[frez]

Just wondering, if a new handgun starts off new with new blue coating, and the coating wears off sooner or later, how do you re-blue it? Take it to a gunsmith to do it expensively, or can you effectively do it yourself?

[Plink]

There's a bunch of cold blues on the market. None of them are really all that great. You can also get black oxide from Caswell Plating. It's an easy finish to apply and durable, but it's not as good looking as bluing.

If you want it to really look good, having a smith do it is probably the best bet. Or just accept the wear as honest use that gives character. I've stumbled across several firms that do affordable rebluing, at least compared to my local smith's prices.

Another option is to spray it with Lauer Duracoat. It's a paint type coating but it's extremely durable. Far more so than bluing. If it's for a carry gun, where a glossy blued finish isn't so important, it's a good option. Comes in about a gazillion colors too, even gun blue color! :)

[frez]

Thanks for the information. How much would it cost a typical gunsmith to re-blue your gun?

And I've been looking into metal polishes and Blue Wonder, but it seems that BW doesn't work on stainless stell (my M&P slide and barrel is stainless steel). If there is one that can work on stainless steel, would be it hard to do it?

The finish of my gun is Black Melonite, 68HRc

Whatever the 68HRc means. Do most gunsmiths have that material?

I'm considering the Lauer Duracoat you mentioned, but say that I may want to clean it off before sending my handgun to a professional gunsmith to do a custom blue job. Is Lauer Duracoat removable? And it won't cause more rust will it?

[hossdaniels]

should cost less than $100 for a hot blue.

[ugaarguy]

This will give you an idea of what some various finishes are, what they look like, and what they cost - http://www.coalcreekarmory.com/finishing.php

[sgt127]

Melonite is not blueing. Its a surface hardening process like Glocks Tenifer.
The 68 HRC is the hardness rating, has nothing to do with the color. You are getting into really exotic metal finishes that very few people can duplicate. You can wear off the black surface finish, but, I'm not sure what Smith uses, it may be the way their Melonite finish goes on. Stainless steel cannot be blued in the conventional manner. I would contact S&W and see what they suggest.

For a normal, run of the mill carbon steel gun, any good gunsmith can hot reblue it for $150 bucks or so.

[Steve C]

Cold blue works great for touch ups where you don’t want to reblue the whole gun. It can be used to refinish a whole gun but there are some tricks to get a good application and one of them is to heat up the parts before applying the cold blue.

Bluing a gun is similar to painting a car. 90% of the work is in the prep and the prep work determines a 100% of your success. The old finish must be removed completely and parts polished, corrosion pits removed, and it must be completely free of any grease or oil. The level of polish on the metal prior to application of the blue will determine how bright the final finish will be. Bead blasting will produce a flat black type blue. You can buy bluing salts to do a hot blue. A thermometer is needed to monitor the temperature and you can use wire cloths hangers to make hangers to hold the gun parts in the bluing tank. If you will be bluing rifle barrels you’ll need a long tank but you can do small pistols using a metal loaf pan on top of the stove. Beware of messing up the wife’s stove.

Most Gunsmiths will line up several guns to be refinished as a mix of bluing salts will blue several guns so it makes sense to process a bunch at one time.

Blue will not work on stainless steel as it is a corrosion process and stainless is too corrosion resistant. If you truly have a stainless barrel it doesn’t need any finish, just a polish. Unless your barrel is an aftermarket or the whole gun is stainless it’s highly unlikely the barrel of a MP is stainless.

[Bullet Bob]

Assuming you're talking about your S&W M&P auto, don't worry about wear; the actual protection is a few microns into the metal itself. The wear on the outer coating over time just lets the bad guys know that "hey, this guy knows how to use his gun, don't mess with him".

[lamazza]

Try duracoat instead! I've refinished 1 long gun and 1 handgun and the finish is amazing.

[langenc]

Somewhere i Read about a shooter using Rhino-liner on his rifle. Should wear good-does on pickup beds.

[jbeltz7]

Good Info

http://www.ronsgunshop.com/finishes.html

[Coyote3855]

My guns earned those wear marks. I let 'em keep them.