Light surface rust advice

[MN Fan]

Hey guys, I bought a Mossberg M44, but I haven't picked it up yet. I looked it over yesterday, then called them up this morning.

The rifle is complete and in really good shape. But, there is some slight surface rusting on the outside of the receiver. The bore looks great btw and I assume the receiver rusting is from extended handling and not being wiped down properly. There is no visual pitting.

I did some reading last night and found a ton of advice on rust removal. I found the following suggestions: (of course, each recommended minimal pressure)

#0000 steel wool and WD40
Paper towel and grease
Cloth towel and WD40
Corn meal and a sock (lol)
Plastic brillo pad and water
Brass brillow pad and running water

Each recommendation was typically followed by why it was the wrong thing to do and yet another recommendation. Any suggestions on the best approach?

Thanks

(edit: I had typed "Marlin" M44, sorry!)

[bunkysdad]

If in fact it is light and only surface rust I would err on the side of caution and try the soft rag and WD40. You probably don't have to buy anything and it has worked many times for me. If it is more than light surface you will then find out. I sure would love a Mossberg M44. It it US STAMPED and does it have a color case hardened bolt handle?

[desdem12]

I have found that some gun oil and a rag will work pretty much and if it is a little worse you can use the brass bore brushes with oil and that works really good with out taking off the blueing. If you use the steel wool it will remove the blue. Try an old used up bore brush and so,e oil and then when you see it browning the liquid up wipe off with rag and check then repeat if neccessary.

[MN Fan]

Thanks for the advice guys. I will give it a shot when I get it home. I am pretty excited about this one. It is US stamped, but not sure about the bolt...I don't remember anyway. The odd shaped stock and peep sight was what first caught my attention. To be honest, I went there to look at a match grade target rifle they had in stock. Earlier in the day, I had read millman's and Mikey_P's threads on their match rifles and wanted to go see what was out there. I saw on the website they had a Kimber Gov't Model 82..and sure enough, they did. But, as sweet as it was, they had it about $200 higher than comparible online pricing. The M44 was just above my "if its $100, its going home" limit (well, it was double, but I got them talked down some).

I called them this morning and (since I need to be there to sign the paperwork to actually buy it) and put it on "lay-away". I get off Thursday at noon so I plan on going over to pick it up then. I'll post some photos when I get it home.

Thanks again!

[WeldonHunter]

Good suggestions. Instead of WD40 I would use the same gun oil you wipe the gun down with too. I'm sorry but WD40 is junk. It's been around the shops I've worked in for over 32 years so I have lots of experience around it. I use Breakfree CLP a lot. It seems to halt and even remove rust to a point. I have 2 Mossberg 500s and was having spot rust problems. I would use 0000 steel wool with some CLP or if it was really light rust just the CLP with a rag on them and the rust would be gone after a few wipings. That's over time too, not a few wipings all at once. DesDem12 is right if you're over zealous with steel wool it can remove bluing. The use of oil helps to limit this. I've done it on my Mossbergs with no problem. Just be careful and take it slow. I'm fighting with everything from heavily rusted to very lightly rusted guns constantly here. Well I was. I was using some RemOil with Teflon as well as the one with Moisture Gaurd and neither seemed to hold up. Then I got some more CLP and it's all I use again. I'd used it years ago in Maryland but while I was living in California rust wasn't as much of a problem as it was in Maryland or here in Louisiana so only used some of my older stock of gun oil.

[Jumperwire]

My last M27 I picked up had a bit of surface rust on it. I used an old bore brush (brass) and some oil. Millman told me about that. Until then, I would have used 0000 steal wool.

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[MN Fan]

Thanks Weldon. Yeah, I am sure down in your area that your constantly fighting the humidity. One of the .22s I picked up recently had just a touch of surface rust near the muzzle. I wiped it with a cloth and oil, but then coated it with a thin layer of RemOil and put it back on the rack. I give it a little wipe every now and then and now its pretty much gone. The M44 though has quite a bit more rust. Its not that bad, at least no pitting. I think its just from being handled on the rack recently. We'll see how it goes once I get it home

[MN Fan]

Damn Jumperwire, that looks great! You give me hope

[Longcolt44]

This iis the best 5 bucks you will ever spend on getting rust from a blued surface. I have used it for 5 years and worn out about 3. As the ad says, it will not mar bluing. http://www.frontiermetalcleaner.com

[MN Fan]

Thanks LongColt Only $5 and S.D. is my neighbor to the north. I have one in my "shopping cart" now.

