Wiping my lugers

[4 Scale]

I use Renaissance Wax on my pistols and even on the higher condition ones I tend to get a bit of the reddish-brownish tint on the q-tips or white cotton patches that I use for application of the wax. I get the same with Ballistol on a shooter, wiped with a clean patch.

I think I know why. Inspecting any original finish Luger under a stereo microscope at about 40x, there is some rust, even on high condition ones. Very minute on the nicer ones but it is there.

This is the Leica microscope I use, bought it years ago for a non-firearm project.