Removing Birchwood Casey Plum Brown barrel finish

Refurbishing an old CVA Frontier. Used vinegar to remove the barrel bluing. Tried to refinish with BC Plum Brown barrel finish, but can't get an even finish. Thinking of starting over. Does anyone know if soaking the barrel in vinegar will remove the Plum Brown finish?

Apply some vinegar and see if it removes the plum brown finish.

Did you steel wool it down good and then use an excessive amount of degreaser?

For me too: white vinegar and a bit of steel wool 000 or 0000...

Polish it off with fine sand paper. Make sure you degrease the bare metal really well before putting on the first coat of browning solution. I clean the parts with acetone and rinse off a couple of times. Dry with a paper towel and then go over it with a heat gun. Make sure you don' touch the parts with your bare hands after degreasing. The oils from your skin will interfere with the solution. I wear nitrile gloves. I clamp a dowel in a vice and slid the barrel on to the dowel. I use Track of the Wolf browning solution. It does not go on even to start with. It starts to even out after a few coats if you do it right. Be very careful when carding the browning that you don't take too much off. I use a piece of denim or light canvas to lightly rub the last application back before applying the next coat..

Same way works great with Plum Brown.

I'm rebuilding a rifle I built in 1976 and browned with Plum Brown. It came out uneven because I didn't know what I was doing but it has held up great all these years. I really bungled the stock architecture so I restocked in and will have to refinish the barrel as well. I'm still thinking about what brown I should use, Plum Brown or one of the slow formulas. I spend a lot of time thinking lately!
I'm thinking that this post doesn't answer the OP's question but I'll probably just sand the original finish off with 400 grit.

People trash plum brown, bit I've had real good results with it. You have to follow directions though. I personally prefer the hot browning method like plum brown over the humidity activated stuff. I used Laurel Mountain Forge on one of my builds and I followed the directions to the letter and the finish looked horrendous. Never again.

Naval jelly?

Birchwood Casey blue and rust remover works good, Evaporust does too

I’ve found using Plum Brown, I heat in oven and metal to 320, (metal is supposed to be 275, but cools as it’s handled) apply plum brown liberally, repeat process. Once second coat is on and metal cools, I rinse it in ammonia to stop the blossoming action, then coat metal with gun oil. Until the final step, the browning does appear complete.

Steel wool magic erasers and windex or just water work well

JPW said:

Refurbishing an old CVA Frontier. Used vinegar to remove the barrel bluing. Tried to refinish with BC Plum Brown barrel finish, but can't get an even finish. Thinking of starting over. Does anyone know if soaking the barrel in vinegar will remove the Plum Brown finish?

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I have used EvapoRust to remove bluing from a barrel. It might work for removing the browning.

Hawk54 said:

Polish it off with fine sand paper.

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What he said ^^.
Sand paper and a block, it's too easy. It ain't rocket science.
Naval jelly first if you want a jump start,, but then follow the instructions,, and prep the surface with fine sanding.
It's easily done with 15 minutes time, honest. If you wanna complicate it you could do it for full hour.

p.s. look for naval jelly by the painting stuff at the local hardware store. it's only a couple bucks. wear gloves.

longcruise said:

Naval jelly?

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This.
Brush on some naval jelly, let set about 10 minutes and then hit it with a green scratch pad. Just did a barrel a few month ago and messed up and had to start over.

Thanks to all for the input. Used vinegar and light steel wool to remove the Plum Brown. Starting over on the barrel.

Sidney Smith said:

People trash plum brown, bit I've had real good results with it. You have to follow directions though. I personally prefer the hot browning method like plum brown over the humidity activated stuff. I used Laurel Mountain Forge on one of my builds and I followed the directions to the letter and the finish looked horrendous. Never again.

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I recently browned the tang and but plate/toe plate of my Santa Fe hawken with the Laurel Mountain Forge stuff and I thought it turned out good.
My first attempt at browning anything really. Maybe it works better on some steel/iron than others?

That does look good!

.. another vote for Laurel Mountain Forge! Can't get Plum Brown to work after many attempts.. too streaky and uneven.

I generally start with a coat of LMF and then almost remove it all with wet 0000 wire wool to flatten the surface. On subsequent coats scrub off with wet denim...

Danglers browning solution worked great on my .40 build.