When a gun is reblued by S&W do they mark the gun in any way to signify a reblue?

Depends on when they did it and I've read on this forum that they no longer refinish. But here's the history of markings when guns were refinished and still marked:

Date numbers for a return to the factory are 3 or 4 digits placed on left side of grip frame on the 'toe' stamped vertically or horizontally, and will not match any other stamped #s on the gun. Ex: 3.48 for March 1948, 10.57 for Oct 1957, etc.

Stars by the serial # on the butt indicating factory rework & rework dates declined by early ‘60s, eventually no marks and then refinishing was discontinued completely some time ago.

Diamonds are on replaced parts or heel of grip frame left side for refinish followed by letters, sometimes in a rectangle, B (blue), N (nickel), or S (standard/blue), with an R (for refinish), on 'heel' of left side of grip frame.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

Can't speak to past practices but I just had two model 27-2's refinished (polished and re-blued) by the factory. There are no markings on the frame to denote the refinish.

How did your 27-2 re-finishing turn out? The old original bluing is pretty spectacular when you see one that is "like new" condition. Any pictures? I'm curious how their work now compares to the older guns.

The current (blue) refinish is darker than previous factory finishes, but from the ones I've seen they did a pretty nice polishing job, which is the key to having a visually nice blue. These were not only unmarked on the gun but came with minimal paperwork to document the work done.

In addition to the stampings Jim mentioned above, I have seen or heard of a few guns that had a six-digit stamped date code to indicate a refinish - like 123012 for today if the factory still did so.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

I have this 1955 H.P.was reblued in 10-80.The date is marked on the left grip frame &
the R-B for refinish blue.You might have to blow it up to see it.
Dick

This shows the date and refinish marks on a Pre 27.

They turned out great. The 3 1/2 inch is from 1967 and only had bluing wear. The 6 inch, from 1977, was in very bad shape with much of the bluing gone, some pitting and no grips. They had to do little or no polishing on the 3 1/2 and probably quite a bit on the 6 inch.

I would not hesitate to send another one to S&W for refinishing. Only problem is that they do such a good job that you don't want to shoot them.

Sorry about the photo quality, I'm not the best photographer.

Attached Images

	Bills Camera 066.jpg (51.1 KB, 99 views)
	Bills Camera 068.jpg (50.0 KB, 99 views)

To Wccphd, so S&W still does do refinishing? How much did they charge,and by the way your photography skills are fine.Both of them look great!

S&W has not marked them as refinished in any way for some time, although you will be able to tell just by looking at them that they are refinished.
A gun can only be original, one time.

So ........is it safe to say that S&W no longer will reblue a gun ?

Your guns look great and your pictures are fine. I see on the S&W website the cost for "standard polish and blue" is $220 for a revolver. Pretty accurate? Or did the pitted gun cost more?

Wave

No, S&W will refinish their blue, nickel and stainless guns, most of the time.

Have a look under "Finishing":

Precision Gunsmithing - Smith & Wesson

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

In late 1980 S&W changed from the hot oven bluing process they had used for 123 years to the liquid penetrating bluing process. The liquid blue results in a slightly different (darker) color than the earlier process, but still produces a great result. I had a 5-screw 44 Magnum reblued in 2003 and I am very happy with the result. The frame was not marked to indicate the gun had be reblued.

Bill