There must be.

Several weeks ago I purchased a 14-3 for bull's-eye shooting. I wasn't real concerned about appearance as much as I was function.
After attending several shows and checking the online auctions the gun I purchased was about 98% for too much money but it was the best gun for the price. Lower rated guns were evenly priced. Again, I wasn't really looking for high quality appearance, it just what I could find.

Anyway, I take the gun to the smith to have it drilled and tapped for scope mount. Picked up the gun Saturday and had a chance to shoot it Sunday and get the scope sighted in. Gun shoots well and I am pleased. Take the gun home and give it some cleaning since the Bullseye powder is pretty dirty. Get out the Hoppes and wipe it down. Uh, what is this I see? Rag is really kind of black. Oh, wait, what happened to my 98% gun? Looks more like 80%. Someone along the line, either the seller or who the seller purchased it from used some type of polish to hide all of the missing blue and fine scratches. %*&((%#!@_ I can't return to the seller and complain, I already had it drilled and tapped. Let's just say I'm less than happy. Just can't trust anyone.

this is why i don't buy used guns on line, especially revolvers as they need several check to make sure they are in good shape.

It could have been touched up with cold blue.

__________________
"I also cook."

Purchased at a show, not online. Only checked online for pricing.

Chad may be right. Somebody would have to be pretty good at it. Cold blue is usually pretty obvious. Kind of scary with prices as high as they are.

I hope we don't hear more stories like this.

This might sound kind of silly but could it be black shoe polish? I have seen shoe polish applied to all kinds of things to hide scratches and wear marks. Not guns but it wouldn't be a shocker to me. I guess any dark color of car polish could do the same. There isn't anything stopping you from adding dye to a wax polish either if you can get it to mix.

Cold blue for sure, a few years back you could smell the cold blue. Now you can put on cold blue and wax it to seal it, plus the smell is gone. Next time take a rag with hoppies on it with you in a plastic bag and ask if you can wipe the gun down, if they say no - should tell you that you don't want it . I would shoot the season with it and then send it to S&W for reblue or get it hard chromed.

I contacted the seller today, just as an fyi. There is no proof that the seller knew about this and I wasn't placing blame. He thanked me and said he would check his records to see who he bought it from so if they returned he could check their next items more closely.

The last two guns I purchased used had issues. Lots of folks buy used and have no problems. I believe I will stick with new guns no matter the cost. Unless of course this deal comes along when............

Sorry for your disappointment with your new gun. I have to say............ over the years I have purchased many many guns on line and before Gunbroker existed, I purchased from the newspaper format type of advertisements. In all my purchases which is probably over 50 + guns, I have only been skunked ONCE, and that fellow did the right thing and refunded my money, including the freight. Now I am a VERY picky person and I can honestly say that my experience has been VERY POSITIVE over the years with most of the guns being graded honestly, and a lot of them have actually been better than advertised.

There is nothing like seeing the gun in person and actually handling it, but sometimes you just can not find what you want locally.

Chief38