ruger vaquero blueing question

[rozziboy18]

hey guys,
i just purchased a old model ruger vaquero, blued/ch, in 45lc. i know that ruger uses a chemical to create the fake case hardened look in these guns and it has begun to rust slightly. im wanting to strip off the old ch finish and re blue it to my liking but i dont want to ruin the bluing on the barrel. question is, when re bluing a gun with already blued parts, with the bluing chemical damage the old blue and make it inconsistent?

im new to all things smithing, but really enjoy doing my own work.

thanks,
brandon

 

[rcmodel]

Yes, it might.

Rugers chrome molly steel is sorta hard to hot-blue anyway without getting fabulous purple shades.
DIY cold bluing is out of the question.

If I were you, I would send it to a professional firearms refinisher who has experiance with Rugers.

Might check with Ford's for instance.

rc

 

[CraigC]

I agree, although Ruger will do a full blue job on it for a relatively affordable sum. I'd rather have a professional refinisher put a nice polish and reblue on it though, remove the warning label while they're at it.

 

[rozziboy18]

so long vaquero

bad bad bad news guys!

the newly aquired ruger is no longer with us. after a range sobering range

session the other day, i did a long cleaning and inspection of the bore. what

brought this on was the 6 inch group i shot from a rest at what i have paced out

to be close to 12 or so yards. a 8th of the way past the forcing cone i found a

suprise! a 1/8th sized patch of pitting so dip that the rifling was freaking

gone! < exact reaction. it looked like leading at first but nope,

grade a pitting! i returned it i returned it and got my money back, and now own

a ruger blackhawk 357 convertable with no pitting!

 

[Big Az Al]

Hot bluing MYTHS

1st: Ruger Chrome moly hard to blue.

Not hard at all! just have to know good technique!

2nd: Winchester Nickel steel will not Hot blue,

Again! Not hard at all! just have to know good technique!

3rd: The Red finish just means it is really good steel.

No it doesn't, it just means that the steel was put in the bluing bath at TO high a temp!

 

[velocette]

Rozziboy;
You could have sent the revolver to Ruger for a new barrel and a re-finishing for a very reasonable fee. You'd get it back looking and shooting like new and Ruger always replaces any worn parts for no charge when they have the gun.
Early Vaqueros in .45 Colt are VERY nice VERY strong revolvers.
Did I mention that they are VERY strong!

Roger