is the bolt jeweled, or some other fanciness? or is it just in the white? i've taken some very fine sandpaper to my stainless weapons, but some people don't want to try it. the steel wool should not scratch it, at least not noticably. go with 0000, oil is pretty helpful in rust removal.
steel wool does get into the weapon slightly. you should not be able to see the scratches, as the should be extremely fine, but i have heard stories of people using it on stainless weapons, and finding the deposits that the wool left behind can begin to rust.
it's hard to know exactly what to do, unless we know what you have, specifically. my weapons are not pretty (except for my over/under), so i normally will not hesitate to take steel wool to blued weapons, or sandpaper to stainless ones.