That was too easy lol.

[WeldonHunter]

This iis the best 5 bucks you will ever spend on getting rust from a blued surface. I have used it for 5 years and worn out about 3. As the ad says, it will not mar bluing. http://www.frontiermetalcleaner.com

Yeah Chuck it's just some machinists lath droppings that he's selling, lol. I'm just joking. That's the first thing I thought when I clicked the link. It looks just like stuff you'd find in a machine shop. I'll bet it does work. I think I might pick up a bunch of it. I can think of some other uses around the shop for it besides rust removal for guns. Thanks Chuck.

[millman]

A bronze cleaning brush and some oil will work wonders on the surface rust. The brush will get down into the litte pits and get the rust out. Wipe it with an oily rag after, to remove any bronze colored marks and you will be good to go. I have a bronze brush that looks like a toothbrush that I use, but the cleaning brush will work fine, and you probably have a few on hand.

[MN Fan]

I sure would love a Mossberg M44. It it US STAMPED and does it have a color case hardened bolt handle?

I was doing some Googling on the rifle and ran across this:

Re: My recent Mossberg M44US .22 cal training rifle
by bunkysdad » Thu Sep 17, 2009 10:10 pm

I am going to have to find one sometime but I don't know when. Great find. A neat little extra is the color case hardened bolt handle on these!

[Junk Yard Dog]

Real oil, not WD40, pour it on the rusted area and gently scrub away the rust with a bore brush, not a stainless brush ( never use these for anything but cleaning AR15 chambers) I use my worn out copper/bronze brushes for this. The oil will turn rust colored as you scrub, don't get carried away, wipe the oil from time to time until you see the rust is gone. Do one small area at a time. This will work, I am currently removing light surface rust from a 1871 Mauser that saw poor storage for 90 years or so, it's recovering very nicely, but it will take time.

[bunkysdad]

I should have known better than to suggest WD40. Although I always have a can around the house there are so many better things. even if I use it as I mentioned I would follow up with something else. mnfan you can see that the m44 US made a lasting impression on me. These are funds that came from the CMP and the first one I saw was on the bench next to me a couple years ago. The owner was putting up some nice groups with it.

[MN Fan]

Thanks JYD, I'll get on it when I get it home. I'll be able to take my time since I am not in a hurry to to shoot it, etc. I would like to have it cleaned up for a "debut photo" of course, but you all can see beyond the rust

I still have 3 other .22s to sight in. This one can sit on the cleaning rack for awhile if it needs to. They had another old .22 Marlin with peep sights. "Rack price" is $109, but it was pretty much covered in a thin layer of rust. There's a couple of old 12 ga. oddities as well...a Mossberg Model 200K that I find myself drawn to everytime I walk in and a matching pair of Mossberg bolt actions...one 12 ga., one .410. The shotguns are all in real good shape and priced under $200 each.

Oops, I am off topic. It happens

Thanks for the tips guys, I feel pretty good about this one now.

[MN Fan]

bunkysdad, I will keep my eye out for you. I am not sure what it is around here, I know Mossbergs are pretty common, but they're pretty much half of the inventory on any rack I have seen so far. And, I keep finding some odd ones too. If for any reason I have to ever let this M44 go, it will have your name on it.

Thanks for the input...

[millman]

[quote="bunkysdad"]I should have known better than to suggest WD40.quote]


WD40 is fine for scrubbing rust. I don't trust it to prevent rust however.

[bunkysdad]

Agreed millman. Mnfan I appreciate that but if that gun is under 200.00 that is a steal.

[WeldonHunter]

I should have known better than to suggest WD40. Although I always have a can around the house there are so many better things. even if I use it as I mentioned I would follow up with something else. mnfan you can see that the m44 US made a lasting impression on me. These are funds that came from the CMP and the first one I saw was on the bench next to me a couple years ago. The owner was putting up some nice groups with it.

BD I didn't even know you'd suggested using WD40 until you posted that. I had kind of glazed over that. I saw it MNFans first post and was trying to head something off at the pass. My goal was only to help guide some readers away from becoming dependent on it because it's cheap. I know you know about it and it's like MillMan said it's not a good preservative. The funny thing is I always seem to have some of that stuff around and I've never bought it before. I find it in boxes of stuff friends give me to go through after cleaning out a garage or after a move to a new house.