John, what's the existing finish? Blued? Parkerized, etc. How far are you going to strip it down? If you take all the innards out it is way easier and comes out nicer without having to mask off a bunch of items.
Anyway, the main thing is to get rid of all the oil and grease and any other contaminants. Once all the extraneous items are off the rifle, I de-grease with no VOC sprayed Brake Fluid, then take it in the kitchen with a stiff brush and and hot water and Dawn dish washing liquid, wash and scrub it down at least 3 times, sometimes more, because most of the rifles I work on are OLD! Before you do the final scrub, put on a pair of Nitrile disposable gloves so you don't leave fingerprints or other body oils on the clean metal. do not use the PVC gloves as some chemicals you may be using will melt them. You cannot get it too clean! Before removing it from the sink I turn the water on full hot and run the water over it for a few minutes so that the heated metal evaporates the water almost immediately once you take it out. If you want to de-blue it, almost all of the de-bluing agents work well, but I use the Rustoleum Rust remover Gel and 0000 steel wool with another pair of disposable gloves. Before using the steel wool use Acetone or the Brake fluid to get the oil out of the steel wool they use to keep it from rusting. that way you don't recontaminate the rifle with oil. This also takes care of any rust. Just follow the instructions for Iron and steel on the bottle! Rinse and scrub very good again, hot water it again, and let it dry.
Then follow the Manuf. directions EXACTLY. Not familiar with Ceracote, but have used Dura-coat on a rifle that was deemed un-salvageable any other way without a major overhaul and deep grinding. Was just gong to be a wall hanger for a guy I knew and we made it unable to shoot. Came out pretty, but non-functional.
When I say what I work on is old, I mean old! Here is a 1912 Argentine Mauser I did a while back after reworking the bolt and the stock. it was a straight bolt to start with. In 1961, the rifle was converted to 7.62x51 NATO, or .308 American. Shortly thereafter, they upgraded their arms to the equivalent of the U.S. M-14 and sold these for about $35.00.
Since I took every piece down to white metal, it was easy to bring back to almost original. This Rifle has the smoothest action of any rifle I have ever shot! Probably from wear, but it is accurate and a funny thing, the sights ramp up to 2000 Meters.
Other people have other methods, but this works for me, so it's what i do! But then again, I think the newest rifle I have worked on in the last 8 -10 years was a 1956 Win. Model 12, 12 Gauge! A new or more valuable gun, I would take to someone qualified to work on it.
Ignore the desk, i was emptying a cabinet when I put the rifle in the rest to take the pictures.
Good luck, and hope this helped!
Pack
