How do I remove factory nickel plating?

[ontarget]

I picked up a Uberti SAA that is nickel plated but has several spots where the plating is peeling or flaked off.
From the locations of the damage I'm guessing a previous owner left some copper solvent or Hoppes around the muzzle and on the cylinder.
I got her very cheap, and thought it might look good in the white.
Any suggestions on a DIY process for removing that nickel plating?

 

[entropy]

Soak it in Hoppe's. It does indeed remove nickel plating.

 

[ontarget]

Soak it in Hoppe's. It does indeed remove nickel plating.

I figured there had to be a much more complicated process than that though! LOL

 

[Blue68f100]

The experts will do a reverse plating process. They just swap electrodes to remove the plating. Their should be a copper plating underneath the plating.

The Hoppies is attacking the copper not the ni plating.

 

[ontarget]

The experts will do a reverse plating process. They just swap electrodes to remove the plating. Their should be a copper plating underneath the plating.

The Hoppies is attacking the copper not the ni plating.

I keep the Hoppes and other copper solvents away from my plated guns for exactly that reason.
Butches stays in the other room if I have a nickel gun out. LOL.

 

[Jim Watson]

I figure Hoppes or other ammoniacal solvents will damage the copper strike and make the nickel flake, but I would not count on it to do a complete removal in a reasonable time.
Brownells and Caswell sell stripping solutions.

 

[hk940]

I just dropped off a Luger to be refinished and the owner showed the shop area. He told me that they use vinegar and something else to strip the nickel plating.
There is a lot of info on the web some say vinegar some say acid. Do a search and chose wisely.

 

[dfariswheel]

There are various home brew methods of removing nickle, but few of them will really remove ALL of the plating, and many of them etch the steel, requiring a lot of polishing to remove the roughness.
It may look clean but when a chemical finish like bluing is done the gun looks like it has white freckles in tight areas caused by un-removed plating.

Brownell's and Caswell sell nickel strippers but they're expensive for a one-time job.

The best and most certain method is to have a plating service strip it by reverse electrolysis. This simply reverses the plating process and removes it.
This gets all of the plating off. They can also deal with the probable copper undercoat.

 

[Johnm1]

Here is a good article on the subject.

https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Safe...l+plating:+whether+you+plan+to...-a0171536172

I'm not sure the material referenced in the article is still available. But it's a good read on the process.

 

[usaral63]

I was left a fair condition 1918 model 1911.............unfortunately some one in it's history decided to have it plated. I used Brownell's solution to my complete satisfaction. Had one small area near the pointed lower
right rear slide rail that had to be re done, but overall, after a rust blue job it looks really good. Local dealer took one look and offered me nearly a grand for it.

 

[Rule3]

I figured there had to be a much more complicated process than that though! LOL

I think you will find it is not that easy.

Call Brownells

https://feeds.brownells.com/userdocs/learn/Inst-160 Super Stripper.pdf

 

[Johnm1]

Here is a much more technical read on the process. The usefulness of this information will be directly proportional to ones 'Nerdyness'.

The nickel institute publishes a hand book on the process that I downloaded directly from Google. I couldn't figure out how to copy the address for the download so I provided the address to their website though for the life of me I can't find that publication. The screen shot shows the result of the Google search.

https://nickelinstitute.org/en/