How to restore rusty accessories and parts

Preserving your Mosin Nagant collection

When your collection is growing and you have to deal with a good ammount of rifles and accessories, the most important thing you have to keep in mind is how to preserve those pieces of History. Rust is unfortunately an enemy that sooner or later you will have to fight. And if your are collecting also rare accessories even in “dugout/relic conditions”….well…you have to be ready to fight!

Sometimes rare items are available but in relic conditions. In the picture above you can see a 1939 PEM scope with a rare Izhevsk made mount. Rust is present but also some blueing is still there. At a first look, it is not clear if you will be able to disassembly the mount and the different parts, but a restoration is absolutely needed.

The result of the preservation process of this scope will be presented in the scope section when completed. This case study is giving us a good opportunity to list my personal restoring rules, that i think will be useful also for you:

Restoration rules

• observe and study the object to find out issues and rust;
• make pictures of all parts;
• always disassembly the item if it is possible;
• if you are not sure, please do not do it! Disassembly only after being sure you will not damage the item. Pictures made before will help you in reassembly;
• please, do not harm the blueing and the original finish/patina.

Sometimes items that you are going to restore are uncommon and even not present on books, so good pictures and a deep study will be fondamental to begin. This is a situation that I faced several times in restoring, for example, my collection of Mosin Nagant WWI wire cutters. Many times those items were completely in relic conditions, blueing was gone and rust was there. In this case, when there is no need to preserve the bluing, a specific product could be one of your best friends.

As you can see above, when restoring non blued parts, ammo clips in this case, you can completely remore rust without any damage and in a safe way using for example Evapo-rust.

Rules in using Evapo-rust

• do not use the product on blued parts, since this will remove the finish. In that case, white vinegar will be a good option to remove rust without harming the blueing;
• completely submerge the part in Evapo-rust inside a container;
• put the container in a ventilated area: Evapo-rust is not toxic but the process is generating sometimes a very bad smell;
• leave the part submerged in Evapo-rust for at least 24 hours (i will suggest 72 hours or more in case of very bad rusty pieces).

Evapo-rust is a yellow liquid (on the right side above) when new and not in contact with rust. Then when rusty parts are submerged in the product, this change to a dark color (left side) and it is becoming darker and darker hour after hour while dissolving rust. In the previous pictures, you can find even an advanced stage, with the liquid almost black.

In the above picture, you can see the same Mosin Nagant WWI wire cutter just after few hours in Evapo-rust. After days, everything will be black and you will barely see the item inside.

After rust removal, Ballistol will finish the job

After some days (it depends on initial conditions), you can remove the item from the liquid. In case you are using Evapo-rust, you can clean the object under fresh water. This will remove all the remaining encrustations. Then, i will suggest to reimmerse the part in Evapo-rust for a second and then dry everything with a clean cloth.

Let the part dry as much as you can. In case of blued part and so the usage of white vinegar, you can directly remove rust with a cloth, without water, and then dry the part. When parts are dry, you have to immediatly apply a coating of Ballistol oil. This fantastic product will preserve the item, preventing the return of rust, without changing the finish of the parts.

In the picture above, I am finally applying Ballistol on parts. If you were able to disassembly the item, you can re-assembly the object after all the parts are receiving the oil coating. What will be important later, would be maintain a proper moisture level and temperature in the room where you will store/expose your collection. I am usually using a 40-45% of humidity with around 20 degrees celsius.

I will continue to update this section with new tips, showing also some of my restorations.