m1 garand gas cylinder restoration?

[jt0311]

my gas cylinder on my m1 has all the finish worn off of it. anyone have any suggestions on how to restore it. i was thinking gun kote but i'm not sure how it will match up color wise. i want this to look professional. the rest of the rifle has excellent parkerizing and blueing. its a springfield and according to their serial # chart this rifle was made in 43. it was obviously rearesenaled at some point with metal this nice. i did some research and the stock on it is not original to the rifle. it only has the 3 star eagle and circle p on it. no inspector cartouges. i've read that this means it was rearsenaled in the 50's sometime. the stock looked like shit. i scrubbed it with hot water and a nylon brush about 15 times over a month long period to remove the blo and dirt and its turned out great so far. all cartouges look as good if not better than before i started. i'll take pics when i'm done reapplying the blo. any input would be appreciated.

[TJB63]

I no Garand 'Expert' for sure, But I seem to recall that the Gas Cylinder tubes (Stainless Steel) back in the day, they didn't have a proper method until late in the war to Parkerized them, therefore I believe they just painted them Black.

In a lot of the Pictures from WW2 you can see where that paint wore off and hence the Soldier has a Shiny Gas Tube.

Some of the Garand Guys will chime in sooner or later with better history and advice, But it may be something you should leave be for historical purposes, Of course it your gun to do as you please, Maybe they can recommend best of how to address it.

Good Luck

~TJB~

[Pa. Patriot]

Gas cylinders/lock/lock screws are stainless steel and therefor can NOT be parkerized.
The US used a number of methods to blacken gas cylinders through the service life of the M1 including paint, molten dichromate black coating and copper plating/oxidizing.

Today, IMO, your best bet is a proper abrasive blast followed by acid etch and and GunKote or similar resin finish.

This is the method I use. Durability is second to none and the resin color can be adjusted to match the parkerizing tint of the rifle very closely.

[jt0311]

pa patriot. what is acid etch. is it a process or a product. i'd like to do this myself but if acid etch is a process i'm not sure if i'd want to try it since i don't even know what it.

[Pa. Patriot]

pa patriot. what is acid etch. is it a process or a product. i'd like to do this myself but if acid etch is a process i'm not sure if i'd want to try it since i don't even know what it.

Blast with 90-100 grit alox
Phosphoric acid... Use KG K-Phos
Then spray w/ KG GunKote (mixed to proper tint to match rifle)
Use an air brush. Avoid the rattle cans. cure @ 325 1hr+ per KG instructions

Use proper respiration and ventilation.

[GRIZ]

I've used Brownell's Gun Coat (black semi-gloss) with excellent results, used as directed.

[bortle]

Black header paint and cure in oven. This only works if you want it flat black. Remember to protect the insides whichever method you use.

[jt0311]

thanks for all the input. i'd buy another gas cylinder and keep the original in the condition its in now but they seem to run well over a $100

[usmcssgt]

I'm trying to refinish one of mine. I also bought 2 new ones to have.

How does the "header paint" hold up to bore cleaner?