Stainless? Really?!

[Michael Tinker Pearce]

Friday we were picking up my wife's latest gun and I spotted a Hawes Western Marshal .45 Colt with an extra cylinder in .45 ACP, made by JP Sauer & Sohn. In very good shape, nice action, excellent trigger- for $225. Yes please, I'll have that.

The gun was obviously finished to a price; the sides of the frame weren't properly flat and the finish looked kind of like the paint used on zinc-alloy framed guns (the frame is steel- I checked.) Also the frame under the barrel was a different contour than the Colt. I decided to reshape the front of the frame, flatten the sides properly and re-blue the gun. I did the work, stripped the gun, refined the finish overall and tried to blue it.

Nope. Won't take. Tried a different kind and that didn't work either. The gun is stainless steel. The original bluing looked funny because it wasn't bluing. Not what I expect in a gun this age (probably made in the late 50's- early 60's) but it actually makes sense. The major assemblies are cast, and stainless alloys are easier to cast than carbon steels.

The grip-frame is aluminum, so I stripped that too. It makes a nice contrast to the steel frame. Since I couldn't refinish it I polished everything up nicely and honestly, it looks great. I took it to the range for a 'get acquainted' session and it shoots great. The trigger is perhaps the best I've felt on a stock single-action revolver. Am I happy with this purchase? You betcha.

Before and after-

 

[il.bill]

Nice find - it looks very good to me!

 

[LoneGoose]

And nice work. You certainly can't spit on that.

 

[farm23]

Great find. Finding something like that makes me wish I lived in larger city with more than one LGS within 30 miles, but then I think of my other advantages and will stay where I am. Thanks for sharing. I wonder how the original finish was applied?

 

[walnut1704]

Many alloys won't take blue. I really doubt it's stainless. But it matters not. If you remember the Herter's .401 PowerMag, that's the same manufacturer. I have to say that I've never seen one with a spare ACP cylinder in all my decades.

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2015/12/featured-gun-hawes-western-marshal.html

 

[Speedo66]

Nice deal, especially with two cylinders, at that price. Good luck with it.

Mottled stainless look speaks of old patina.

 

[Michael Tinker Pearce]

Many alloys won't take blue. I really doubt it's stainless. But it matters not. If you remember the Herter's .401 PowerMag, that's the same manufacturer. I have to say that I've never seen one with a spare ACP cylinder in all my decades.

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2015/12/featured-gun-hawes-western-marshal.html

Yeah, there are a lot of alloys that are 'stainless-ish' that cast well. It won't take blueing and there's no evidence it's ever rusted- nor can I recall seeing one of these guns that has. Of course that doesn't mean much; I probably haven't seen ten of these in all my years. For my part if it's as rust-resistant as a blued gun that's good enough.

 

[Middletown]

The trigger is perhaps the best I've felt on a stock single-action revolver.

I only own one Hawes firearm, a 1861 Navy Replica .36 cal with brass frame. Easily has the best trigger of any of my single actions. It now sits on the mantle as a conversation piece, actually a good looking replica. The threads pulled where the axle for the cylinder threads into the brass frame. No longer safe to try to fire but doesn't hurt it's appearance. But again it has a really good trigger.

 

[expat_alaska]

Delete

 

[bannockburn]

Tinker

Nice single action for the price, especially with that .45 ACP cylinder! My first single action was a full size Hawes in .22LR with an extra .22 Magnum cylinder. It was made from zinc alloy with steel sleeve inserts in the cylinder and barrel and had a glossy black painted on finish. My gun was the short barrel version without the ejector rod housing and everyone definitely knew when I was using the .22 Magnum cylinder!

 

[entropy]

My uncle had one in .357, had the same look to it. It was a decent gun, he put lots of wadcutters through it, even a box of my infamous compressed Blue Dot loads.

 

[d'zaster]

that's really cool!

 

[chicharrones]

Many alloys won't take blue. I really doubt it's stainless. But it matters not. If you remember the Herter's .401 PowerMag, that's the same manufacturer. I have to say that I've never seen one with a spare ACP cylinder in all my decades.

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2015/12/featured-gun-hawes-western-marshal.html

I had a Winchester 37A shotgun that the receiver wouldn't take a re-bluing worth a damn. It didn't seem to rust either. Just another example of a "working" gun I suppose.