Something horrible

[Grover]

Howdy --

I had my SIG p229 with me over Memorial Day. I had my pistol in a bag with a bunch of other luggage, but I didn't have a chance to shoot that weekend. I pulled out the bag the other day and found that somehow the bag had gotten soaked with water, and now there are rust spots on the controls, ejector, trigger and grip screws of one side of my baby.

What do I do? This was a pistol I got second or third hand, and it came with significant beauty spots on the slide. It's no beauty queen, but rust is right out.

I started oiling and buffing to see what I can see, and it looks like the corrosion is maybe a little deeper than the surface in a place or two. I have thought about getting it refinished before, but I never bothered to.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[BigNick73]

Try scraping with 0000 steel wool and/or a penny. If that won't work there's blue/rust remover available at most gun stores that will take the rust and anything else resembling a finish off.

[Byte Stryke]

and if you do not feel this is something you are comfortable doing:


Only man I trust with my weapons

[Mazin]

and if you do not feel this is something you are comfortable doing:


Only man I trust with my weapons

+1 For Bert

[ChadAmberg]

I doubt it's as rusted as the Colt I picked up, and Bert did a wonderful job. I've got before and after here:
http://www.co-ar15.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39086

[BPTactical]

Thank you for the gracious props guys-just remember though, it takes good customers too!
Enough of the gratuitous sucking up, back to business.

Re-bluing areas that have rusted already is just a temporary bandaid fix. The metal has changed on a molecular level and no matter what you do aside from serious material removal it will not match areas that did not have rust. It can actually hasten further rusting as blue is a form of rust.
Parkerizing, Duracoating or MolyResin will be much better suited and rust resisting in the long haul, especially if this is a "truck" type gun that won't see TLC often.

Check your PMs

[sako55]

Having the areas rusted already will only make it harder to keep it from coming back. I had a 25 yr old p220 that had the majority of the finish worn off from holster wear and it turned out great. I had the whole gun done and 2 mags blued (all but the hammer and trigger) for a little over a $100. I used Don over at Prairie Arms. Can't remember exactly which finish I had put on it though. Could look it up if needed. Wish I could post some picks.