Whatever you do - nickel or reblue - chop 3-3/8" off the barrel and have the 5" model 29 everyone seems to want.

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Tony

I may have spoken a little too soon. I was curious myself, so did a little checking. From what I have read, black chrome finishes are different than the silver type, and not as durable. The Desert Eagle, for example, is a gun offered with such a finish, but owners claim it is does not hold up as well as silver hard chroming.

When I started as a trooper in the early 1980's, the issue weapon was a S&W 66, with a factory "Blackened" finish. I am not sure what process they used, but it did not hold up well to holster wear.

Hard Chrome, Nickel, blued, or one of the new bake on miracle finishes, just depends on how you want your gun to look when it is done....

Larry

I'm not so sure it would be that easy, the front sight is milled out of the barrel. I'm thinking I would have to buy a shorter barrel if I went that route.

Leave as a beater shooter or refinish to blue or nickel.

Do not do this: "I also am considering a Metalife hard chromium finish, very durable and hunting capable."

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No life story has happy end.

I think you can't go wrong with rebluing it or sending it to magna port for a hard chrome finish. Also like the idea of one of the spray on finishes I would think you could remove that finish if you got tired of it and then re-blue it What ever you do let us know and show us pictures.

Before you refinish the gun I would have the cylinder checked. I had a 29-2 that leaded badly with cast bullets no matter if there was a gas check on them or not. A few years ago I read that many of those guns had oversize cylinder throats so the only real cure would to be have the cylinder replaced.

As to refinishing...for a hunting gun hard chrome would be hard to beat. My daily carry 1911 now has 8 years of daily carry and still looks like new. A matte blue or parkerizing would also make the gun nice looking but not so nice that you would not want to hunt with it.

I have a 57 8 3/8" that has a few little blood stains on it that I hunt with regularly...not going to worry about what it looks like when I am done...life is getting too short for that.

Bob

Why should I do this?

I thought about that route also. I really like the look of the older Smith&Wesson's deep Blue/Black but I don't need a safe queen. I want a .44 mag I will use and a spray on finish would work for now I guess. Thanks for the reply.

Bob, Thanks for the reply. Mine didn't lead much at all, accuracy wasn't that great. It shot into 4 to 5 inches at 25 yards. That load in my Super Blackhawk shoots into less than 2 inches. I haven't had a chance to slug the bore and chambers.

The finish is bad enough to warrant refinishing in blue or nickel. A 29 should be in blue or nickel. I also like the 5" idea.

"Hard chrome" or some other industrial finish would be an abomination. Rather leave it as is. That's how ugly "hard chrome" is in my opinion.

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No life story has happy end.

How about one of the new-tech coatings? Cerakote or similar? I don't know anything about them other than that they are popular with the slide-top guys. I wonder what a 29 would look like in FDE or digital camo?
Just thinking out loud, as I don't even know if such coatings would last five minutes on a wheelgun, what with the flame-cutting, cylinder gap issue plus the turn-line wear.

Does the water damaged finish have anything to do with a fire?
I have seen this type of damage before and in many cases they were damaged like the one show by a house fire. Maybe in a safe sitting in water in a basement, caused by fire hoses.

If this is fire damage be careful as the metal maybe weakened.

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Thank you
Penmon AKA Jim

The finish (Metalife) I was considering looks like stainless. I would rather have it black.

No, it was a flood. This I am sure of. Left it in a doskocil case. It probably was rusted in the case before the flood. I have already put 250 full power 240 gr. JHP's through it so...It's fine.

It's your gun. Finish it how you WANT.

Yes, your gun. Do as you please. But if you hard chrome or cerakote or any other non-gun finish please put warning in the title if you post photos so I won't open it.

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No life story has happy end.

Accurate Plating has three grades of hard chrome finish. Matte, Satin and High Polish.

Matte is just what it says...matte. The Satin looks like stainless. High Polish looks just like nickel but has just a hint of blue.

Daily carry gun for seven years...finish still looks like new. This is two tone, matte frame with a satin slide.



This one is satin frame and slide...



Both guns...




..and high polish...the best looking Combat Commander I have ever seen...

I don't understand, Metalife and Cerakote were both designed as gun finishes.

Very nice stable you have there Superman.

Can anyone tell me when this was manufactured? N796XXX. Thanks.

It looks like the metal is in excellent shape except for the finish damage. IIWM I would send it back to the factory for a nickel refinish.

Years ago I bought a four inch M28 on GB. The outside had major scrapes and scratches. I only half kiddingly speculated that it came out of the holster of a motorcycle cop at 75 mph and skidded on cement for a hundred yards. Internally it was decent but well used. I got it for a cheap price but knew it would pain me to look at it like that.

So I sent it to S&W for the basic service. Had them send it on to APW. I didn't want it to be shiny like nickel so I told them to go matte chrome. When it came back, I was beyond thrilled. It went from a sad and damaged looking gun to one that is a top ten favorite to show to other gun people. I was surprised how the finish came out... it looks like a flat stainless gun. I always kid people that it is a prototype M628. Sure is what it looks like.

For a heavily cosmetically challenged gun, I would go that direction again in a heartbeat.

Sell it to me at a fair "shooter" price, I've been waiting for you to come along... LOL

Great story, Who is APW?

