Rebluing Service provider

I've heard good things about Ford's http://fordsguns.com/ and APW http://www.apwcogan.com/.

Fords is great...just don't be in a hurry.

Here is my experience. WELL worth the wait, but it was a long wait.

http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-revolvers-1961-1980/334589-27-2-odd-finish-issues.html

Turnbull?

If you want it to look like new really, you need "restoration," not "rebluing."

Bluing requires polishing, which polishes off insignia, hollows out text, rounds off grind lines and generally leaves evidence that it's been polished - not like new.

Restoration tries to avoid that - more care in polishing, but then insignia and text are re-stamped carefully to look new.

That said, most people don't want to pay the freight for a full restoration on a common firearm, unless it has intrinsic or personal value.

The pre-war Colt's were blued in a special process in which the gun was cleaned, coated with a fine coat of lime, then put in steel drums with a "secret" Colt mixture of bone meal, charred leather and other ingredients, then put in a temp controlled furnace.
This turned the steel a nice blue color that wasn't as delicate as most common heat blue processes give.

Unfortunately no one today can completely replicate the process or the exact color.
Those that can come close are EXPENSIVE.
The top of the line company that can do this "type" of bluing is Doug Turnbull.

http://www.turnbullmfg.com/

The cost of any of the older types of heat bluing will not be cheap, and even common modern hot salts bluing is expensive due to it being a very labor intensive project that's about 95% hand labor.
The people who are able to do top quality polishing without butchering the gun do not work for minimum wage.
Nothing looks worse then a gun polished by some ham-handed polisher who doesn't do enough of it to keep up the skill, or one who never had it to start with.

These jobs just destroy a gun, leaving it with edges that should be sharply defined rounded off, holes dished out, and ripples on the flats and down the barrel.
The gun may be a nice dark blue-black but looking under the blue at the metal polish work will reveal the butcher job to anyone who knows guns.

The better companies have people who spend 8 hours a day polishing metal and have and maintain the high order skills.
Again, these days you can have GOOD bluing, or CHEAP bluing. Choose ONE.

Some of the top refinishers in America are APW-Cogan and Ford's.
They're usually rated as the top.
There are a few others with industry-wide good reps.

http://www.apwcogan.com/

http://fordsguns.com/

http://gunbluing.com/

http://elitecustomguns.com/

Again...GOOD, or CHEAP.....Choose ONE.

Only you can decide if the price of a refinish of any type is too high for your Colt.

Bluing requires polishing, which polishes off insignia, hollows out text, rounds off grind lines and generally leaves evidence that it's been polished - not like new.

Click to expand...

Not if it's done right.


Turnbull comes close to the old Colt carbona blue. It is slightly more expensive than hot salt bluing but not by much. The finish work on this Open Top, including the fire blued screws and color case hardened hammer/trigger and return shipping was $500.



This USFA also has Turnbull's carbona bluing:

Does Smith & Wesson still do refinishing? I have an old police trade-in Model 10 that needs it.

Smith and Wesson still does bluing as well as plating. Like most other places doing quality work, there will be a pretty long wait. They offer two level of blue, standard and bright. Call them for current pricing.
I live fairly close to Ford's so, I can drop off my guns and save shipping. They do beautiful work and are some of the nicest people to deal with that you will find. They have a S&W of mine now and I was given a estimate of about 12 weeks.
They have the capacity to do most anything that you need when it comes to refinishing. Check out the web page for pictures of some of their work.

This guy does a great job -- pictures of before and after on his site for you to judge quality.

http://www.foglesgunsmithing.com/

I've seen some recently factory-refinished S&W's that were beautifully done. I've got a model 27 I want to send in.