NEW YORK STATE R-B TIN FINISH

[VWMAN]

I've noticed that a fair amount of the New York state rolling blocks have what looks like a Tin plated finish on them, and that in many cases it has rubbed off. Does anyone know why or when this was done?

[ehull]

As a long time collector, I have seen VERY few. They were all finished "in the white." Might you be seeing the normal aging process on a rifle that was often cleaned and well cared for?

[stanforth]

Mine has a 'Brown' (Blued) finish but it was a presentation piece.

[VWMAN]

No, I'm used to looking at lots of guns and recognize the usual aging patterns. I have an older post on this site that concerns an odd ball rifle that I bought that has the tin finish left on it here and there. I looked at many R-B's on many sites and noticed a number of NY. State militia rifles that looked the same as mine, but no others. I know that the Argentinian R-B's originally had a tinned receiver but most were later reblued. Actually, does anybody know why the Argentinian receivers were tinned? Almost 200 people have looked at my strange rifle without any info given on it.

VWMAN.

[oldremguy]

Can you post some photographs of your rifle.

[VWMAN]

The pictures were posted January 31 as "Strange rolling block" on this forum.

VWMAN.

[savagebrother]

Hey fellows the R-B an apparent New York State militia rifle has a coating that from a distance looks like bare metal but up close it’s got a very light green tint to it. It’s rubbed off in areas of high contact like the bayonet. I think it’s some type of corrosion protection. You can scrape it off with your thumb nail. Oh and the bore was full of cosmoline!!!!!!! Thought it was rust at first. But the cleaning rod had no ruffness going thru the bore and when I inspected the cleaning patch the rust colored stuff had the faint odor of cosmoline. It was reall dried on. My good because it kept the bore pristine. The other stuff on the rest of the gun has done the same for it.
SB

[marlinman93]

It looks like it is either a varnish put on to protect the finish, or some petroleum product that over time turned to a varnish like as it aged. The question in my mind is who did it? Was it done in some armory, or by an individual after it was sold to a private party?
Often times what seems to be a "tinned" or old nickel finish, is simply patina or aging of either casehardened finish, or bare metal finish.

I've seen guns completely coated in this manner, and it appeared in almost every case the stocks were removed first to avoid getting whatever the coating was all over the wood. In the case of a gun I purchased about 18 months ago even the sights were coated when the rest the metal was done.
Everything I tried to remove the sealer on that gun failed, until I tried straight acetone. The acetone loosened the stuff, but it immediately evaporated, so I had to do small areas and wipe them quickly before it dried and set up again. Took over 7 hours to clean the whole gun's metal surfaces!

This was the first wipe that revealed the caliber:



Pretty nasty looking gun!


After cleanup. The gun is very minty under the gunk, so whatever it was did it's intended job.