I still don't own it myself yet! I should have it transferred by this coming Friday though, and then she is mine, all mine...I never even knew I wanted one, or needed one till I met this one. She has charm, I put another 250 through her last weekend.

Swab some cold blue on it, install some Hogue rubber grips, put it in a holster and go hunting

A phenomenal gun refinisher - Accurate Plating and Weaponry - ACCURATE PLATING AND WEAPONRY 2015 | APWCOGAN.

this is what I would do with it... chop it to a 3" barrel or even with the under lug, trigger work, dock the hammer ( not bob) standard re- blue, refinish the stocks and sell them, replace with magna panels and Tyler T... load it with 44 spl and carry the thing as my EDC....... good luck.
It would absolutely become a project gun... if I owned it.

Faciously....(supposed to mean "humorously ")......How about converting it to belt feed??? The early Russian .50 gun had an open topped cylinder into which the cartridges were stripped by a feeding pawl. On your 29-, simply mill the tops off each cyl. bore....... use a flat sheet metal bottle opener to scrape the rnds out of the belt into each open milled space.....add a 48" finned barrel, a two wheeled cart......surely you can fan the hammer ala Bob Munden.......then you can go afield for game of any weight.....looking something like this;


Seriously........ I kinda agree w/the satin/blk hard chrome. I had a really tacky Luger done in that finish in 1966.......no idea where.....would have been a Shotgun-News advertiser.....did the Luger iridescent gold on the trigger & other small parts & I could hardly get it back from a gun shop clerk some time later.

PJH

I say nickel it with s&w doing the refinish.

Great Idea!, NO. I want to keep it as a classic S&W N frame. Thanks.

I was on S&W site and they have a bead blast satin blue for like 325 with a tune up. I'm still dreaming on this issue. Thanks.

Thoughts, huh?
Buy it, so you can have it, so you can shoot the thing. I'd find what it likes for food before giving it an overhaul. Nice nightstand gun/stick.

Bud, I have 500+ rounds through her already, that's how I fell deeply into lust with her! She doesn't like my 255 Lyman cast bullet load much, but that was tailored to a different revolver. It does love 240 gr. jacketed HP's at magnum speeds. I shot 250 rounds last friday. I stopped shooting because my hands were hurting!

Nickle is a little too flashy for me Bill.

What about a melonite finish? I had a HK P7, PSP finished in melonite, beautiful tough mat black finish like my issue Glock(Tenifer?). Toughest finish I have ever used,( and Iv'e carried most all except spray on). I really never hear of melonite on revolvers ???

I was wondering the same thing when I looked at the pics. I've seen a few heat damaged firearms with the same damage.
Mark

If it were mine, I would most likely try a parkerized finish myself. Or duracoat/guncoat. But that's just me, if I get a really great deal on a ugly duckling I like the challenge of keeping the cost to a minimum. If you don't like how it turns out then have it professionally redone.

Well, I just got off the phone with Mark from Smith and Wesson service. Not good. To change the barrel, I would have to buy one from them, crush fit only. They omit the pin. And a 4 month wait on just getting it re-blued. Dang.

Ok, Mark, No its not fire damaged. It was left in a foam lined gun case. The case soaked up moisture and caused finish damage only. I saw the case. His house did not burn down. He got some water in the basement. I personally think this damage was caused by just leaving it in a foam case. He hadn't had the revolver out of the case in years.

My eyes must be going bad. I don't see an ugly gun around here.

Thanks Brother, She is just finishly challenged.

Well, she is mine now. I talked to Fords on the phone, I might go with them for a master re blue.

I mentioned my cosmetically challenged early M28 HP earlier. Refinished in matte chrome by APW. (I was wrong about that. See further down.) There were some questions so I might as well show a few pics again.

Here is one photo of what the gun looked like when I received it. "Honest holster wear" is one thing... but this is actual finish damage.



Here is a photo of it when it came back. Grips removed to show the entire finish.



I was so impressed with how smooth it was to the touch. And how much it looked like a factory stainless gun... so I couldn't resist pulling out a couple of random stainless guns for a group photo.

As the doubters can see, the finish doesn't result in filled in text on the gun. It also isn't super shiny.

Just to be sure I wasn't confused... it was 2005 when I had this done... I went back through my email and found the original correspondence. APW calls this their "brushed chrome" option. Not "matte" which is their inexpensive "fishing tackle box" type of finish. So $170 back then.



Gregg

It's not going to group any tighter with a new finish. If you are planning on hunting with it, the deer are not going to know the difference either! Leave it alone and enjoy!!!!😃

Gregg, That is one handsome M28! And I thought I had my mind made up!

I know Brother, but it just bothers me to see a fine revolver look neglected like that!

Color case the frame. Blue the rest.

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No gold. Only lead. Bobby

When I acquired my 29-2 some time ago, it was in a state that was a little worse than the one posted by the OP. I enjoyed it that way for a while but, the ugly always bothered me. Last fall I decided that it was too good a gun not to save so, I took it to Ford's. When I got it back, it looked better than new. I am happy that I had it done. If you have a nice old S&W and want it nice enough to pass down, I recommend that you have it done also.

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Well I sent it out and just got it back.