I removed the blue from my pistol. Good or Bad?

[shootistpd27]

I recently aquired a Llama max I 45 from a bad deal from a guy who was supposed to be a friend of mine. I polished away the blue down to the bare metal and improved the appearence of the weapon immensley. Was this move a good one or a bad one. If it was a bad move, how do I protect the metal now.

[colemanw]

:banghead:

eh.. it sounds like it was a crappy re-blue to begin with. maybe try some gunkote from brownells

[ArchAngelCD]

Depending upon what the gun is made of you might not want to leave the metal without protection. A blued gun is usually Carbon Steel and will rust without some kind of finish. In the mean time make sure you have a thin coat of gun oil on all the exposed surfaces.

Looks like you might need a new finish on your gun and a new friend too. :(

[Drail]

Krylon. Flat black.

[whitefeather]

Bare steel will rust in no time, especially in humid conditions. Since LLama's are inexpensive guns, I would not invest too much in finishing it.

For a quick, low cost finish, I woul go with one of the "bake on" or "spray on" finishes such as Brownell's Gun Kote.

[parisite]

Next time, immerse in vinegar for 45 minutes...........it will remove all bluing.

I would have it reblued at a local smith for around $75. Or like has been mentioned; bake on some kind of ugly coating.

[ssgrock3]

there are a ton of guys that will duracoat your gun for cheap, reblue would work also. check around on your local forums, big names shops are going to be much higher.

[Eightball]

Could you post a pic of it in its "natural" state, just for kicks?

[Azizza]

Duracoat would be far superior in every way to blueing

[BCRider]

If you keep it lightly oiled there's no reason it will rust.

After shooting and after any cleaning you do to it just wipe it down with a lightly oil "dampened" rag and without touching the metal put it back in the case. This isn't much different than what you should be doing with a blued gun. If you're shooting it often then I wouldn't even worry so much about not actually touching it. Keep the "oiling" rag in a ziplock bag so it doesn't mess up everything it touches.

[jjohnson]

I agree with the Duracoat solution.

I also agree with taking pics "before" and "after" and posting them.

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have wanted to polish the finish off of it, but if it were that easy, I guess maybe it wasn't that great a job anyway. What's done is done - why not have it duracoated? You could even be a little unconventional and have it in a color like brown, or OD with a black slide or something just for fun.

[David E]

How did you "polish" it ?

The Llama is not a high end gun, so I wouldn't put anymore money into it.

.

[jester_s1]

You can cold blue it. Takes a fair amount of time to do it right but I'll look good once you're done.

[moredes]

Llamas aren't highly-prized. In fact, they're not prized at all. Whatever money you put into it to get it back "into shape" is lost; I'd spend as little as possible--Brownell's spray 'n bake or Krylon. God forbid, I never thought I'd see myself recommending Krylon for a finish, but on a Llama that needs some kind of coating, Krylon's good enough.

[CWL]

A sprayed-on coat will be the best protection but you can also cold-blue it yourself easily. If you go with cold-bluing, I recommend Brownell's Oxo-blue creme. It coats evenly and can be used even over oil.