Any reason to not re-blue my bolt and receiver on my .303

[enfield303t]

Unscrew the bolt head and remove the extractor screw, extractor and spring. Simlicity itself
Remove screw from rear of cocking piece
Make special tool shown in 'home made tooling for your Lee Enfield' thread and unscrew striker. Remove striker and spring
Make sure you note the exact position of the rear of the striker in relation to the rear of the cocking piece so that it goes back in the same relative position.

Easy as that.......

[Whitey_Vic]

Attachment 49904

Hi guys this hopefully is a picture of my favourite rifle, this was before I blued any of it. After reading Bruce of Oz post Im now thinking of not doing it and just enjoy it the way it is. It looks much better now than in the photo, ill see if I can take a finished photo. Big Duke im not sure what the bluing stuff is called, I think it might be pitric acid, I think. It come in a bottle, to do your self but im sure it wouldn't be as good as what the professionals use.

[bigduke6]

Whitey,

A do it yourself blue is normally a wipe/rub on application then clean the area with a wet cloth then repeat until required result etc, the rougher the finish the darker and a more matt finish as Bruce mentions.

Original blueing was produced by controlled rusting then steamed/boiled and then the black oxide formed was removed (carding) there is a bit more to it but it was a basic procedure.

More modern methods, are Hot Bluing, Parkerizing, phosphate and black oxide (cold). Like they say about painting 90% is preparation.

[RobD]

Well... at the risk of causing a bit of irritation to you... I for one would not re-blue any more of the rifle. In fact, I wouldn't have re-blued any of it. From the photo, your rifle had a perfect "100 yr old look" to it in the first place, and personally I would have kept it that way. Whatever my personal view, there is the objective reality that (1) any re-finish will decrease the historical value of your rifle and (2) Rapid bluing solutions from a bottle do not give professional results, and the streaky greyish finish is usually pretty obvious for what it is. Sorry if the above opinion is not what you wanted to hear. It is your rifle, after all.

[browningautorifle]

In fact, I wouldn't have re-blued any of it.

Kind of too late for that...

[Lashenden]

Looked rather good before you began, but not to worry. Many people 'restore' to a slightly tidyier version of what they started with. Presonally I always clean a lot of the old dirty linseed oil/gun oil/cosmolene mixture from my gunstocks, which some people regard as 'patina' but I just see as 'accumulated grime'. On the other hand I'd NEVER sand handling marks out of an original stock. Everyone has their own view on this issue. Military finishes were always 'sacrifical' to some extent, and heaven knows the British Army were happy to Suncorite everything in sight when the old finish was worn out.

[Peter Laidler]

If I was you, since you have already embarked on the road, why not strip it down and just have it bead blasted and phosphated as per the FTR programme

[Whitey_Vic]

That's it, Im convinced to leave it alone now. Yes it was just the rub on wash off stuff, I never realized that real blueing was that complicated, and I certainly don't want to ruin it. It shoots really well, but is missing just a couple of bits. A butt swivel, stacking swivel, and a screw that goes under the nose cap, I also really want to pick up a bayonet for her. Just cleaning 100 years of grime has made it look better, no sanding just cleaning and oiling. When the sun comes up a bit more ill take a photo as it is now. I really appreciate all your input.

[browningautorifle]

The bayonet won't be that hard to find.

[Whitey_Vic]

Thanks Jim I just sent an email to a re-enactment group to see if any of there members wanted to swap any gear. I thought I might pick a bayonet up like that. I offered to them a NCO WW2 samurai sword, a WW1 infantry tunic (repo) and a WW2 1942 Daylight short range signalling light. So ill see what happens. The sword is dear to me but if it get me what I want so be it.

Here is a photo of my rifle as it is now.