REBLUE?
HOW CAN I TELL IF A FIREARM IS THE ORIGINAL BLUE FINISH OR IF IT HAS BEEN REBLUED? THANKS FOR THE HELP, JACK
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Probably has been cover a million times but can someone refresh me on rebluing a pre 64 reciever model 94.
made about 1910?
It can be done cant it?
RT0 -
Hi and welcome to the forum!
If the job is a very high quality one you will have a very difficult time telling.
Look at the markings on the gun are they all sharp/crisp and essentially uniform in clarity, etc. If not there is a good chance that the gun has been refinished. Also, areas where the edges whould be sharp and are actually rounded/smoothed.
If it is a factory refinish there may be markings under the grips or on the butt strap if it is a revolver/pistol. One popular mark w/ S&W was the Star, but they used other marks too. Rifles and shotguns the marks could be on the underside of the barrel or an area of the frame/action that is out of the normal view angles.
I'm sure that Colt has some marks as well, but I'm gonna leave that to one of the members that is into them as I am not.
Another way is to have a gunsmith look it over. Their experienced "eye" can pick up things we may well miss.
Then a last suggestion is, if/when possible, compare the gun to one known to be an original finish.
Hope this helps.
If you only have time to do two things so-so, or one thing well ... do the one thing!0 -
Hello This is one of the hardest things to know for sure. There are a few masters that restore fire arms one of them is DOUG TURNBUL his guns can fool even an expert .On the other end of the scale is the guy that uses cold blue that will have a very strong smell even years after it is done.Most markings on gun are roll stamped and these will have a VERY small raised edge around each letter that will be leveled even if the area around it is stoned instead of buffed.you will need A magnafier to see it.look at GRIPS or Stock does it look as good as metal? On LUGERS WW1 and early WW2 the inside will not be blued and if it is the gun has been reblued. Hope some of this helps . quote:"PRAISE THE HARDBALL GUN" 0 -
LOOK FOR UNEVEN POLISH MARKS UNDER THE BLUE. ALSO CHECK FOR UNEVER COLORS. MOST OF ALL KNOW WHO YOU ARE DEALING WITH. GOOD LUCK.
I WOULD RATHER BE DUCK HUNTING.0 -
Welcome to the forum otg!! Well that's a very good question. A lot of it has to do with the type of firearm. (pistol, rifle, or shotgun) My recommendation is find out everything you can about, a firearm and it's manufacturer. Find out what type of bluing processes they used. I follow Winchesters quite closely, I know they used at least 2 different processes on most rifles and shotguns. Most barrels were rust blued, through 1953. Then they hot blued all the gun parts, except the few shotgun barrels that had a solid rib on them, they continued to rust blue them until they dropped them from there line in 1959. An example would be a Md 12 or takedown Md 97, all you have to do is remove the barrel assy. and look at the barrel chamber ring it's suppose to be in the "white" not blued. Very few gunsmiths have the tooling required to remove this so it gets reblued when the gun does. I would be very suspicious of a pre-WWII gun in 95% condition or better. Winchester hotblued receivers and even if it spent 70 years in a closet the blue had a tendancy to flake. Winchester also used the letter W on the bottom of a shotgun receiver that had been blued more than once at the factory. So the info is out there, the trick is finding it. As Perry Shooter said, Doug Turnbill is one of the best, but if you are looking at a 1925 Parker SxS with 98% case color, I would be suspicious. Hope this helps you. Regards Dave 0
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