Best way to clean a rusty Winchester .30-30 lever action?

You want oil, something like CLP and a soft bronze metal brush. It will take care of it in short order without damaging the bluing anymore...

Very fine steel wool or the softer scotch pads and a light solvent like Hoppes or WD40. WD40 works great and is cheaper to use. Have plenty of old rags too and be generous with the solvent. Get a good, strong bore solvent like Copper Killer too, if there is surface rust you can bet the bore has been neglected. Give it a generous coating of CLP and let it set for a couple of days then wipe it all down again with dry rags.

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dp

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Steel wool (#3 or #4)

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No, just no. I use WD40 and 0000 steel wool. It works perfectly. 3 or 4 steel wool will scratch the hell out of the finish and take off bluing.

Gotcha

Bronze, copper or brass wool or brush. 0000 steel if that isn't taking care of it. I prefer to use it dry and shake it out and wipe the dust off frequently. Iron Oxide if a fairly aggressive abrasive and the problem I see a lot of people doing when using oil is they rub the rust/oil slurry on the bluing and that removes the bluing. If you want to use oil you need to frequently flood the piece and your wool to wash away the rust/oil slurry and change pads frequently. I think it's easier/cleaner to use the wool dry and shake/blow/wipe the dry rust out instead. With or without oil don't rub the removed rust into the piece as that is what normally removes the bluing not the wool itself. Oil or no oil will both give you a good clean finish as long as you can keep from rubbing the rust into the piece. Also use light pressure and let the wool do the work. No need to aggressively scrub and try to take all the rust off in one or two scrubs.

Thanks to all for the great advice!