doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com RBL 20 Barrel Blue

I've enjoyed shooting my RBL, but I wonder what CSMC used to blue the barrels. They are more of a matte finish and whatever the blue is, it seems quite durable. I like it, but was a little surprised it wasn't rust blued.

Anyone know?

Rust blue is labor intensive. I would have been very surprised to see that. When I visited the manufacturing facility it looked to me like it was a hot bath blue, but I do not know which one they used. The bluing area was in a closed, but well ventilated area with a glass window on one side.

Jim

I don't know what blueing process they use, but checking the rib attach alloy would help point to which process might have been used. If they are soft soldered ribs, it's gotta be rust blued. The matte finish can be from the prep. If they glassbead blast the barrrels before rustblueing, it'll come out matte. If they use a particularly strong rustblue solution, it may etch to a matte finish.

A year ago, I toured CSM's operation and spent time in the bluing room. A cold rust bluing solution is hand applied to the barrels then the barrels are placed in a heated liquid tank.
I do not know what the cold rust bluing solution is used nor do I know what chemicals may be added to the distilled? water in the heated tanks. The barrels are periodically taken out of the tank and carted, recoated, and placed back in the heated tanks for further rust bluing. All of the CSM barrels are blued by this same process.

Sounds like a rust blue method known variously as "Belgian Bluing" or "Express Bluing." This process can produce an excellent deep rust black color in a single day or less. The color might be varied somewhat by altering the chemicals swabbed on the metal. Brownell's Dicropan IM and the old Herter's Belgian Blue, now Art's Belgian Blue, are examples of this process.

I saw the flat matte finish on the 28g RBLs at Vegas and was unimpressed with it and the stock finish. The whole gun was flat/matte. Good for a waterfowl gun I suppose. Still, I'm not a fan of it.

Somewhere in my faltering memory is the notion that CSMC originally used a coating rather any normal blueing process. I think this process was used on production models but then changed to Belgian Blue. My gun is in the 5XX range and has a very flat finish. It proved to be susceptible to staining from blood. No sign of corroison but rather a stain.

QTRHRS, how bad was the blood stain on the barrels? So far I've only killed some inedible skeet, but plan to take my RBL hunting next fall. Guess I'll be careful. I would have liked a traditional rust blue, but the matte blue is acceptable.

I was wandering through Kittery Trading Post in Maine last fall and looked over the new Ruger Hawkeye - both the "African" and the "Alaskan" in .375 Ruger. Both rifles, one blue, one stainless, had matte finishes. If possible, the stainless finish was even uglier than the matte blue. The stainless was a pretty light and handy gun, but I'm sure would be a bear to do load testing off a bench. Ruger has really cut corners on the fit and finish over the years.

Related to the RBL question, I've wondered what is the black/blue finish that shows on CSMC gun calendar and catalogs. Anyone know?

GD,
It appears my memory is intact. In Bruce Buck's SSM article from the May/June 07 mag. he states that Lou of CSMC. told him that his gun, which was used for the article, had a mil-spec thermal-set coating. Buck's gun has a SN of under 100. It would be interesting to know at what point CSMC switched to the "Belgian" process.
Don't worry about the staining. If you like the gun on clays you're going to love it in the field. I had three go to guns and that's after a lot shotguns. Now it's four.

Fred

Bluing - All RBL barrels are blued in the traditional method of rust bluing. On case colored guns, furniture (trigger guard, top lever, etc.) is blued with a special black oxide process.

This is the statement concerning the RBL that is posted on the web site.
Phil