Dlx ?

[2greggs]

Hi All

Today I was in a local gun [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]gushop[/FONT] & [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]there[/FONT] was a Sako Deluxe [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]on[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]the [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]s[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]h[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]el[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]f[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif].[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Typically[/FONT] they are high gloss but this [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]gloss [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]r[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]i[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]f[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]l[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]e[/FONT] was darker[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif],[/FONT] like a eggplant color, almost purple. What causes this & can it be brought back to the original high gloss.[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/FONT]

 

[stonecreek]

"Purpling" sometimes occurs, mostly on older Sako receivers. Some people attribute this to the qualities of the steel, but I suspect that it is probably related to an abberation in the bluing compound recipe. The only way to address it is to completely reblue the rifle. Depending on the overall condition of the metal finish, rebluing may or may not be advisable.

 

[2greggs]

SC

The model is a L691, not too old is it? The shop owner thought it may be from sitting in a box thru the years. I think it would be hard to match the Sako high gloss here in the states. Not worth to ruin the finish.

 

[stonecreek]

No, the 691 is a youngster in my book. While the purpling usually takes a while to show up, it is not necessarily limited to "older" Sakos but can be found in any rifle if the chemical/metallurgical factors necessary for it to appear are present. I've heard people speculate that it has to do with exposure to ultraviolet light, but that would be the opposite of your dealer's speculation that it has to do with sitting for too long in the box. I suspect that neither light nor its absence has anything to do with it, but rather it is in the chemical of the blue, or pershaps in the metallurgy of the steel, or perhaps some of both.

If you'll take nearly any Sako (and most other guns with a highly polished blue job) out into bright sunlight you'll find that the hue of the receiver and that of the barrel are usually slightly different. I believe that this does have to do with the difference in their metallurgy, i.e., the same chemical treatment to two different kinds of steel won't result in exactly the same finish.

"Older" Leupolds are famous for turning purple. I think that Leupold has long since corrected the issues that allowed some of its scopes to discolor, so I doubt you'll find any made in the last 15 years or so doing the purple trick.

 

[2greggs]

I have taken my deluxe out in the sun & yes it seems that the reciever is different from the barrel. It appears that the barrel is a higher gloss. Are they polished seperately & then put together. I thought once the barrel is screwed into the reciever they would polish both at the same time.

 

[stonecreek]

I suspect that they are polished and blued separately, but I am not certain of this. At any rate, it is not the separate polishing and bluing that makes them appear slightly different, it is the difference in the metal and the heat treatment.

 

[Anonymous]

When I have had rifles re-blued, and they were few, far between, and in different states, the receiver, barrel, and bolt were blued separately. FWIW.
S-A

 

[paulsonconstruction]

Once again Stonecreek is right on! The metal in the action & barrel are different & the action has been heat treated & the barrel has not been. That is why there is a different look between the barrel and the action bluing with age. I don't know why some rifles exhibit it and some don't. Maybe we have a chemists, metalurgists, or ME or ChE on the forum that will chime in and explain this phenomenon.

 

[temozon]

When reblueing, what grit polishing is typically necessary to achieve the factory like finish for a replacement barrel for a mid 1950's L46? The barrel maker I'm using is planning on 320 grit, but my local gunsmith says that is pretty coarse.

 

[Anonymous]

bsmith,
That does sound coarse to me to achieve a Deluxe luster. JB at Accuflite does a lit of bluing and is good to talk to. I doubt that he would mind sharing with you what he uses. He knows his Sako's so he will know what bluing you are looking to achieve. His store is in PA.
S-A

BTW, I don't think a barrel maker would make much profit without a premium so when you order one, it's probably somewhere in the middle ground and you have do it locally to get a better match..

 

[cmjr]

The 320 grit level is pretty standard among smiths for polishing and I would guess that 90% of the polished barrels you see are done with 320. Polishing is a process and you get what you pay for, to a smith his time is money. If you want him to take it to 600 I'm sure he would, even 1000, it's usually an ecomonic decision on your part. Most smiths will offer a bead blast or a polish(320) for the same price, but if you want that high gloss, reflective finish don't be surprised if there is a upcharge.