How to remove rust "dust"?

[OnTheFly]

Recently, I inherited a few handguns that were dry as a bone. All are functional and in excellent condition overall. Thankfully, there was no heavy rust and pitting on the guns, since these guns where estimated to be stored for more than a decade in a garage safe.

However, when I try to clean these guns there is obviously a "dust" of rust on these guns. It seems to be everywhere, interior and exterior. I did a liberal soak/scrub of one of the guns with BreakFree CLP. I can see that it is suspending much of the rust dust, but it seems to be deep inside the internals as well. After cleaning, if I take a white towel and wipe any excess CLP, it is rust orange. It is obvious that these guns are continuing to leach out this dust. Is it important to get rid of ALL of this rust dust immediately? Or, should I just keep cleaning these guns frequently after use and hope that it will eventually work its way out with multiple thorough cleanings over the next few months?

I am open to recommendations on cleaning methods and products to recondition these guns (if actually needed). Thank you in advance for your advice!

[Lessthanperfect]

From my experience with rust do a 100% take down everything out and soak in wd40 for most of the day at least then scrub anything you can with 0000 steal wool lightly to remove rust or your regular bore brush for inside the barrel.

After the rust is gone you need to clean all the parts of the wd40 then reassemble.
If your not confident in doing this take it to a qualified gunsmith to do it.

[kcstott]

From my experience with rust do a 100% take down everything out and soak in wd40 for most of the day at least then scrub anything you can with 0000 steal wool lightly to remove rust or your regular bore brush for inside the barrel.

After the rust is gone you need to clean all the parts of the wd40 then reassemble.
If your not confident in doing this take it to a qualified gunsmith to do it.

+1

[bruceflinch]

If you got rust dust, expect to find some deeper pitting. Clean them up as best you can & shoot them!

[Ubermcoupe]

From my experience with rust do a 100% take down everything out and soak in wd40 for most of the day at least then scrub anything you can with 0000 steal wool lightly to remove rust or your regular bore brush for inside the barrel.

After the rust is gone you need to clean all the parts of the wd40 then reassemble.
If your not confident in doing this take it to a qualified gunsmith to do it.

[chknlyps2]

Bronze wool with some oil works well too. If there are some rust spots that are harder to deal with try lightly rubbing the edge of a nickle on them.

[Gunsmith Dan]

While WD40 is a good rust inhibitor it is to light of a oil to use with steel wool on a blued finish without taking to much of the finish off.

I use MPro7 LPX with #0000 as it is thick enough not to allow to much material loss.The chemical additives in LPX combined with the steel wool actually make the blued and parkerized finishes look darker than they originally did.

No matter what you do just remember very light pressure and only go in one direction back and forth ...... don't swirl or go in a circle motion. If done properly it will take some time and patience.

[MMA]

Brownells How to Fix Light Rust on a Gun