are blued and ss guns made out of the same metal?  I was thinking of removing the blueing from my marlin 336 and polishing it to a high shine. pros, cons, any suggestion is greatly appreciated.

no it is not ss, it will need some kind of rust protection if you remove the Bluing..

As Tony said - when you strip a steel gun (in the white) there is nothing

to prevent surface rust from forming.

A Stainless gun can be polished to a high shine, but steel neds to have

some sort of coating (blueing, parkerizing, dura coat, ect.) to prevent rust........ 

Keep in mind stainless steel can rust. It just takes more corrosive exposure to make it do so.

The metal on the 336, once stripped and polished, would look great once re-blued. I've seen a couple that were done correctly and they came out very well. ("correctly" means a thorough, even polish on all metal surface areas. Prep work is key.) It's a shame Marlin isn't in CT anymore. They would re-blue their guns for a nominal fee. I would have it hot-dipped for a uniform finish. Then when it's all blued and pretty, you won't want to drag it around in the woods!

 

A read on bluing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluing_%28steel%29

I really want the polished metal look, don't want it blued or parkerized.  How about something like rustoleum clear?

I really want the polished metal look, don't want it blued or parkerized.  How about something like rustoleum clear?

 

How about a satin-chrome finish to afford more protection?

How about a satin-chrome finish to afford more protection?

that sounds interesting.  Who makes that?

Grizzly Custom is one outfit that will refinish a Marlin, I'm sure there are other qualified 'smiths that can do this work. Just get some references.

 

This is an 1894, but this is what the finish would look like:

I would hazard a guess that you could buy a polished stainless Rossi for about the same price of hard chroming your Marlin.

I would hazard a guess that you could buy a polished stainless Rossi for about the same price of hard chroming your Marlin.

That's the point, I don't want to spend the money to have it refinished.  I polished the lever myself and it looks great, now I want to do the rest of the gun.  From what I understand the only problem is rust protection.  So if I use rustoleum clear for $5, that would be perfect.  I know others have painted their guns with rustoleom, I just don't know how well rustoleom clear will hold up.

The problem is you will find out where the Rustoleum clear is worn off when rust starts forming. You will never achieve the rust protection given by bluing.

 

Removing your bluing and counting on Rustoleum is a mistake AFAIC. You pretty much have killed any resale value and will wind up with a rusty gun before too long.

As someone that has done a little custom paint work on motorcycles...

 

The rustoleum COULD work.  However, most likely what will happen is that the finish will start to flake off.  If you polish the steel, you are removing any "tooth'' that the paint would use to hold itself onto the steel.  It will most likely fail given temperature fluctuactions in the northeast and the rapid heating and cooling brought on by firing the gun.  You will know it failed when you start to see rust freckles.  Bigger problem is that you won't see the rust freckles and pitting underneath the stock where moisture will form and not dissipate. 

 

Personally, I would recommend against it.  However if I was going to do it, I would look into a really good wax paste and commit myself to keeping up with it.  Like a once a month scheduled teardown and compound.  Probably get old fast. 

 

Hard chrome or nickel is the best bet. 

 

Good luck.

 

C

As someone that has done a little custom paint work on motorcycles...

 

The rustoleum COULD work.  However, most likely what will happen is that the finish will start to flake off.  If you polish the steel, you are removing any "tooth'' that the paint would use to hold itself onto the steel.  It will most likely fail given temperature fluctuactions in the northeast and the rapid heating and cooling brought on by firing the gun.  You will know it failed when you start to see rust freckles.  Bigger problem is that you won't see the rust freckles and pitting underneath the stock where moisture will form and not dissipate. 

 

Personally, I would recommend against it.  However if I was going to do it, I would look into a really good wax paste and commit myself to keeping up with it.  Like a once a month scheduled teardown and compound.  Probably get old fast. 

 

Hard chrome or nickel is the best bet. 

 

Good luck.

 

C

+1

 

Early methods of metal protection on firearms (I.E. browning, bluing, parkerizing) were attempts to keep the metal protected. Going "bare" is looking for problems. A bloody fingerprint if left alone even on blued metal will be a rust spot in a day or so. If you like the look you are trying to achieve, go with a SS or chromed gun. As others mentioned, you can polish SS to a state of brilliance.

Ok, its a no go, thank you all for your input.