Before blueing the barrel and magazine, I decided to break down the gun and clean every part. The only weapons I have worked with before were in the National Guard as an armor crewman. M4, M9, M240, .50 CAL, 105 Main Gun, 120 Main Gun. Of course, all military guns break down to exactly 10 parts for cleaning, and I liked that.
The Rossi 92, I found, is somewhat different.
My setup included:
Birchwood Casey Blueing products
A cleaning kit
An iMac G5 Frankenputer for research
An iPod with Dave Chicoine's "Antique Firearms Assembly/Disassembly"
Music
I was off to a good start, but I was seriously starting to sweat. Say what you want about the Govt. or the Milt., but the weapon selection process that requires weapons to be able to be broken down without tools easily and quickly is flippin' sweet. The Rossi, I was learning, was an amalgamation of screws, wood, steel and springs, designed essentially 120 years ago as a work of art.
Seriously? I obviously over tightened the barrel band screw yesterday, and firing it must have further weakened it. Half of the head cracked off. I was able to extract it and I used a Dremel cutting wheel to add a quarter slot so I would be able to reinsert it. However, I don't think I can fire it until I replace it. Anyone know where to get one?
The magazine plug was corroded around the rim, through the notch and under the lip. The kit instructions called for degreasing with something that smells like alcohol, rinsing in water, and then using a compound to strip the blueing and rust. The blue and rust remover smelled like common rust remover, which is basically phosphoric acid. After stripping, I used a Dremel with a flapper wheel attachment to polish and grind the metal down to a reasonable degree.
Before starting, I had to make a choice between quality and durability. The truth is, I am lazy, with poor attention to detail. I am usually satisfied with function over form. I knew from my test yesterday that the home blue product would not produce a rich, black, shiny, shiny luster like the factory finish. I could send the gun off for a professional job for several hundred dollars, or do it myself. Function over form. Steel on target first, pretty, shiny second. Just clean the rust.
After stripping, sanding and a little grinding, the plug was effectively clean. The black spots are the areas of rust that didn't get sanded off, but were converted to an oxide from the initial acid treatment.
After removing the magazine from the receiver, I cleaned the bore and all parts with standard solvent. Yes, lead leaves schmootz in the barrel. I think I used every swatch in the kit.
It's hard to take good photos with an eleven year old HP digital camera. This uninteresting photo is the completed plug. After degreasing and stripping, the process is to simply wipe on the cold bluing acid, rinse, spit and repeat. During yesterday's test, I experimented with heating the target metal. While this got rid of lingering moisture, I didn't notice any difference in the bluing effect.
The directions suggesting LIGHTLY buffing with 0000 steel wool between treatments to smooth out the effect. This helps reduce splotching but it also removes a lot of the fresh blueing. What I found was about seven coats of blue, degreaser wipe down every two coats, steal wool between the first three coats, and then an oil wipe down after the last coat produced a result I could live with. I followed this formula more or less as I proceeded to the magazine and the barrel.
I did the rest of the magazine after the plug. I stripped up to where there was pitting, ground with the flapper wheel, then wet sanded some at around 400 grit. No, I didn't polish to a high buff. Function over form, lazy, poor attention to detail, remember? Excuses, excuses. Look, I'm not painting a car with metallic enamel here. What I wanted was reduced pitting and rust protection, so get off my back.
You should know, at this point in the documentation process, I am sucking back on some home brew table wine.
Again, the photo is rough. In person, the magazine looks good. There is a slight rainbow effect along the top, perhaps a reaction to long term, low level heating in proximity to the barrel. The pitting was most severe underneath. I didn't try to eliminate it all, because I didn't want to weaken the metal too much. The flapper wheel left strong grooves which were reasonably dulled with the wet sanding. The blueing process was frustratingly imprecise, but as I said, the addition of a final rubdown with gun oil created a decent finish. Time will tell if it is durable.
I did the barrel the same as the magazine, but I noticed that the barrel bluing seemed a little more resistant to stripping. Furthermore, during the bluing process, there were many more rainbow colors and blotches. I tried and failed to capture this in a photo, so you'll have to take my word for it. My concern of the barrel was that I didn't want to strip all of the way back to the receiver and wondered how well the blue would blend. It came off like a very subtle mother of perl, with light and dark bands along the wet sand path. I like it, but it isn't the pure black of the original finish. The gun is a replica of an antique after all, and should look and be used, so I am not unhappy with what we in the IT field would call "visual artifacts".
I reassembled the barrel/receiver assembly, including the broken screw. Phooey.
Flipping' Dave Chicoine. I quote "Reassemble the rifle in the reverse order of above." Like. Hell. Putting the lever back in with the bolt was a nightmare. I don't even know how I did it, but I did. Putting the trigger assembly back was similarly demoralizing. However, after a total of six hours of work, I had my Interarms Rossi 92 .357 Magnum carbine back together.
The first cycle of the lever made my stomach jump. Binding, choppy, rough, however you want to describe it, I was scared I had permanently messed up my gun.
Again, the difference between a military grade weapon and a CAS replica may be the issue. My personal Beretta M9, I would run with almost no oil. Oil attracts dirt, dirt jams a gun. I fired hundreds of rounds through it with barely more than a wipe on the rails with a barely damp rag.
This Rossi seems to like a bit more juice. I noticed when I bought it that the bolt, the lever, the hammer and even the magazine follower where all visibly wet with oil. I applied oil to various parts and slides, and after about twenty cycles, the gun was back to the same smooth operation it had when I bought it.
Being a newbie to this model, I don't know what a "slicked up" model feels like, but I feel that I wish it was smoother with less oil.
So there it is. I am happy. I don't think I added to the value of the gun. In fact, after many hours, I added a few careless scratches on the receiver. But the glaring rust and pitting has been subdued. The action still works, miraculously ( after a few tests with spent shells, maniacal giggling, and wife shaking her head ), and at first and second glance, the gun still looks nice.
I'd like to find a better .38 special round. Maybe learn to hand load. And the flat iron sights have to go. I think I'll be calling Nate Kiowa Jones next week to see what my options are.
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