They may be the experts, but I don't agree.
I'd clean the steel with either gun blue remover or naval jelly. After that you MUST use steel wool or sand paper to break through the layer the phosphjoric acid creates. For small areas get one of those fiberglas pens they make for auto body sanding on small spots.
Then, copper plate first. You can do a little plate-polish-plate-polish filling some of the rust deterioration in first.
In any case the copper sticks to both the steel and surrounding nickel extremely well. Then nickel plate the copper areas while spreading into the nickel areas. I have repaired guns this way.
Seth
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