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Rusty aftermarket sights.


kevin c

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Yes, they're a million times more durable than those plastic doodads Gaston slapped on his guns, but the plastic (and the rest of the gun) hasn't ever rusted on me.

Tried cold rebluing them on the slide - yuck. After all the trouble spent drifting them just right, I gotta take them off. Of course I could ignore it (it's a gun I'm not using at the moment), but that's trading temporary ignorant bliss for long term grief.

I shoulda known that blood, sweat, sunblock and then a week in a nonventilated case after gettting steamed up in Hawaii and flying in a subzero airplane cargo hold would not be a good thing.

Self directed shooting related mortification - mods do as ye will.

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There are different kinds of cold blue. If you dont have good results with one kind, dont give up .... try another brand. I used to use one kind and I thought it was me that was doing something wrong. Then when I finally ran out of that kind, I picked up another brand, and was pleasantly surprised at the results. One brand told me to use cold water between bluings, and the other told me to use HOT water, and then coat the parts with oil for 24 hours. Sounded weird to me, but it worked out beautifully. Very dark, and clean sights on my STI now. B)

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There are different kinds of cold blue. If you dont have good results with one kind, dont give up .... try another brand. I used to use one kind and I thought it was me that was doing something wrong. Then when I finally ran out of that kind, I picked up another brand, and was pleasantly surprised at the results. One brand told me to use cold water between bluings, and the other told me to use HOT water, and then coat the parts with oil for 24 hours. Sounded weird to me, but it worked out beautifully. Very dark, and clean sights on my STI now. B)

puh-lease pm me w/ the brand...

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  • 4 weeks later...

Follow up:

I ended up using Birchwood Casey Super Blue.

I used BC Blue/Rust remover first, and tried a few applications - too streaky/blotchy, and with powdery buildup. I thought that perhaps I was leaving the sight in contact with the solution too long, and that handling the sight, even with gloved fingers, was marring the finish.

I ended up attaching the sight to a threaded rod, using the tapped set screw hole. A little red Lok Tite kept it in place. This to allow quick manipulation w/o touching the piece. Restripped the sight, then a thorough degreasing using Simple Green and a nylon brush. Rinse in distilled water followed by canned air and then a hot hair dryer to get it bone dry and warm.

A quick dip in the straight Super Blue with an immediate rinse distilled water. Good color, minimal powder build up. Dried again, a quick burnish with 0000 steel wool. Repeat degrease and drying, and repeat blue dip twice.

Sight looks pretty good now. It is now liberally coated with BC Sheath to avoid repeat incidents...

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Duracoat? Might be a good alternative to keep the rust off your AM sights.

I thought about that (or, more exactly, my smith suggested it) - no time with the Nats coming up. Mebbe next time.

Cold blue isn't much of a rust preventative... Just keep them oiled.

Ya, now I know... :P

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