Ageing your gun

[MacCoy]

Any good tips to get your gun a slightly worn look? I mean metal turned to almost grey and woodwork has lighter areas . I would like to do it myself so is cold bluing and re-oiling the stock the option?
The gun I`m talking about is Enfield 3 band repro made by Euroarms, it has case hardened lockplate, were those case hardened in originals?
In some photos they look like they were blued.

[threepdr]

MaCoy,

An attempt to make it look "slightly worn" may only look contrived so. Unless you want to fully "authenticize" your Enfield I would suggest only replacing the modern stock finish with several coats of boiled linseed oil. Then shoot it and carry it ALOT, and it will get the desired worn look.

Fully authenticizing (or De-Farbing as it is often called) is much more involved that just making it look worn. It involves replacing parts, removing modern markings, reshaping the stock and refinishing to name just part of it.

Here is a link to an article that dicusses the controversy regarding Enfield blueing, but gives a great deal of background info on the Enfield that you might find interesting.

Good Luck

http://authentic-campaigner.com/arti...en/enfblue.htm

[Frank Lucas]

Give Naval Jelly a try...I know it works good on barrel and bands but don't know its effect on case hardened lock.

[Joe Burchette, 2440V]

Take it to Spring Nationals and don't clean it till you get home.

[RaiderANV]

Ya had ta go thar Joe. We done had two nice Nationals an now ya done went an jinx the next one. :roll:

But normally that would be the quickest way to give yer guns that been thar look.

[R. McAuley 3014V]

CENSORED

[MacCoy]

I think it`s better to leave my Enfield as it is now, it`s not new anymore, nearly 20 years old so it has some marks of use in it.
I saw an article were there was used cleaner-degreaser from Birchwood Casey and Brownells 44/40 cold blue to get the result I was thinking about, but it said that you have to treat your gun again occasionally.
Maybe I try that to my Pietta Remington .44...

[Jim Mayo]

Cold blueing will give you a deeper and IMO a more period blue on your enfield. It will resemble the original blueing and will not look old. There are some tricks to doing it but it isn't that difficult. I have sent you a PM with another reference which should help.

[Jim Brady Knap's Battery]

I may be wrong but it seems to me that when these firearms were in service they were either new or in excellent condition having come from govt storage. I really doubt that they looked 145 years old with that much age, wear, neglect and/or abuse. They did acquire wear and handling marks but a "authentic" dark patina is a product of many years not hard campaigning. I have an 1861 dated Tower which has the smooth patina on the lock associated with an aged case hardened surface and still shows the mottling on the inside of the lock. The barrel has it's ageing blue which is mixing with a deep brown patina and has the original blue still vivid under the wood line. The stock shows hard use and handling and looks to have seen some long hard service in the field. It was never struck bright and shows it's ageing finish along with honest wear and use. It's easy to see that when this musket was new and issued to a soldier of the North or Souith it had a brightly case colored lock and richly blued barrel and bands along with a nicly finished stock. Never bright.

This discussion sort of reminds me of some bogus re-enactor types I saw at Devils Den one fine summers day. They were lounging around the rocks dispensing fictional history to unknowing tourista's. One good story was that their Ala. unit used flintlock muskets and shotguns for the entire war. They also never wore shoes since they were from the back reaches of Ala. Now from a military reality side of things I sincerely doubt that ANY unit carried flinters for the whole war no matter what backwoods heritage they sprang from. I'm also willing to bet, and have seen mention of in original accounts, that when a pair of yankee shoes became available they were getting salvaged and used especially when the war hit the macadamized roads in the more devolped areas. These mighty dispensers of fantasy history all were wearing NEW kersey wool pants which all had the brand new looking fabric tastefully ripped and torn in an attempt to make them look like they had been through some hard campaigning. They weren't even dirty just purposfully torn.

Armies stood inspections in those days just as today. The purpose of these inspections was to insure that all the soldiers issue was servicable and would perform as desired when needed. I would think that the soldiers of the C/W armies, like todays, were expected to keep their equipment, especially their weapons, in as good and unmodified condition as possible. Every day of every week of every month of every year of the war. I doubt that any of their equipment looked 145 years old.

Jim Brady
2249V
Knap's Battery

[MacCoy]

What I meant was slight patina ,not to make the gun to look like it has been in use 150 years and never cleaned. But to make it look it`s 150 years old but in good condition. Anyway the stock have to be re-oiled since it has clear line halfway in it , bottom darker and top lighter, like it had been masked off. And I know that in service your personal weapon is the most important thing, or at least where I come from, sometimes it felt that it was too important.