[ccsniper]

the gun is in absolutely horrible condition. pitting all over the thing, no bluing, barrel looks pretty bad but I dont think the thing has ever been cleaned. now I know most of you are gonna say that it was a bad deal and all but I dont care. what I would like to know, is it okay to sand blast the gun to get rid of most of the pitting then duracoat it in a nice original looking blue. and work very vigorously on cleaning the barrel and hope for the best? also the grips look somewhat okay, but I think I will replace it anyways.

[murdoc rose]

I had ran a brush down the barrel a bit so it actually looked a lot worse when i got it

[ccsniper]

oh yeah got it from murdoc

[mnrivrat]

Does it shoot ? Who cares what it looks like if it shoots ? :D

And as far as the bead blasting - why not , I am looking at doing that to an old S&W .32 HE I have. Frame has scattered nickle left and I changed the barrel out to a shorter blued one. Shoots great , and perhaps I will get around to making it look pretty some day as well.

Either Duracoat, or a bake on coat should work if done properly. I've used bake on guncoat & Brownells on a couple different projects and they worked out fine. I have to do a Duracoat yet - soon. How about some pictures ? Would be nice to see what you have and perhaps then what you end up with.

[gb6491]

I would like to know, is it okay to sand blast the gun to get rid of most of the pitting then duracoat it in a nice original looking blue.
Achieving a finish like the original bluing will probably not be possible with Duracoat, but it should be a serviceable finish.

doc540 just did his Colt in Duracoat: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=445857

There is photo of a S&W Model 10 done in Duracoat (and some technique described) here (http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3158175&postcount=3).

Regards,
Greg

[ccsniper]

yes the thing shoots, pretty accurate too. i shot a oil can at about 25 meters with it, heres some pics.

[gb6491]

:eek: , you might want to try some Durafil (http://www.lauerweaponry.com/item-detail.cfm?ID=DF4&storeid=1&image=DF1.gif&CFID=34846606&CFTOKEN=22508830) on that as well.

[Oyeboten]

If it was me...I'd clean it well, inside mechanism and all...Oil and Grease it well...Oil the Stocks well...and leave it be.


It has a nice "Yes...I have a rough History, and WhoTF are you anyway?" Look...

[Oro]

Yeah, do some filing and sanding first I'd say, try to smooth out some of the bad pits and then use durafil as mentioned after blasting. Then spray it with gunkote or duracoat it. It will probably come out pretty well if you put enough elbow grease into it. Be really careful around the grip butt not to remove the s/n, that is a big no-no, unless it's also got the s/n in the yoke cut (don't recall when they started putting them there, but later model guns have it there, too. Earlier ones only had the frame s/n on the grip butt (it was elsewhere on the gun, but not anywhere else on the frame, which is what legally counts to the BATF).

[murdoc rose]

Oyeboten: the inside is fairly clean and is oiled not that it would hurt to add some more I was surprised at how clean it was before I washed it out with carb cleaner, what I would like to know is how this happends to guns

[Oyeboten]

Geting damp while in Storage...Holstered or not, can leave deep rust, scale, 'pits', and of course, also ruin the Blueing...and once the rust and scale is cleaned or removed off...the whirled forging lines 'in' the Steel show, one sees surface pits, eroded areas...

[murdoc rose]

Thats what I originally told myself and probably what happened to this 357 however last week I picked up an old luger that had some erosion a lot worse that what your seeing here but I guess its just time that does that. It really is a shame

[ccsniper]

well thanks everyone for your input. i guess i'll send it with my dad to his shop to sandblast it for me, and buy some duracoat to fix it up with. i thought about leaving it as is, but im a tinker so im gonna see what it looks like a little cleaned up. any ideas of what this thing is worth? im taking it to my gunsmith today to see if he can clean the inside of it out proly wont cost me but a few bucks for him to mess with the inside. i'll post pics when i get r done!

[SGW42]

I just sent my 19 to S&W for a complete work over. Really the ejector and lockwork needed some replacing but the 33 year old finish was worse for the wear so I told them to redo that too.

Ran me about $250 plus shipping to MA. They originally wanted $50 to re-case harden the hammer and trigger but I passed on that.

We'll see how it comes out in six weeks.

[ArchAngelCD]

I was just about to suggest the same thing, send it to S&W and have them go over it. They do very good work...

[BCRider]

Keep in mind that if you sand blast it you're removing metal. Bead or some other more gentle media may be a better option.

Also there's spots on the cylinder and inside the action that you don't want to blast with anything. On the cylinder especially there the star/ejector and the recess for that to fit into, the chambers and the inside of the center where the crane spindle runs. Such areas of this sort and others that have the same need to not be blasted should be masked off with something first. Also the serial number on the inside of the frame where the crane fits.

No one and no technique that isn't brutally exensive is going to fix this thing. You may be just as well off to leave it as Oyeboten suggests above.

Although.... another option would be to clean it, degrease it and then fill the pits with a hard solder, polish the metal down, clean the lettering and serial numbers if they get any solder in them, then have the gun nickel or hard chrome plated. I saw a motorcycle fender that a buddy did that came out looking factory new and I would not have thought it would be possible given the pits and holes it had. Apparently the solder of choice for this sort of job is the new non-lead style plumbing solder. Apparently it resists undercutting when smoothing to the metal surface very well. With care and some cleanup you could even fill the pits around the engraved emblem and then clean out the emblem engraving so once plated it would look new and stock.

[ccsniper]

bcrider, you have any links this the solder stuff. and whats the average chrome or nickel job cost?

