I’m leaning more towards the scrubbed receiver. I’ll keep the other less pitted one for a future project I think. Had some luck taking the crest, some of the pits and the RH nazi proofs off with the stone. I’ll probably clean a few more pots off later.

To leave the serial though I had to fill the LH proof. Removed bluing with vinegar first. I cleaned the locking lugs and shoved a tightly packed wet rag in. I gently heated the proof area so the weld wouldn’t cool to fast and quench the MIG wire and make it too hard to work. Then a quick blip with the MIG and it was gone. Locking lugs barely got warm, let alone annealed.

I was concerned the MIG spot and ghost of the crest would still be visible after finishing so did a trial with the rust blue. Looking promising (to my standards at least!) even if I wasn’t overly thorough converting the rust with steaming. This is after two passes with a bakers soldering fluid/copper sulphate and trace hydrochloride acid mix I made up a year ago but never tried. I’m still thinking of giving ammonium chloride a go too, but this is quite nice even stopping at the coarse whet stone.