[bud45]

I just aquired a stainless revolver for hunting; the reasons are, I was able to trade straight up for my 2" Mdl. 19, it has a 4" barrel- making it legal to carry in a Wildlife Management Area- and the stainless finish will weather the salt air here in southern Alabama.... I was told, in passing, by a fellow that it could be "dusted" to temporarily dull the finish. What method is this and would the gun be restorable to it's original finish if removed?

Thanks, Bud

[dfariswheel]

I suspect he meant bead blasted.
This is the same finish that's on the top strap of your gun.

This would give a flat no-shine finish, but it's not something you can "remove" quickly.
You'd have to have the gun re-polished.

There are a number of methods of dulling a gun's finish temporarily for hunting, but most are for long guns.

For a pistol, you could:
Apply dull finish tape to most surfaces, like the sides of the frame, and the barrel.

Use some easy to remove paint like model airplane paint to apply a thin coat of flat paint to most areas.
This won't be very durable, but will prevent shine and can be easily removed with lacquer thinner or paint thinner on a paper towel.
You can buy flat black model paint in tubes with a built-in brush, so you could easily touch it up.

If you wanted to get fancy, you could use model paint in colors to camouflage your revolver.

[bud45]

...and I thought about taking the grips off, cleaning the gun of all oils (except inside grip area) and fog it with several colors, several coats until I got the finish dulled. I'm not worried about a shiny area or two over time- it can be touched up.

I was just wondering if anyone else had done this before?

[lycanthrope]

How about just dusting it with sight black before walking into the field. Wipe it off when you get home......

[Jim K]

If you spray paint or something like that on it, keep it away from the barrel-cylinder gap, the cylinder notches, the cylinder release, and the frame-crane interface. Even a thin coating of anything in those areas will cause problems.

Jim

[Navy joe]

Bowflage, it is easily removed spray paint designed for bows as you may have guessed. They sell a remover with it, comes off easier than other paints. I have an AR done in it, comes in all the good woodsy colors. More redneck than Krylon if that is possible. :D