Parkerized or Ceracoated revolver possiblities?

[klover]

I just found a rusty model 36 for very little money in a pawn shop.
This rust seemed mostly to be away from main spring and internals. Much was on the cylinder, outside barrel, and the front frame.
The lock up was nice and tight, and trigger as sweet as can be. The cylinder/forcing cone gap appeared to be in the .003 range, so this was a great 36 at one time. Mechanically it still is, except for some pitting on the top strap which might have weakened it somewhat.

My question is what are my options to restore the gun? I would be willing to go another $100 or $150 toward a nice finish other than a re- blue.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Stophel]

I'm one of those that likes to leave such guns alone. They have character.

Besides, I don't know that you'll be able to do much with a finish for that amount of money.

 

[bikemutt]

Someone posted up a Taurus .38 special revolver on a local site recently, it had been Cerakoted in OD green with black cylinder. It was absolutely beautiful to behold, I probably would have bought it on looks alone had it been a .357. I think it was done by someone here in WA. There is also a guy in Covington (near Kent) who does Duracoat.

My own opinion is these coatings look better on new model guns than on old ones. I hard chromed an old, pre-WWI, Smith and now wished I hadn't. The character lost was not replaced by the shiny new finish.

My sentiments though, do not extend to refinishing an old gun close to what it looked like originally, like re-blueing an old blued gun etc.

 

[CraigC]

IMHO, skip the coatings and the parkerizing. Contrary to popular belief, parkerizing is not more corrosion resistant than bluing. Its advantage is that it holds oil and if you oil the hell out of it, that is what prevents corrosion. If you do not oil it liberally, it will not be as corrosion resistant as bluing. So unless you plan on bathing it in oil, matte bluing would be a better solution, more corrosion resistant and much better looking. Virtually any refinisher can bead blast and reblue a revolver.

 

[WC145]

Personally, I like parkerizing. I find it durable and easy to maintain and it has a nice "working gun" look to it. This is a pic of my parkerized S&W PC 586 L-Comp-


I don't have any Cerakoted guns but I do have a S&W M29 that has been Gunkoted OD green. I bought it this way for the other features the gun had, it just happened to be green. The coating is pretty hard and probably durable but looks like paint to me and is not attractive at all. As a matter of fact, just yesterday I dropped to the 'smith to have the green blasted off and to be parkerized.

 

[Smith357]

So unless you plan on bathing it in oil, matte bluing would be a better solution, more corrosion resistant and much better looking. Virtually any refinisher can bead blast and reblue a revolver.

That's the way I went, mostly because I wanted a black gun rather than a green gun.

Blasted and Blued 586 redone at the factory PC.

 

[Old Fuff]

Well once again I (sort of) disagree with CraigC...

He is right in saying Parkerizing rust resistance is because the coating can absorb oil, where bluing doesn't. But you don't have to soak it in preservative oil more then once. After that an occasional wipe with an oily rag will do.

Just before World War Two, Uncle Sam switched to Parkerizing for this reason.

Also if you can get someone to bead-blast the parts you can safely Parkerize it your self on a camp stove or even a kitchen stove and save a bunch of money. If you like black, an additive will make it black.

Details, chemicals and instructions are available at www.brownells.com

 

[hardluk1]

Heres a guy that might help with answers if you can mail some ggo photos of the rust you have . great bluer. Used to do dan wesson stuff for some time. nicehttp://www.blueridgebluing.com/bluing/bluing.html

smith 357 .That bead blasted and blue revolver looks real nice.

 

[Checkman]

I had my S&W Model 28's refinished in 2004. The 6" model is now gone, but I still have the 4". Great finish. Very durable. Terrific for the field. It's your revolver. In the condition that you are describing refinishing it won't hurt it. And you'll get many more years out of it. It's been my experience that when I've had revolvers refinished the shop will give the the internals a good cleaning and lube job. Depending on the shop they might replace worn parts as well.