Once again, I am looking at a cherry rifle and trying to decide if it is a keeper or not because of a few rust freckles. Tried some fine, fine steel wool and oil, but that didn't do it, and I don't want to mess with the bluing. I have read of people saying that the rust on a rifle was "neutralized" - not sure what that means (other than removed). I think that unless you remove it, it will grow over time, correct? Or does coating it in oil "stop" it. Any advice welcome.
Thanks!

Rust won't just stop on its own, like you posted it will continue to live and grow, but a coating of oil will usually make it at least go to sleep.

Soak the rust area in a light oil for a day or two, then "scrub" it with a bit of old panty hose (ASK FIRST...get a ruined pair from your wife or grilfriend....if they're your panty hose, i really don't want to know about it). That's about as gentle a treatment as i can think of....but be aware that rust has already taken away the blue, so once you take away the rust will be no blue under the rust spots.

Pick up a tube of Flitz - it works miracles. It's a little hard to find, but many hardware stores carry it. Handy to have for all sorts of other cleaning - including the inside of rifle barrels.

Tad is right. Flitz is wonderful. BUT...I bought some at a state fair and the demo guy said no abrasives and safe for all polishing. His demo was impressive!!
I went home and used it on my gold plated rare HW77. O.M.G.....yes it revmoved 50% in a few strokes. I just wanted to kick myself in the butt for not trying it first in a small area. Phone calls to mfg got me nowhere. There is no warning on their product regarding gold plating.

I wouldn't have thought flitz would do that either. I guess since gold is such a soft metal you have to be extra careful what you use on it.


http://crosmanairgunmods.blogspot.com/

Flitz liquid is even milder (Says NON-Abrasive on the bottle), and may do the trick. It does a great job of deepening the bluing on a gun - gives it more of a deep glossy look. Cleans the barrel rifling to look like a mirror also. I found Ace Hardware stores carry it in the houshold cleaners area.

Flitz is perfectly safe for any kind of chemical hot blueing, and therefore fine for just about any airgun you are likely to encounter. But note that it will remove old-time "rust blueing" just as readily as it will rust--a friend of mine found that out to his cost on an antique Colt revolver!

Any kind of material like this should first be checked on an area hidden by the stock of course.

You can find it in stores where watersoftener supplies are sold.

I do not know its chemical makup. But it will eat up iron oxide (rust).

Get some and dilute it with water and either soak or apply generously with a cloth. You will see how nice that stuff works but the bluing will still have been eaten away by the previous rust. In general, you will find other uses for Iron Out around the house.
I add some to the water softener to clean the rust from the beads as it is much cheaper than buying the salt with rust removing addatives.

I was amazed at the results but of course YMMV. Problem is I have a antique can of the stuff from days of yore. I haven't seen it on the shelf in this area.

But it worked like a charm on some light freckling-removed it & left a nice finish behind.
Carl

Flitz in my experience is quite a bit more agressive on blued finishes than Never Dull
Both are great products but when possible start with Never Dull

When I was in sub school in New London, they made us do "field days" after class - mopping, buffing and, of course, polishing up the "bright work". Never Dull was a big no-no. Of course, there was always a can stowed away and we would tear off wads and cut our field day time in half. Made that brass shine like a new trombone - for about twenty-four hours. Then it went straight back to Dullsville - which is why the Navy wasn't so sold on it.