Anyone seen this before? As you can see in the photos, the barrel and cylinder are in mint condition with no wear but the frame has literally flecked off nearly half of it's blue finish including the grip frame section.

There is also a capital letter "R" stamped inside the yoke and on the side of the grip frame.

I purchased this about 8 years ago in the condition shown.

Here are some "Before" photos - I had the gun re-blued and the AFTER photos are posted further down this thread.

__________________
Tom Graham SWCA #2303

Those photo's show a lot of handling wear, and possibly by someone that uses lotions on their hands, and didn't practice good storage principles, wiping down with a good CLP and cleaning before putting away . Hand lotions can be very caustic to many finish's.

__________________
H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Maybe send it to S&W and make a pinto out of it

I had a 1905 4th change and currently have a Triple Lock with the same issues. Just a WAG on my part but i'm thinking it is due to improper cleaning of the metal before bluing. Or possibly some form of contamination of the chemical bath. Whatever it is it's not uncommon to see.

I can see what you’re getting at but keep in mind the finish is coming off under this grips as well and nothing is wrong with the barrel at all it’s absolutely perfect. So I’m wondering if it wasn’t an issue at the factory that led to this problem? Either way it’s going into a professional for re-blue.

__________________
Tom Graham SWCA #2303

I'm thinking it was an original bluing problem as the barrel and cylinder look fine while the grip frame doesn't. I believe they are Blued separately like the times you get a model 28 with a more plum barrel and cylinder.

__________________
Paul
S&WCA #2726

Yeah I tend to agree with you and I’m hoping the fellow doing the work is going to be able to do it with a minimal amount of buffing but either way it looks like **** right now it can’t get much worse!

__________________
Tom Graham SWCA #2303

**UPDATE**
Got a call from the fellow doing the re-blue telling me that there was an issue and the areas that were flecking are still showing up even with the re-blue process. He wants me to come check it out tomorrow and decide if I want him to try once more to get the blue to take. Whatever happened to cause this frame to fleck is not allowing the re-blue to take.

I am leaning on NOT trying again, he would have to buff it out even more and it's just going to make it worse is my thought.

Very disappointing, but I will post photos of the results when I get it home.

__________________
Tom Graham SWCA #2303

Here are the "After" shots......
Not sure what got on this frame, but it was not able to be re-blued without showing through if you look closely. At least the gun is protected with a finish now.
Funny how the barrel & cylinder had NO issues at all!

__________________
Tom Graham SWCA #2303

Just a SWAG on my part but possibly silicone rag was used to wipe the revolver down and for whatever reason affected both the original bluing and the subsequent re blue?. I keep a CLP cloth in a freezer bag and that is the only substance used to wipe my firearms down. Frank