Rifle refinishing

[Northwoods]

Nitride or cerakote?  Which is better corrosion protection?  Blued carbon steel base material.  Has some surface pitting already.  Would cerakote fill those in, or do I need to have the barrel polished first either way?

I hunt the coastal Olympic Peninsula.  Lots of rain and potentially brackish water exposure.  Kept in a dry bag until needed, with a desiccant pack, but still hard to keep rust at bay.

[Bogie]

What material are we talking about? Regular chrome moly steel? Originally blued? Does it  have to be pretty, or does it just have to be not rusty?

[dogmush]

Cerakote requires an aluminum oxide blasting first.  so any existing finish or polishing would be removed.  That said, it's pretty good at resisting water.

I've had rust pop through parkerized M4 barrels if they weren't kept oiled, and nitriding is generally less durable than Parkerizing, so especially in the PNW I'd expect to either keep a nitrided gun clean and oiled or it'd rust through the finish.

That said, I've really come around on rattlecanning my rifles.  Cheap, easy, and I can change colors if I want. 

[Northwoods]

What material are we talking about? Regular chrome moly steel? Originally blued? Does it  have to be pretty, or does it just have to be not rusty?

Yes, regular chro-mo blued steel.  Not rusty is #1, looking decent though is high on the want list.

[Bogie]

Get some of Brownell's cold blue... Degrease, buff with 0000 steel wool, and paint it on, wipe it down and oil... It won't shrug off the elements, but it is easy to fix...

[Jim147]

Get some of Brownell's cold blue... Degrease, buff with 0000 steel wool, and paint it on, wipe it down and oil... It won't shrug off the elements, but it is easy to fix...

Adding some heat to the barrel before and after makes the cold blue look good and I have a couple here I did 15-30 years ago and haven't had to touch them since besides clean and oil. I have a wire hanging above my woodstove just for doing this.