Start Here - A Pair of Winchester Model 94 30-30 Carbines

The photo above shows two pre-64 (pre-1964) Winchester Model 94 30-30 carbines. The one above still has its original factory finish on the metal, which is of course bluing. The one below has had most of its finish stripped. That gun had been mostly stripped of bluing long before I ever saw it.

(Incidentally, I've decided to use the term "bluing" rather than "blueing" in this text, although both spellings are acceptable.)

In 2003, I tried some stuff that had looked pretty impressive at the SHOT Show. It was called "Blue Wonder Gun Blue - Factory Blue in a Bottle." Not a bad slogan, but it sure didn't work for me.

I tore the rifle down and followed all the Blue Wonder instructions in finishing some of the parts. This included using their special cleaner and developer - I did not try to take shortcuts.

Unfortunately, the best finish I got was on the magazine tube - see how it's a faded brown in the photo? That's what Blue Wonder did for me. It looked better than that right after finishing, but it never did look blue.

But this is not about bashing Blue Wonder... it's about finding another new product - again at the SHOT Show - and trying it on the same gun. This time, the results turned out to be much more favorable.

Naturally, I began the project at the beginning - by disassembling the gun. And that's where I hit the first snag.