Rebluing a revolver

[rampantandroid]

Hi all,

A friend recommended one of those lead removing clothes to me, and showed me how to use it. And just now I tried it on my model 58...and learned that using those on a blued surface is about the worst idea. Ever. It took the bluing right off the cylinder face and the area below the forcing cone/barrel on the frame (this area is the worst, it's mostly shiny now with very little evidence of bluing remaining.)

What is the best way to fix this? I'm guessing it means rebluing the gun, right? I checked my model 29 which my friend used the cloth on and see no amount of bluing gone there, certainly not like what I now see on my model 58.

It looks like the cost of getting it reblued by S&W is probably a good $200? Is it worth this?

Thanks.

Edit: Found info on the S&W site, rebluing it would be $220, which is stupidly insane, given the damage.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Yep, a reblue is the only real way to fix it.

 

[rampantandroid]

Any thoughts on whether it is worth it? Is S&W's performance center the best place for this work? I'd prefer it to look as close to original as possible, and I trust S&W.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Factory first. Fords second

 

[Tophernj]

Or, call Turnbull if you would really like some sticker shock.

C

 

[Jim Watson]

It is not worth it to me.
Finish wear is what you get from shooting and aggressive cleaning.
Rebluing to color the front face of the cylinder which gets scorched every shot and the inside of the frame window which is out of sight in normal operation does not seem like a good way to spend money.
$220 will buy a lot of ammo and holsters and targets and gas to get to the range.
Not to mention the shipping costs which will stun you.

 

[56hawk]

You could touch it up with cold blue. Sounds like it's not too visible an area anyway.

 

[Remllez]

Sorry to hear about the damage, lesson learned the hard way....like Jim said its not worth it to me, not for a everyday shooting gun. If in excellent collector grade, only shot occasionally then it would make financial sense.

Those areas take a beating every time you shoot and I rarely clean them down to the finish because cleaning has a long term cumulative effect. I'd keep it well oiled and shoot, shoot,
shoot it....

P.S. don't use those cloths on blue guns anymore!!

 

[bikemutt]

Going forward try a white pencil eraser for those areas, works great if used judiciously and so far has been harmless to any of my guns finish.

Sorry about your 58, I know the feeling. Unless there was a bunch of other areas that could have used a touch up, getting it re-blued for the areas you mentioned is a lot to pay for what is really the carbon-carpet.

 

[Jim K]

Unless you really overdid the lead removal, and I mean scrubbing for hours, I think what you did was to spread the lead around so that it is in a thin layer covering up the bluing; what is shiny is not bare steel, but the lead, which didn't go away.

Jim

 

[4v50 Gary]

Go to a NRA Summer Gunsmithing School and reblue it yourself.

 

[cyclopsshooter]

Go to a NRA Summer Gunsmithing School and reblue it yourself.

Now that is interesting, had no idea such a thing existed.

 

[CraigC]

I definitely would not worry about the cylinder face. It will be scorched black the next time you shoot it. Same for the other area, as long as it's within the frame window I wouldn't worry about it.

About cylinder faces, if it does not come off with a rag dampened with oil or Hoppes #9, it belongs there. Regardless of the marketing hype, those lead removal cloths DO remove metal. So even on stainless steel guns I highly recommend against it.

$220 is cheap for a reblue.