The Helpers Guide To Building Kit Guns - Browning the barrel and other metal parts

Lately I have been asked of the products that I use on my kit guns, for browning the barrel, staining and finishing the stock.

I am not going to get into great detail on finishing the gun stock or the barrel. As the builder, you should have a decent amount of knowledge in this department before starting. Always read up on finishing a kit gun before buying! Our kit guns today are not simple slap some stain and finished on and go shooting! Our kit guns do require fitting of parts, removal of wood and shaping the stock itself. Sometimes you will even run into a kit where YOU actually will have to make a wooden spacer to adjust the angle of the trigger group, or remove wood in this area. Fitting butt plates, trigger guards, nose caps, you name it, you'll be fitting it at some point!

Lets begin with the barrel:

Most kits offered these days by Lyman, Traditions and Pedersoli, come pretty much with a final polish. It is wise however, to use a flat file and wrap some 220 grit sand paper and go over the barrel flats to scuff up the surface and remove any cosmetic issues like small burrs, scratches and possibly dents. Once any imperfections have been removed with the 220 grit, do a final polish with 320 grit. Do not go over 320 grit as some chemicals actually will have a hard time "sticking" and will not provide the end result you are looking for. 

When building a kit for a customer or myself, I prefer to do my final barrel polishing with 220 grit as I want a thicker rust scale to build up to help reduce glare on the range or in the field.

Now that the barrel is polished and ready, let's do a final wipe down. First put on some latex gloves, as any oils from your hands can contaminate the steel and leave finger prints or smears. Next, soak a rag with Denatured alcohol and give the barrel a good scrubbing, paying close attention to areas like the drum, clean out screw and tang. These areas can hold oil from the factory and will contaminate the barrel browning process. Dovetails are another area to pay special detail to!

The main product I specifically use to Brown my barrels is a product called Laurel Mountain Forge Browning Solution. This product creates a slow rust build up when introduced to a warm, but HUMID environment. Think of the bathroom, the temp turned up to around 75-80 and then turning the Shower on until a light, and I mean very light, fog covers the bathroom mirror. Once the mirror has this light fog, it's as simple as turning off the shower, closing the door and walking away for an hour. I try to turn the shower on and steam the mirror every 1 1/2 hours, depending how well your bathroom retains the heat/humidity.

Now lets skip back one step... Do I prep the bathroom heat/humidity first or wipe the solution on first... Wait... How do I go about applying the browning solution in the first place?

Me personally, I take my time and treat the barrel first. I use a cotton ball and soak it good, but not so it runs all over the place. Runs, splatters or pooling, will actually cause you to have to sand the barrel back to steel and start all over again! If you ever see a copper or bronze looking spot  or streak, you pooled it up in one spot or you crossed over the wipe line.

When using Laurel Mountain Forge, it is CRUCIAL to apply it cleanly,to each barrel flat, without crossing over wipe lines! You must also only wipe it on in ONE DIRECTION. Do not rub it back and forth.

Think of it as sharpening your knife on a stone. One smooth clean line without picking up the cotton ball or squishing out excess solution that will run all over the other barrel flats. Carefully use the cotton ball and wipe each barrel flat until they have all been treated. Now for the drum/bolster ( That thingy where the nipple screws into, for those of you not up to par on the terms used ) I normally switch over to a simple Q-Tip and carefully coat the drum/bolster.

Treat all the metal parts you intend on browning. Turn the heat on in the bathroom to 75-80 degrees, turn the shower onto Hot. Turn it off once a LIGHT layer of fog has kissed the bathroom mirror. Shut off the shower, close the door and walk away.

It is a good idea to keep the barrel at waist height as heat rises. A cold floor with low humidity will do you no good. I use the laundry hamper with a piece of card board over it to help from damaging the hamper.

Now, just a little cheater tip. Browning small tiny items such as patch box, trigger guard and butt plate screws in this manner can be a very big pain in the butt as  the steel alloys may not take  the rusting solution as nicely as the barrel does. 

For small parts like this, I switch to HOT Browning. Birchwood Casey Plum Brown is a great product but very tricky to use on large items like the barrel because it requires a consistent temperature in order to achieve a clean, consistent browning job. It does match up great to the Laurel Mountain Forge browning solution when all is said and done.

***NOTE***
Once you have applied the first  coat, do not use a soaked cotton ball. Soak it, then squeeze out the excess from this point on! It will take very little solution now. An over wet cotton ball can actually remove the first layer of rust.


Once the barrel has been treated with around 3 coats of Laurel Mountain Forge, It's now time to remove it from the bathroom and take it to the kitchen sink for a wash down. Normally for this I just use warm tap water and a rough textured cloth ( Old pair of jeans ) and scrub the barrel down to remove excess rust scale build up.

Once you've scrubbed it down, give it a final rinse with warm water, dry it and then take it back to the bathroom for  hopefully the final coat of Laurel Mountain Forge. 

Now that the barrel is browned and has passed your inspection, it's time to NEUTRALIZE the rusting process!

I use simple Baking Soda - Water slurry to neutralize my barrels and metal parts.

 Be careful! Baking Soda is actually a polishing media and if you scrub the barrel down to hard, you'll cut through the rust and have a bare steel spot!

When I mix my neutralizing slurry, I use warm water in a little bowl and add enough water to make a paste. Once I have a thick paste, I add a touch more water to add some "lubricant" when lightly scrubbing the barrel. You can even make up a paste that actually allows you to coat the barrel and let it sit for a few minutes.

Wash the barrel down and start all over again, adding some extra water to the mix to make the baking soda polishing media less aggressive. 

My barrels for example, after treating with the baking soda paste, feel like a super smooth 2000 grit sand paper, yet do not create an ugly glare in the field or on the shooting range. Low gloss is key for my rifles! 

Now that the barrel has been fully washed down and dried, it is time to rub or spray on your favorite anti rust lubricant. I normally soak the barrel in Birchwood Barricade a couple times a day before calling it good. Later on I will add my personal anti rust lube, Frontier's Anti-Rust & Patch Lube which completely seals the barrel inside and out.

As a final step, you can now install your Nipple and Clean Out screw. Be sure to lubricate the threads before installing! Believe it or not, White plumbers tape ( Teflon tape ) makes for a gorgeous anti seize for these two items. This tape seals out powder residue and keeps moisture out of the threads when hunting in wet conditions. Another great idea behind using the Plumbers Tape - NO grease is used,that could possibly contaminate your powder charge!

***Note***

If your Barrel or other treated parts are black in certain areas, leave them alone until the part is completely covered in rust brown scale! Black areas are simply the product doing its job and slowly converting to rust. Add a little humidity to the bathroom and it will eventually brown.

Next Article to come - Finishing the Gun Stock