Salvaged a scratched receiver from a rookie error

I was polishing a receiver and slipped, leaving a deep scratch. After some slow hand sanding and re-bluing, it's almost invisible. What's your go-to fix for minor surface damage?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_lee4d ago

Ever totally botched a simple job like that? My first time rebluing, I panicked and used too much cold blue, ended up with splotches everywhere. Had to strip it all back and start over with a slow rust blue method. What's the worst fix you've had to attempt after a mistake?

alex_white4d ago

Is splotchy blue really the end of the world? @the_lee, I get that it's annoying to redo work, but most gunsmithing mistakes are fixable with a bit more time. I've seen way worse where people try to hide errors instead of fixing them properly. Stripping it back like you did is the right move, even if it's a pain. It's not like you ruined the gun forever, you just had to learn the hard way. Sometimes the slow method is better from the start, but now you know.

emma_dixon704d ago

Remember that story about the guy who tried to buff out a deep scratch and ended up with a mirror finish on a hunting rifle? I read about it on a forum last year. He used too coarse a grit and took off too much metal. Had to re-crown the barrel just to fix his over-polishing. Sometimes the fix is way more work than the original mistake, but hey, at least it's a learning experience. Not that I'd ever make that error, of course.