Blue Wonder Gun Blue Kit.

[Marco]

I recently reblued my rifle with Wonder Blue.
I followed all of the instructions down to the letter. I cleaned all grease and finger marks off it using the stuff that came in the pack.
I wore latex gloves, as recommended.
I heated the metal up using a heat gun to apply the solution.
But it looked naff. I thought it might have improved overnight, by letting the deveoper work. They said I could get it as dark as I wanted, with a deep black finish the more I applied. I opted for the 2oz kit, as I wanted it to be as black as black could be. I ended us using the whole bottle on my HW77, but never achieved what I wanted. The black I got had a gold hue to it. And after two days, there was a layer of rust all over the metal work.
I cleaned it all off, using their own gun cleaner solution. This left everything all smooth and shiny again, but the bluing had not alterred. It had still got the gold hue. But two days later, the same rust had reappeared. I then had no more of their cleaning solution left, so thought stuff it! I pulled out the Autosol. I had used this on my other rifle. It is a Hatsan Mod 60s, and if you are familiar with them, you will know that the bluing isn't exactly the best. But the Autosol cleans it up nicely and has no visible effect on the bluing, even after many uses. So I thought I would use it on the HW77. With one wipe with a cotton swab, the Wonder Blue 'DEEP BLUE' just wiped off! I was not impressed. I ended up cleaning all of the bluing off in under 10 minutes, just by using Autosol and a cotton swab. The deep blue they promise, the "one that looks and wears like factory blue" niether looked or wore like factory blue - even by comparing it to the cheap Hatsan blue quality.

I looked into in a little further, and some have suggested that it may have been because I had polished the metal work up too much. But according to the Wonder Blue website, and the instructions that came with the kit, it doesn't matter as long as the rifle as been thoroughly cleaned. The even say I could have gone as far as using jewellers rouge, providing that any compound residue was removed prior to bluing. I hadn't gone that far, and I made absolutly sure that the rifle was cleaned thoroughly using the stuff they provided. This is the reason I chose to use their product. They said it didn't matter that my rifle was very smooth. So there was no reason for this to have happened, unless they lied.


My verdict;
Probably ok for MINOR touch ups. ie. small scratches.
Absolutely rubbish for anything else.
Offered my rifle no protection from rust, just seemed to cause it!
The cleaning solution is excellent though. Cuts through grease and grime in seconds. Thinking of buying some for the oven!

They host a how to video on their website via Youtube. Should have noticed before I bought, but the quality of the videos are rubbish. You can't actually see the finished article due to the low quality videos. Now I know why.
Total waste of my time and money in my opinion.

I have heard of others on here that have used it and thought it was ok. I ask them to try the Autosol test. If it stays put, it may have been because I had polished the metal work, in which case, Blue Wonder have mislead me by saying it wouldn't make a difference, and owe me a refund.

[Tadpole]

Letter of complaint on it's way no doubt Mr Marco ....................

[Marco]

Yeah, but doubt it will get me any money back.

I have to admit though, I have grown to love the shiny silver finish. The more I see it, the more I love it.
Surprisingly, the polished metal rarely shows any signs of rust. The only problem areas are where my thumb touches the metal when I take the safety off, and the end of the underlever. Everywhere else is not a problem. And I take it out when it is damp. That Autosol works wonders - better than Blue Wonder anyway!

[buster]

You could coat the bare metal with clear laquer,the kind you use over metalic car paint,and you wont have to worry about rust and finger marks.its avalable from most auto shops in aerosol form.

[AGSmithy]

You could coat the bare metal with clear laquer,the kind you use over metalic car paint,and you wont have to worry about rust and finger marks.its avalable from most auto shops in aerosol form.

thats a bleeding good idea might do it to my chinese springer, i am putting a new cocking lever on which will be silver, the bluing is of poor quality so polish and lacquer sounds awesome

[peter griffin]

hi guys , i myself tried the old hw77 strip n re blu . total crap job ! cold bluing just does not work. i have experimented all ways even heating to cherry red first. dont waste your cash guys! go for the professional job or the dredded bare metal look as i did too. laquor flakes off though by the way, and those bluing videos on you tube have got to be fake! all i ever achieved is plum brown finishes . hope this info is helpfull .

[simshaz]

i bought the birchwood casey kit off ebay for about 14 quid, done 2 shotguns so far with it an i am impressed with the finish, not a professional finish but flippin good.
reason for the rust is while the blue develops it needs to be heavily oiled. i used transmission fluid after reading a post on shotgun world.
hope this helps

[Baberidge]

i bought the birchwood casey kit off ebay for about 14 quid, done 2 shotguns so far with it an i am impressed with the finish, not a professional finish but flippin good.
reason for the rust is while the blue develops it needs to be heavily oiled. i used transmission fluid after reading a post on shotgun world.
hope this helps

Yo mate.

Do you rub on the oil immediately after the bluing liquid?

Dan.

[bigchap]

i too have used the birchwood casey kit.no complaints from me.

[simshaz]

What i did was to buy the full re finishing kit off ebay (about £14.00). i used the blue remover and boy did it work, stripped the metal work clean, so be careful. one other thing i was told to try was concrete cleaner diluted with water as it is acid and removes the blue.
Anyway
i then used the steel wool to remove the residue and dried the barrels.
then i used some wet and dry paper to remove any imperfections starting with harsher grades going to virtually smooth.
then in the kit you get cleaner degreaser. i used this 3 times to ensure it was super clean and wearing rubber gloves so i left no finger prints.
Dry off the barrels with a clean cloth and then i fed a wire coat hanger into the barrels and attached it to the side of the shed and held the other end so i could move it round whilst applying the blue.
apply the blue quickly and evenly and leave for no more than a minute, then wash with clean water and dry. Smooth over with wire wool from the kit and degrease again. Apply a further coat of the blue and leave for a minute. wash clean in clean water and dry thoroughly. then in the kit you get 2 oiled wipes, but on shotgun world i saw that transmission fluid is better so i liberally applied that and left it overnight. i have had no rust coming back on either of the guns i have done using this process.
points to remember
if you think it is clean and grease free .... clean it again
plenty of oil on the blue after the final coating
any marks you see in the metal will show in the blue, remove them if you can.
hope this helps
Simon



Not the best picture in the world, but you can see an even finish