Would you refinish this Colt 1903?

If it were mine, I'de leave it just the way it is...

I agre creature. Leave it as it is. I've been looking for a 1908 that has no collector value. And duracoat it for a new carry peice. But no luck soo far. Blueing looks good in that pistol

ryan3465

Sure looks like that's one pistol that has seen better days. I mean the one side doesn't look too bad but the other side and the front grip frame are pretty rough in their appearance. If it were mine I might be inclined to see about getting it sandblasted and then refinished in a nice matte blue.

Oh I'd probably just leave her as is and use heavy oil on the outside.

It has enough exterior pitting that you would get less than optimum results from LOTS of work on a refinish. I might even be inclined to get some naval jelly, or something else to remove ALL the blueing, and just oil it and let it look REALLY old, rough and worn. Then you can pack it, shoot it, carry it, etc, and never worry about marring the finish like you would on a really nice, new gun.

ryan3465

One place that I know of that does quality work is Mahovskys Metalife (mahovskysmetalife.com). They can bead blast the old finish off and replace it with a hard chrome, electroless nickel, or blued finish. I think their prices are still very reasonable and I can readily attest to the longevity and durability of their hard chrome treatment.

This is a Beretta Model 70S which Mahovsly's refinished with hard chrome over 20 years ago. Still looks as new as the day I got it back from them.

no let it go.... leave it as it is...if it anit broke dont break it...

It has enough exterior pitting that you would get less than optimum results from LOTS of work on a refinish. I might even be inclined to get some naval jelly, or something else to remove ALL the blueing, and just oil it and let it look REALLY old, rough and worn. Then you can pack it, shoot it, carry it, etc, and never worry about marring the finish like you would on a really nice, new gun.

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You know, there is a lot to said for old trucks and guns.

I would, but only if I sent it to Colt for a rebirth.

Nope, I would leave it as is.

No way would I refinish this gun.

A few years back I found a beautiful Colt New Service in .45 Colt. Before it was refinished, that gun would have been worth $800 or more (as prices were then.) It had been buffed aggressively, so the markings were blurred and nearly invisible. I bought it for $300.

Looks like it has been refinished a time or two as it is. I owuld not worry about collector value if it were mine and would do whatever blew my skirts up.

Me, I would strip it,clean it to make sure there was no active rust anywhere, degrease it and refinish it with either multiple coats of cold blue, chemical plum brown, or something like MG coat baked on and be happy with it.

I would have paid $250 for it or traded for that much value in a heart beat. Local Gunshow table guy has one with some sort of grey, silver coating which I think is MG coat for the last two years and he wants more for his and is not getting it from me.

-kBob

If you decide to go with a re-blue (which I believe I would do), I'd highly recommend this fellow: http://www.foglesgunsmithing.com/

I'd let it be.

(I kept going back an looking at the two sets of photos, and each time, I wanted to say something different!!)

The gun I saw in the first four photos looked to be in pretty good shape, and I thought it was a potential "collector" gun if you didn't abuse it. But then I looked at the second set of photos in message #3...

That gun look likes it's been rode hard and put away wet. Obviously refinished after it had been pretty badly rusted; a good bit of the frame metal gone before the refinisher got hold of it.

Having COLT do the work wouldn't help -- they can do wonders if the gun is basically sound, but they can't really replace missing metal.

I'd maybe just touch it up with a good cold blue like Brownell's Oxypho Blue. Not real expensive, and if done right (many coats applied to very warm metal) that cold blue can sometimes look pretty good. (Note: most cold blue treatments will wear through pretty quickly with routine handling.)

Do what you've got to do to keep yourself happy, and shoot it. But I don't think you have a gun that will ever be of great interest to a collector -- so you're free to do what you want with it.

Having COLT do the work wouldn't help -- they can do wonders if the gun is basically sound, but they can't really replace missing metal.

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It's not that I don't believe you, but are you sure? Colt's custom shop can do many things. I know they can't do magic and make metal appear from thin air, but what about smoothing it out and finishing?

It's not that I don't believe you, but are you sure? Colt's custom shop can do many things....

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Sorry, it's physics. Colt's custom shop does excellent work, but you just can't replace metal that's been buffed off.

Leave it as is. Truth be told I was expecting to see a gun in much worse condition when I opened the thread. For a gun of that age is just looks like well earned wear on it.

CZguy said:

Sorry, it's physics. Colt's custom shop does excellent work, but you just can't replace metal that's been buffed off.

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TIG welders everywhere disagree with you.