[craig101]

Hi,

A friend of mine called me up and asked me about a couple of his pistols. they were his late fathers duty guns. it seems that some of the stainless pistols have a bit of tarnish/hazing on them. i haven't seen them in person, he just described them over the phone.

has anyone else seen this? any way to get this off without harming the gun?

thanks

Craig

[PotatoJudge]

Do you think he can tell the difference between stainless and nickel?

[craig101]

thats the thing, he said they could be stainless or nickel. i figured stainless, but i guess i should try and look at them or get the model numbers and look up what finish they came with from the factory.

what if they are nickel, what can be done?

thanks

[StrawHat]

craig101,

Either finish can be polished up a bit with something like Mothers or Flitz or similar.

With Nickled guns the thing to remember is the plating is never as thick as you think it is. Just use common sense and you'll be okay.

With stainless, S&W and Ruger used a brushed or matte finish. Colt had one or two models brightly polished.

Either can be improved, just depends how far you want oto take a stainless gun.

See this thread

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=353392

[deputy tom]

I took the dull patina off a model 63 with Balistol and a paper towel.Looked like new.Mothers will take the original brushed finish off and will leave a polished mirrored look if done long enough.As mentioned above,go lightly on a nickle finish.YMMV.tom.:)

[Bailey Boat]

I have a little S&W 34 that's nickel and it had some fine hair line scratches at the muzzel end of the barrel, l i g h t l y used Flitz with good success.....