer surface to ferric oxide which is deep brown to black and stops red rust or ferrous oxides forming. Its very hard wearing finish.

 

Case hardened finishes end up with an "oil-slick" colour variation across the finish.

 

Just like spraying a car, the critical part is the preparation, and thats simply skill and labour. The "process" itself takes seconds. So one man quoting £250 may have poorer end results than another skilled and efficient person quoting £150 for the same job.

 

Its important to view end work of the craftsman to see the type and quality of finish that they acheive before you make price and value comparisons.

 

As its a "trade secrets" type of skill, the look of end results can be very individual to a specific workshop. It is possible to identify who did a job just by the end tone result being typical of a particular process and workshop, and quality variation according to the employed process and the craftsman's skills, is wide.

[wraivi]

PM Richard H on here, he does great work, I have had a couple of guns done and can't recommend him highly enough. Very well priced too, but will depend on how much prep work is required prior to treatment.

Cold blues are great for touch ups and small pieces, but a wasted effort on larger surface areas.