bright nickle vs. chrome

[rhocutt]

I have an old semi-auto that has a plated finish. Its and Otrgies 32ACP pocket pistol, from before the patent was sold to Deutsche Werke. I believe from my research that the factory made this model with a bright nickle finish but not a chrome finish. Question is how to tell the difference.

A follow-up question is that if it is chrome ( I suspect it is) can it be un-done and then blued. I think this would ruin the "collector value" but if it is aftermarket chrome plated it's only value is its functionality anyway. It is in good shape with a clean bore, reliable functioning and the rest.

Thanks in advance, I will appreciate any and all input.

 

[Hooptie]

Nickle tends to pit more than chrome, plus chrome can be cleaned with triple ought steer wool without leaving scratches. Basically, Chrome can flake, nickle can wear off and pit.

Do you have a picture of said pistol?

 

[rhocutt]

I'll take one today and see if I can get it on here. As it is there is no pitting or flaking. - It seem to be adhearing very well.

 

[Hooptie]

If theres no real pitting, I'd bet its chrome. Chrome tends to wear better. It also only really flakes if the surface wasn't properly prepped or the gun has really had you you know whats kicked out of it.

 

[CraigC]

It's all in the color. Nickel has a soft, warm bronze hue. Chrome is whiter, almost bluish in color. In this picture you can see the obvious difference in color. Satin nickel on the left, matte industrial hard chrome on the right.

 

[Hooptie]

I thought about adding that, I've seen pretty deep nickle that almost passed for chrome on some older guns.

 

[Buck Snort]

It's all in the color. Nickel has a soft, warm bronze hue. Chrome is whiter, almost bluish in color. In this picture you can see the obvious difference in color. Satin nickel on the left, matte industrial hard chrome on the right.

That chromed gun is really pretty. I had a Vaquero chromed and it came out frosty white.

 

[CraigC]

Thanks! That was my first custom gun, an Old Model Ruger flat-top .357 converted to .44Spl by Jim Stroh.

 

[rhocutt]

Thanks everyone for the input. I tried to photograph it today and it is so shiny there is no real detail in the photo. Looking at the revolvers posted I think it must be chrome - it's bright and cold and reflects like a mirror. Too bad - its got a low serial number and is a good shooter.

CraigC, I really like the matte chrome finish you have there. How was it done? Do you think it would be possible to dull my finish down somehow? Or remove it completely and do a blue finish? The way mine is now it almost looks like a toy.

 

[Buck Snort]

Thanks everyone for the input. I tried to photograph it today and it is so shiny there is no real detail in the photo. Looking at the revolvers posted I think it must be chrome - it's bright and cold and reflects like a mirror. Too bad - its got a low serial number and is a good shooter.

CraigC, I really like the matte chrome finish you have there. How was it done? Do you think it would be possible to dull my finish down somehow? Or remove it completely and do a blue finish? The way mine is now it almost looks like a toy.

Best thing to do is to give your refinisher a call. Thems be the expurts!

 

[CraigC]

Mine was bead blasted before plating. Not really any way to do that after-the-fact without potentially ruining the finish. I agree on contacting a refinisher like Accurate Plating & Weaponry or Ford's.

 

[BCRider]

It's very hard for someone not familiar with the look and feel of a finish to tell a shiney nickeled finish from a shiney chromed job. Especially if the chrome was just flash coated thinnly to the nickel to mostly protect the look of the nickel plating. It's better if you take your gun into a gun shop and let the guys there see it. To those that know what to look for it's easily obvious. To describe it over the 'net and even to take pictures of it that truly tell the story not so obvious. In the meantime you shouldn't assume anything.

But let's face it, on these less expensive small pocket guns a nickel finish seems to be far more common than chromed. So if it is chrome there's more of a chance that it was refinished that way. But you'd have to then ask yourself that with the cost to refinish a gun in chrome would someone spend that much on it for a pocket pistol?

Anyway, if you are looking at blueing it or getting it re-nickel plated then the procedure that I saw used on a buddy's motorcycle fender was to chemically and electrically strip the chrome and then the nickel off back to a raw metal. In his case he then filled in the pits in the base metal with solder (the plater told him to use the new lead free plumbing solder because it's harder and feathers in to the steel nicer) then the fender was flash copper plated as a "primer" for the nickel plating. The nickel was then applied and polished to a high shine. The last step is a thin flash chrome plate that is plated on and polished lightly again. This produces a deep mirror like show chrome job.

This sort of plating is not the same as a hard chrome plating. But it produces a much more shiney nickel like look to the surface with the sort of "blue" look to the reflection noted earlier. But it's no where near as obvious as the satin finishes shown in that picture. Hence the reason why it's best to take it into a gun shop that deals with a lot of older guns. They'll be able to spot nickel vs chrome pretty much instantly vs the guess work that is all anyone here can offer without actually seeing the real gun and not just a poorly lit picture.