[ccsniper]

well, now the cylinder wont close. its as if the rod grew a 16th of an inch. took it apart about an hour ago and the inside looks really good... no grit or anything. first the cylinder wouldnt open now it wont close.

[Prophet]

If it were mine, I'd tune it up so that it functions reliably and leave it be. Lot's of lube internally and externally. I like the rough look. The only thing I'd do cosmetic wise is remove as much of the rust as possible.

[ccsniper]

ok, got the cylinder to go back in. i apparently didnt tighten the rod enough. oh just to mention, this is the first american made centerfire revolver i have ever owned. so i have no idea to the mechanics

[murdoc rose]

wow the solder sounds like a great idea, jb weld or bondo had crossed my mind but solder would be so much easier

[earlthegoat2]

looks like a great project gun

[ccsniper]

ive heard that feeding this gun alot of .357 mag can break it, that true?

[Loyalist Dave]

Do they still Parkerize stuff? Had a buddy whose dad put away a cleaned and oiled revolver wrapped in flannel, in the basement in the bottom draw of a ground level cabinet. Forgot about the gun when the basement flooded. Remembered a month or so later. Looked a lot like yours, as the water washed away the surface oil and the rag stayed damp. The internals were all heavily greased up so they stayed pretty sound. Anyway, he found it, and his dad said he could use it for parts. The gunsmith checked it and it would shoot fine, just looked really bad..., so he had it blasted, and then Parkerized. It was much cheaper than polishing and bluing back then. It looked pretty cool when he was done. A great field and camp gun (heck why not put it through hard use, what's it going to hurt?). There are probably better coatings these days (that was 25 years ago).

LD

[BCRider]

bcrider, you have any links this the solder stuff. and whats the average chrome or nickel job cost?


The solder is just the regular NEW lead free plumbing solder that you can get in any plumbing supply outlet. It was the plater that suggested the lead free solder over using lead-tin solder to my buddy. The lead-tin stuff is a lot easier to apply but it tends to dig out during the sanding and polishing. The lead free stuff resists that a lot more but you still need to be super careful and use backing blocks for the sandpapers or other polishing tools. I've used it on a couple of occasions and it truly is a pain to try to flow even onto clean copper. Steel is apparently worse according to my buddy. So some practice on scrap bits of steel is in order. The steel needs to be freshly cleaned and bright with no finger oils at all. I would use something like lacquer thinner to wipe it down following the stainless steel brushing to remove any trace of oils, dry and then solder right away. The regular plumbing flux at the same shelf works OK for this. Work on your technique for getting just the right heat so it flows about as well as it can and don't get it any hotter. Once you're OK with your technique it's time to take the torch to your gun.

Can't help you much on the nickel or chrome pricing but I believe that my buddy's fender ended up at around $100 to $150. But my buddy and the plater were both old bike nutz so there was very likely some deal going on with the pricing.

Best bet would be to find local platers that do smaller more detailed stuff rather than the local bumper shop. Talk to them, describe what you're planning and then talk price. But I can't see a nice plating job being much if any under the $100 mark by the time he's done given the number of bits and pieces. But really I have no idea on the pricing other than that one part fender as a guide.

If that's not in the budget then perhaps solder fill the pits, clean up the emblem as best you can and then Gun or Dura Kote it. It would be a lot cheaper any way you cut it. And with a coating of this sort you don't need to be anywhere near as fussy with the finish. In fact you WANT about a 600 grit finish on it so the coating has a bit of tooth to grab.

[ccsniper]

well, I had to GIVE this gun away. I was at a friends and I BROKE on of his guns, the cost was around 150. I didn't have the cash and he wanted this gun, so... yeah, from now on I will NEVER take someone else gun apart.

[madcratebuilder]

Electro plating firearms is a different process than at the local bumper re-chromer. I would not sand blast, it removes a lot of material. I would bead blast it, then parkerize it or Duracoat it. If you used the Durafill you could make it look pretty good. It would cost more to plate this 19 than it would ever be worth. If you want a nice Smith just go buy one. If your handy you could Duracoat his for well under a hundred bucks. See if you have a local smith that can parkerize, that is your best bet IMHO.

ive heard that feeding this gun alot of .357 mag can break it, that true?

A steady diet of 125gr 357's have been reported to cause forcing cone problems. The 19 was designed as a patrolman's gun, practice with 38spl and carry with 357.

[ArchAngelCD]

well, I had to GIVE this gun away. I was at a friends and I BROKE on of his guns, the cost was around 150. I didn't have the cash and he wanted this gun, so... yeah, from now on I will NEVER take someone else gun apart.
So let me get this straight, you tried to do a friend a favor and something on his gun broke. He then made you pay for "breaking his gun" while you were trying to help him? Are you telling me the part couldn't be replaced. Really, you need a new friend because I would never charge someone if they were trying to help me and something broke during his HELP!!!

[ccsniper]

So let me get this straight, you tried to do a friend a favor and something on his gun broke. He then made you pay for "breaking his gun" while you were trying to help him? Are you telling me the part couldn't be replaced. Really, you need a new friend because I would never charge someone if they were trying to help me and something broke during his HELP!!!

nope. Unfortunately I was just tinkering with it.

[AKElroy]

Send it to S&W & have them do a full re-work on it. For what they do, it is cheap. Forget the duracoat; you want the high lustre blue that 19 came with & no body will do it as well as the maker. They will also replace any worn parts, including the barrel if needed, and they are reasonable. You will get a virtually NEW GUN back; save for the grips.

[Kernel]

^^^^
Did you even look at the pictures? It’s spitted so bad it's practically skeletonised. High luster blue? LOL. You gotta be kidding.