Blue Because Of My Blue

[STYER]

Hello all, I have a 1917 Remington mixmaster in very nice condition with exception of it's finish. The metal has been painted black. I am assuming that it is not the black paint FERRIS talks about on page 61 of his book. A gun guy here in AZ suggested I get it re-blued but cautioned me on who I have do it. He said he had one done and the guy polished it before bluing and ruined a lot of the original stampings. Any suggestions? Who? Where? What to tell them I want? How much to pay? I would prefer the gun to look as close to original as possible. Thanks for any help.

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[Jim K]

Get a can of ordinary paint and varnish remover. Take the rifle out of the stock, and try the remover on an out-of-sight area that is BLUED, but not painted. This is to see if the remover will remove blue - it should not.

Once you find a paint remover that won't remove blue, use it to remove the paint. You might or might not find nice blue underneath, but once the paint is off, you can make a better determination of what to do.

Polishing paint off is the worst way to remove it since it takes so much polishing the steel underneath will be damaged.

Jim

[Dan Wilson]

I agree with Jim, check then strip. The rifle you have is one of the VSO return rifles it sounds like, some were painted all black and they had six or seven of them like that when I went to the CMP south store a last week.

If the metal is pretty exposed or if its parked and you want it blued, ChuckinDenver who posts here and the 03 board will be your guy.

Dan

[STYER]

Thanks guys for your input. When you say "VSO" I assume you mean a veterans organization??? Would there be any other reason for the black paint? I purchased it about a year ago from a local gun shop. The bore was dirty but I don't think it looked like it had fouled from black powder. It had also been sporterized (stock was cut). It appeared to have been done quite some time ago. Can anyone explain a little better about what Ferris was talking about when he mentioned black paint in his book?
God I wish I had one of these rifles years ago!!!

[Dan Wilson]

Well he does talk about paint being suitable for US arms per our own regulations but I have yet to see any that were painted.
Now the Brits didn't do anything but paint their guns it seems.

As to the possible past, yes VSO stands for Veterans Service Organizations, it could still be a VSO rifle, just one that walked away.......... Or Cooter and Kletus may have just had some extra paint laying around, just one of them "who knows".

Dan

[Chuckindenver]

before you have it refinished, remove the rifle from the wood, and use aircraft remover,
it will remove the paint, but not hurt the finish under the paint.
you may be suprised.