Finished picture of my 1858

[38-55]

Thought someone might like to see the finished result of my Pietta 1858 Remington "antiquing" project. I have had the gun for a couple of years and it took some courage to strip the nice factory blue. I'm happy with the results and look forward to shooting it more often this spring. Just in case anyone may be thinking.... I did this for MY enjoyment and experience, not to deceive anyone.

It still says Pietta on the barrel

 

[Acorn Mush]

Very impressive! It now looks like a revolver that has a real history behind it.

 

[Omnivore]

Nice work. Yeah, I don't know if I could get over the heebie jeebies I'd have against doing that to a perfectly good gun, but it certainly does have a nice look to it.

And you couldn't fool me without doing some machining work-- you can tell from across the room that it's not an original. The originals didn't have the loading ram protruding into the frame cutout like that;
http://www.collectorsfirearms.com/admin/product_details.php?itemID=48663
Nor do the Ubertis.

 

[messerist]

Ya done well!

 

[38-55]

WOW! Does that original ever look nice. I never noticed (or knew) about the loading ram length. Thanks for the comments!

 

[Legionnaire]

I like it! I've been thinking about doing my sheriff model which, of course, is not historically accurate to begin with. But it would still be fun, even if anachronistic. Your photo is motivating me ...

 

[mic214]

Wow, that turned out great.......love the job you did on the grips....!

 

[Indian Outlaw]

It looks like it went through an Indian War

or Two

 

[Jaymo]

You should defarb it and put it on Gunbroker for some ridiculous price, like $800.00, with some BS story that an appraiser told you that it's some sort of period Belgian copy.


Just kidding.

 

[J-Bar]

It's still a "perfectly good gun," and much more interesting this way.

Nice work.

 

[[email protected]]

Did I tell you about the one I bought from a Pawn shop in Ga. Belonged to
a Indian fighter Real old. Only had to pay 900.00 for it.


I did notice, it had a funny vinegar smell to it.

 

[BCRider]

I doubt I could bring myself to do this. But then my pair of Uberti '58's are just about pristine. If they already had some scuffs and holster wear then who knows.

My own feeling is that it may be a touch TOO rough. "Patina" from use is one thing. But someone that used their gun hard would be inclined to clean it a little more which would sort of polish up even the "damaged" areas.

A case in point is the brass trigger guard. It's a little TOO rough looking to belong to someone that used the gun hard but then took care of it the best they could.

As it sits now it seems more like something a prospector would carry where they were more interested in what was in the pan than in keeping their gun in anything but the minimal condition needed to shoot reliably to drive away the dag burned no good claim jumpers....

 

[Foto Joe]

38-55,

Nice job, aren't ya glad you finally took the plunge and did it??

I finished my "Fake" Navy a month or so back and I can relate to the part about being a little nervous about messing it up. I did de-farb the barrel on mine, mainly because Pietta didn't do that thing any favors in the looks department by hammering the lettering into the barrel.

For those of you thinking about doing this but who haven't been able to bring themselves to do it, it's a personal choice. What tipped the scale for me was the knowledge that I had no intention of selling the gun. I figured if I screwed it up the worst that could happen would be an ugly gun and even the ugliest gun still shoots most of the time right?

 

[38-55]

Thanks for all the compliments. I also did this knowing I have no intentions of selling the gun, and leaned towards the used and maybe abused a bit look rather than the well kept look. It sure was a lot of fun to do!

 

[Foto Joe]

So...let's give some of the details of the process up to the rest of us.

Did you use vinegar to strip or is it a rubbed finish?? Which of course leads us to the question of whether you "re-did" the finish with anything like a coffee grounds or such??

I agree with you, it's actually a lot of fun to do. I'm not ready to do one of my more expensive "pretty" guns yet though. Once I either get rid of one of my unused ones or decide to plunk down the chips, I plan on picking up a Hawken kit in the white and making that my next project. I do have an old Dakota SAA with a 12" barrel that might get the de-farb and antiquing though one of these days.

 

[38-55]

I simply stripped it in white vinegar and then applied several applications of Van's gun blue. I put the Van's on with a cotton ball and just kept slobbering it on and then rubbed it out with 00000 steel wool. Did not heat up the gun. I would like to say it took more finess than that but then I would be lying

It took about 8-10 minutes totally submerged in the vinegar to remove the finish. Of course, disassemble the gun first. You do not want to strip any of the internal parts. I also did not plug the barrel but probably should have. Wipe down with some oil, especially the inside of the barrel.

Very simple to do but I did use my whole bottle of Van's.

Also, wear some protective gloves; I did not and the Van's did raise the devil with my fingers