I have recently purchased a pistol that the previous owner buffed and polished the slide on. It looked like a hard chrome finish, and I assumed it was. It is not, and would be beautiful if it was stainless steel but it is carbon steel. It has held it's finish well, and is easy to maintain with a little oil. My question is whether or not to refinish it. I have seen blued guns with the finish worn off that were not refinished, and since it was bought as a shooter is it possible for the bare steel to hold up as well as a blued finish would? If I were to refinish the slide, do the sights have to be removed/reinstalled? Is there a sight paint that will survive gun cleaning solvents? If so, what names?

I would definetly apply some type of finish to your gun; it wouldnt take much to start seeing surface rust.
Yes,you will most likely want to remove the sights.
Sounds like you might want to have this done by a profesional gunsmith.
Good luck!

If you want to have some fun, you can do it yourself! Buy some parkerizing formula from Midway or Brownells and follow the directions. If you want even better protection, buy some GunKote and follow the directions. Even better, apply the GunKote to the parkerizing! It is not as difficult as it seems to get very good results.

What kind of gun is it? If the sights are fixed, I wouldn't worry about them (unless they are plastic).

The previous owner had polished the slide and tried to blue it with Brownell's cold bluing. It wiped off with a rag at which point he assumed he had a stainless steel slide. After checking with the experts I am certain it is high carbon steel. Really does look like a chrome finish, and has yet to rust. I do not take it out into the weather though. It's the kind of gun that I would have too much money into if I did it the right way. But it is also the kind of gun that I will keep in my collection, so it may get refinished.

Bluing does next to nothing in preventing rust.A high polish alone is just about as effective a rust preventative as a high polish + bluing. If you like the way it looks, just keep a bit of oil on it and enjoy. Or, you may want to hit it with a coat of paste wax.

You don't say what kind of pistol you have, but there are such things as blue or black stainless steel slides -- depending on the gun, yours may be one.

I was hoping not to have to mention that it's a Walther P5. There are only about 5 Posters on the Walther P5 forum. I was hoping for recommendations that would be common to all metal guns.

You could always send it to Robar for an Electroless Nickle finish. This would prevent corrosion, lube the pistol's friction points, and give it a long life. I hope that this helps.

Cheers.

Scott

I had sent an email to Robar over the weekend in regard to their Roguard finish. They said it will run $145 to do the barrel outside and slide. Still researching the different finishes they offer. I have read that some finishes will fill the lettering and serations. I want to make sure the job will look appropriate to the pistol when finished.

Here's another option: http://www.plate-tacular.com/
They've done 2 guns for me and will be getting at least 2 more in the near future.

Here is a place that alot of the guys here talked good about: http://www.mahovskysmetalife.com/ for a revolver it is only $125 dollars to do it. You can go to Gander Mountian and they use this service. I would check price's at both for best deal. Later John