Blueing a 9422

[stinkycat]

Has anyone blued a 9422? I'm wondering about the reciever, sure looks like the finish on the post 64 94s. will it take a proper blue or will I have to finish it with something else? When doing a post 64 94 I parkerize the receiver blue the rest.

[Hagler]

stinkycat,

I cannot comment (with certainty) on bluing, but I can tell that (I beleieve) the 9422's receivers have always been forged steel, instead of cast (like the post-64, through the early 1980s). So, the 9422 should take the bluing.

Shawn

[Tonys]

Hi Stinkycat,

The 9422 receiver apart from popular belief, is definately cast steel not forged/machined. I know this as my 1975 9422M has just been "done up".
I purchased the rifle with little or no bluing and plenty of surface rust on it. I had the option of either re-bluing the rifle, or applying other 'finishes' to it. Fortunately I am an Industrial Chemist with 30 years of experience of supplying chemicals to the Metal Finishing Industry, so I utilised my contacts to refinish the rifle.
I had it electroplated with 'satin' nickel/chrome, hard acid gold and conventional bluing.
Prior to bluing or electroplating of the rifle metal, it has to be polished to a high level, before appling the finish. My good friend and expert electroplater told me that there was a problem in polishing the receiver, as it was cast steel. What he had to do was to begin to polish the receiver and then leave it in a refrigerator freezer for 2 hours to "expose the metal grain" and again commence polishing/freezing until the finish was satisfactory.
This is how I know that the receiver is cast steel. Nothing wrong with cast steel in producing the receiver. There are no reasons why cast steel should not be used, 100 years ago the receiver was made of brass which is an inferior metal to steel, with regard to construction strength.
To answer your question with regard to re-bluing the receiver - the receiver was blued when the rifle was manufactured, so you should have no problem in re-bluing it again. You obviously have to use the "hot" bluing process, or you have no hope in bluing the receiver, or in fact the rest of the rifle!

Cheers, Tony

[J Miller]

I don't know anything pro or con about the previous poster, but my 9422 is made from machined steel and is properly hot blued. All you have to do is look carefully at it and this fact is obvious.

Just because the receiver halves may be a casting, does not mean it will not take a normal bluing. Ruger and many others use investment cast steel parts and they take a normal bluing.
As far as I know only the scinterred metal cast receivers used between 64 and 82(?) are the problematic ones.

Joe

[gamekeeper]

Mine was worn and a bit rusty when I bought it, I tried a cold blue, turned out very poor so I just left it polished in the end.

Now it looks more 1870s than 1970s.