Sandblasting a rifle?

• Feb 6, 2012

• #1

winchester1970

Senior Member

Anyone ever sandblasted a gun? I bought a Winchester 94 rifle that is a little on the rough side from not being taken care of from previous owner. It is mechanically sound with a descent bore but the exterior of the rifle is missing all blue with some pitting. Just want to clean up the exterior metal and maybe use one of the new coatings for it. Might just spray paint it as I do not believe rebluing is worth the trouble. Might just leave the rifle in the white as it is but well oiled. Any ideas?

Thanks, Scott!

 

• Feb 7, 2012

• #2

WGSNewnan

Senior Member

i typically use aluminum oxide before i duracoat a weapon. i would strongly recommend you purchase a good blasting cabinet before venturing into "sand blasting". Harbor freight has several cost effective options.

 

• Feb 7, 2012

• #3

winchester1970

Senior Member

I have one of the bigger cabinets from Harbour Freight now and that is what I was planning on using. My biggest concern was around the serial numbers and such, does blasting affect these areas much?

 

• Feb 7, 2012

• #4

O

olcop

Senior Member

sandblasting a firearm

I just blasted a very rusty, very old shotgun receiver, the results were excellent, left a perfectly clean surface with a nice matte finish.
The bad news is that I don't know what the blast media was, I borrowed a small blaster and it already had media in it, was a very fine white material, and the owner didn't remember what he had loaded it with------however, I plan to take a sample to a local supplier and see if they can identify it, if they do and you are interested, I can post the results.
BTW: I didn't use a cabinet, this was a small blaster, just a container and blast nozzle, very simple set up, a cabinet will allow you to reuse the media, which is a good idea, it sells for $1.00 per pound at HF.
Long post--hope it helps
UPDATE:
Just got back from the local supplier in Savannah, what I used is extra fine sand, as mentioned, it left a nice matte finish on the metal, I bought two more bags for a grand total of $9.95, cheap, good stuff,at least, works for me.
olcop

 

Last edited: Feb 14, 2012

• Feb 7, 2012

• #5

John I. Shore

Senior Member

Glass, don't use sand, too abrasive! Glass is what you want to give you that nice finish and not be too abrasive on your weapon. Any decent blast cabinet should handle glass beads just fine, you'll be much happier with the results, sounds like olcop had glass in his operation. Good luck with it, lemme know if I can help.

John I.

 

• Feb 7, 2012

• #6

WGSNewnan

Senior Member

my aluminum oxide is white / light grey also. make sure you use proper respiration devices also. even when using a cabinet. you do not want to breath airborne particulate from blasting.

 

• Feb 7, 2012

• #7

jglenn

Senior Member

120grit AO is fine.. that's what we use to Cerakote receivers and barrels... never lost a serial # yet.

Glass beads will give you a finer less agressive finish.. not recommended for Cerakote

 

• Feb 7, 2012

• #8

winchester1970

Senior Member

Thanks for the tips, I have done a good bit of media blasting in the past years just not any gun parts. This gun was just rough enough that it will make a good learner.

Thanks,Scott!

 

• Feb 7, 2012

• #9

WGSNewnan

Senior Member

be forewarned - you'll be looking for stuff to blast and coat afterwards. next thing you know you'll have 15 different colors on you bench.

 

• Feb 7, 2012

• #10

Bernard goldsmith

Senior Member

Bead blasted a m/l barrel , sure was nice.

 

• Feb 7, 2012

• #11

mike bell

Senior Member

For rusted guns I used an aluminum oxide grit (forgot size but about the same as sand), then I take it to my other blaster that is set up with glass bead. Then I hot blue in Heatbath "Nikel Pentrate" salts. This gives a very good finish. I call it a silky black and looks better then new.

One note, blasting only highlites the rust pits so get as many out as you can.

 

• Feb 7, 2012

• #12

winchester1970

Senior Member

Thanks for the additional tips on this project. The cerokote looks like a good option for a finish, any tips on prep and application?

Thanks, Scott!

 

• Feb 7, 2012

• #13

C

Craig Knight

Senior Member

I've blasted 8 or 10 does and handguns i have and they all look good, I completely disassemble them and then use a bead blaster. I now have no shiny stainless guns left, all matte fished and when they get evicted or scratched they get a blasting and look brand new. I do plug off the chambers and the muzzles though .

 

• Feb 8, 2012

• #14

Dyrewulf

Senior Member

Since the discussion is already on sandblasting - I have a 'chrome' 6.5" Raging Bull .454. Every year I've been spraying it with removable camo paint, but I'd like to just get it dulled down and OD green or a simple camo pattern. Anyone know a decent shop near Six Flags over Atlanta that I can take it to? Also, any idea what the fee would be? Thanks!

 

• Feb 9, 2012

• #15

R

Richard P

Senior Member

You might want to determine if you have a pre or post '64 rifle. If pre '64, what is its age. You might do better leaving the original finish or what's left of it alone.

 

• Feb 9, 2012

• #16

bamaboy

Senior Member

sandblasting a gun

winchester1970 said:

I have one of the bigger cabinets from Harbour Freight now and that is what I was planning on using. My biggest concern was around the serial numbers and such, does blasting affect these areas much?

Click to expand...

use a very fine media not to course or you will mess up the metal finish with pits that lyes under the rust . If you are looking to just remove the rust follow my directions and use a fine grain media.

 

• Feb 9, 2012

• #17

winchester1970

Senior Member

Richard P it was made in 1973, checked that before I bought it.

Most all of the rust is already removed, there is still some on the barrel bands only because I have got to them yet. Problem is the rifle is pretty much stripped of its finish with pewter look to the metal, its just the metal itself is kind of rough. I just want to get a finish on it to protect it from anymore damage. It's gonna be tough to know what I have until I get it media blasted. It may clean up nice enough to re-blue, really depends on the metal surface and how much of the pitting still shows up.

I want to thank everybody for all of the good info so far.

Thanks, Scott!