The Original CZ Forum
CZ LONG ARMS => CZ Center fire Rifles => Topic started by: Canuck Bob on October 01, 2017, 02:54:34 PM
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I have just added a lefty 223 Lux from 2007. It has the old handle and for the first while the bolt handle will be fixed by me. I have an American with the new handle for a pattern but advice on modifying welcome.
How did folks handle the refinishing. I suspect cold blue but wondering if any brand worked better than others.
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After trying a number of cold blues, I've settled on Brownells Oxpho Blue. The bolt knuckles take to blueing really well. Once I got my contour right, I did a final polish, then a scrub with 90% isopropyl alcohol. Then I'll use a heat gun and heat it up to around 180 degrees and start rubbing in the oxpho blue. Like any cold blue, it won't be as durable as factory, but it'll match and blend in nicely. After I get the finish I like, I clean the remnants of the solution off with moose milk (1/2 Ballistol & 1/2 water) to neutralize it. Then I finish with a coat of Johnson's paste wax.
Those last steps may not be absolutely needed, but with my OCD it helps me feel better about the whole thing.
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Sometimes OCD symptoms are a job description! Thank you I will use that as a blueprint for the modification. Moose milk, sounds like a Canadian recipe if I ever heard of one.
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I have used both Brownell's Oxpho blue and their 44/40 blue with good results. Sometimes it seems as though one will work on a particular metal better than the other, just chemistry I guess. To get a good result that closely matches is to polish, polish, and polish the handle some more. A bright mirror shine will make everything more closely match the existing finish. Then as said, degrease, then degrease some more, I personally prefer acetone for that purpose, after washing with a good strong detergent and hot water. Then heat and apply several treatments of the blueing solution, and always use a fresh patch for each application. Everything else, the "moose milk" and wax sound good, but a simple washing with detergent after you get the desired blue, followed by a light oil or whatever you usually wipe you guns metal work will work fine.
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Moose milk, sounds like a Canadian recipe if I ever heard of one.
Who knows? Maybe it is. ;D The black powder and mil-surp guys used to swear by it to neutralized the corrosive salts and stuff from black powder and old corrosive ammo. I guess the water part does the neutralizing and when it evaporates it leaves the oil. Ballistol is some pretty good stuff to have around. Kroil too, but both of them have a particular smell that wives tend to have a hard time living with.