Nickel coating removal?
Can a revolver what has been nickel coated have the coating removed and then be blued? How about removed the nickel and then have it hard chromed?
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Usually there is a copper flashed layer under the nickel. Parts are usually fitted loose and then the layers built up to proper working clearance. I have seen hard chromed autoloaders.
Soaking nickeled stuff in ammonia based solvents can eat that under layer of copper.0 -
There are at least two different types of nickeling done on firearms. The older type was a electronic plating process. Sometimes done over a plated Copper base as Charlie suggested.
To remove this plating evenly, it has to be reverse plated to remove all the Nickel and Copper on the steel base metal. What remains is a ugly mat gray finish, after all the Nickel and Copper? has been removed.
This has to be polished if a decent appearing blued finish is required. If the finish on the firearm isn't important. The easiest way to refinish it, would be to sand/vapor blast then have it Parkerized.0 -
A friend of mine soaked a nickel plated revolver in Hoppes for an extended time and the plating pealed off. Seemed to me that the removal of the metal would have increased the various gaps, but it appeared to shoot alright with the nickel removed. 0 -
I bead blasted a '70 series commander and had it hard chromed. 
Does it look UGLY [?][?]
EDIT, Neal, I did the bead blast and custom work. Then sent it to Bob Cogan for the hard chrome. He did some for me when I lived down there.0 -
Factory nickeled guns have exactly the same tolerances as blued guns. Plating is very thin. There are chemical strippers for nickel that are the preferred method of removing it.
So, yes-the gun can be blued or hard chromed. It will require some light surface finishing first.0 -
It depends, & it depends.
Most plating adds enough thickness that the parts need to be sized to compensate for that. That's why S&W stamps an "N" on the barrel, cylinder, & frame of the revolvers that they intend to plate:
You failed to provide photos or even tell us the model gun. They would help us determine if it's possible. In most cases, this work should be done by a skilled gunsmith/plater, & cost will usually be greater than most folks are willing to spend. If you plan to do it yourself, the gun may or may not function, but it will undoubtedly look ugly.
Neal
EDIT: No, DCS, yours looks beautiful. If you hard chromed that yourself, you deserve a pat on the back.0 -
Neal,
I have nickel plated a lot of guns, and I have never had any clearance problems due to plating thickness.0 -
quote:Originally posted by 5mmgunguy
Can a revolver what has been nickel coated have the coating removed and then be blued?
Yes.
quote: How about removed the nickel and then have it hard chromed
Yes. I believe its also possible to chrome plate OVER nickel plate, if you're just after the chrome "look".
The question here isn't whether these things "can" be done, its whether or not they "should" be done. Like many things, this comes down mostly to cost.
Proper refinishing requires stripping off the old finish, and polishing the bare metal prior to refinishing. Doing this correctly requires some technical knowledge, its labor intensive, and therefore expensive. While its "possible" to blue guns at home, and even to chrome plate them, startup costs are high, and it may not "pay" for just one gun.
Also, while refinishing a badly worn gun can increase its value, typically the increase in value isn't as much as the cost of the refinish. In other words, most times you'll take a net loss on value with a refinish.
It still may make sense to do this for certain "working" guns, or for guns that have a lot of sentimental value, but for an average "shooter" it may be more cost effective just to find a similar gun for sale with the nice finish you want, buy it, and sell the one you have with the bad finish to offset the cost.0
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