Tallball
Member
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2014
- Messages
- 7,814
I'm soft-hearted. Sometimes guns that need help just know they should call out to me...
And I didn't have a functional j-frame.
So I rolled the dice on a Taurus Model 85 that was completely covered with dirt and rust. I won it for a low bid online. Apparently most people won't bid on a firearm that's that ugly, but I'm an optimist. (My dogs are another example of this optimism.)
I wish I had a picture of it when I got it home. There was greasy dirt on most of it. Under the greasy dirt was a layer of surface rust. The rust seemed like it might have pitted in a few places. There were actually cobwebs in nooks and crannies around the cylinder.
I took off the grips. They were filthy. I had to wash them a lot on the inside because they were full of some nasty goop.
I washed off the dirt and most of the surface rust with some WD40. I gave it a good field cleaning, which had apparently not happened to it very often before.
After I put the grips back on, I took a picture. You can see some of the bad rust areas. The trigger was kind of stiff.
View media item 3825
I didn't want to do anything else with it before I made sure it worked. I took it to the range and my buddy and I put maybe 20-30 rounds apiece through it. It shot to POA. The trigger got better as we shot it. We're both used to LCR's, so the steel frame made 38 special easy on our hands.
After test firing it, I kept working on the rust with 1500 grit sandpaper, crocus cloth, an old copper penny, etc. while I watched basketball in the evenings. It eventually got to the point where you could see the rust had gone through the finish in places.
View media item 3934
I finally got out my dremel and put a small tip on it that was made of some sort of mild abrasive. I tried to spare the original finish as much as I could, but there were places where I had to take it down to the bare metal to get the rust out of the pitted areas.
I got some inexpensive cold blue and applied it to the bare metal areas. It doesn't look great, but it doesn't look as bad as the pictures. The cold blue areas are noticeable, but not that ugly. There are a couple of small areas that still need some work, but I'm most of the way through.
Since I intend to occasionally carry it in my back pocket, I carefully ground off the hammer spur. (I've done the exact same thing to a Model 85 in the past, and it worked just fine).
After I take the side plate off and clean out the insides, I'll try shooting it again. If I put another hundred rounds of mixed dubious range ammo through it with no problems, I'll probably start carrying it in a pocket holster in my back pocket when I'm walking the dog. This is my fourth Model 85, and they've all gone bang every time. By chance this one probably has the best or second best trigger.
View media item 3935
View media item 3936
And I didn't have a functional j-frame.
So I rolled the dice on a Taurus Model 85 that was completely covered with dirt and rust. I won it for a low bid online. Apparently most people won't bid on a firearm that's that ugly, but I'm an optimist. (My dogs are another example of this optimism.)
I wish I had a picture of it when I got it home. There was greasy dirt on most of it. Under the greasy dirt was a layer of surface rust. The rust seemed like it might have pitted in a few places. There were actually cobwebs in nooks and crannies around the cylinder.
I took off the grips. They were filthy. I had to wash them a lot on the inside because they were full of some nasty goop.
I washed off the dirt and most of the surface rust with some WD40. I gave it a good field cleaning, which had apparently not happened to it very often before.
After I put the grips back on, I took a picture. You can see some of the bad rust areas. The trigger was kind of stiff.
View media item 3825
I didn't want to do anything else with it before I made sure it worked. I took it to the range and my buddy and I put maybe 20-30 rounds apiece through it. It shot to POA. The trigger got better as we shot it. We're both used to LCR's, so the steel frame made 38 special easy on our hands.
After test firing it, I kept working on the rust with 1500 grit sandpaper, crocus cloth, an old copper penny, etc. while I watched basketball in the evenings. It eventually got to the point where you could see the rust had gone through the finish in places.
View media item 3934
I finally got out my dremel and put a small tip on it that was made of some sort of mild abrasive. I tried to spare the original finish as much as I could, but there were places where I had to take it down to the bare metal to get the rust out of the pitted areas.
I got some inexpensive cold blue and applied it to the bare metal areas. It doesn't look great, but it doesn't look as bad as the pictures. The cold blue areas are noticeable, but not that ugly. There are a couple of small areas that still need some work, but I'm most of the way through.
Since I intend to occasionally carry it in my back pocket, I carefully ground off the hammer spur. (I've done the exact same thing to a Model 85 in the past, and it worked just fine).
After I take the side plate off and clean out the insides, I'll try shooting it again. If I put another hundred rounds of mixed dubious range ammo through it with no problems, I'll probably start carrying it in a pocket holster in my back pocket when I'm walking the dog. This is my fourth Model 85, and they've all gone bang every time. By chance this one probably has the best or second best trigger.
View media item 3935
View media item 3936
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