Made a stupid mistake today!

[Muddyboots]

I wonder if simple food coloring would work and shouldn't stain steel.

 

[George Dean]

G'day all,
Would like to make everyone aware of my mistake today and to not repeat what I did.
I had the day off, so decided to clean my 25-06's and 1 of my 300's.
Always start with the stainless rifles first.
Anyway, the stainless rifles took no time at all, but my Ruger needed a good scrubbing and some soaking as it was carbon rd up real good. I used CLR in it and swabbed it out as per usual then ran some Hoppe's No.9 in and put it away to soak.
Then grabbed my Kimber 8400 and proceeded to clean that, but at some point, I ran CLR down the bore without realising my mistake....well, it works really well at removing any blueing down to bare shiny metal in short order. If I had of noticed sooner, maybe everywhere it touched I could have wiped up before any damage was done....oh well.

Cheers.

Simple fix. I purchased a black powder .50 cal. Great Plains rifle. The former owner hunted with it but didn't take especially good care of it. It was originally the old fashioned brown finish on the metal. I had a gent re-blue all the metal and refinish the stock, very reasonable. I've owned that rifle for twenty years and it still looks, to me, brand new.

 

[LVJ76]

I wouldn't call it stupid, it's just a mistake. You are very knowledgeable and always share what you know, both the good and the mistakes and that is greatly appreciated.

We need to learn the good and the bad as well.

 

[MLN1963]

Calcium, Lime, Rust. Bluing is a rust.
I have used it on blued guns but I was very careful.

 

[RWE]

It was due for a re-blue anyway, has been hunted hard for the last 15 or so years and has some wear, already had to cerakote the bolt handle, as they are stainless and do not blue very well! lol.
Will be a quick job to remove the old blueing and re-do it.
Just a stupid mistake, normally I have Carbie cleaner in a pot, not CLR.

Cheers.

Character!

 

[Gone Ballistic]

Don't get me wrong, I will still use CLR, just make sure you KNOW you are using it and take precautions to not allow it to sit on blueing. It's in the name CLR stands for Calcium Lime RUST remover, blueing is a rusting process.
Just wish it was GREEN here as it is in the US, here it is CLEAR.
Thanks for all the well wishes, it's no drama, I have my own hot blueing tank and is a quick job to re-do. Just need a quick Soda blast and sit in the tank for a few hours.

Cheers.

It is easy to dye green or red using food grade or material dye. Just put a few (4-6) drops inside it's container and shake it up until it permeates it and you're ready to go.

 

[MagnumManiac]

Thanks for the heads up on the food colouring dye. I will give that a go. I have green too!

Cheers.