... (i.e., dulling) on the barrel of a 4" blue polished mid-1950's era 5-screw S&W revolver. Is it possible or not? Or is it likely to do more harm than good even trying?

I've never had a problem like this before maybe because I don't typically use holsters. The pattern of this "dulling" does not look like the usual muzzle wear even though it is at the muzzle end of the barrel. The dulling is very uniform and the cutoff is straight and square... almost as if it were dipped about 1-1/2" in some sort of dulling solution.

It's not my gun and I don't have a photo... but it is otherwise a fairly nice gun and I'm interested in acquiring it if that cosmetic damage can be polished out without a re-bluing job.

Any thoughts?

Sounds like someone already tried to fix the muzzle wear problem. Dipped it in a bluing solution.

Holster wear fairly commonly seen, and the bare metal usually is a little duller than the rest of the gun. You can polish it with something like Crocus cloth or maybe 800 grit or finer sandpaper and dab on a little cold blue. It usually blends in fairly well. Don't go beyond the affected area.

Hmmm. A very interesting possibility. I hadn't thought of that.

The interesting thing here is that the bluing is not worn off (as you would normally expect)... it is still the same shade of blue, but dull. Hence my question.

A cold bluing attempt to fix muzzle wear per bigggbbruce's post would not surprise me.

You could try a VERY LIGHT Buffing with a NEW Microfiber rag and a SMALL amount of Flitz. Use MINIMAL pressure, move to a clean part of the rag often and do NOT get carried away as you WILL eventually remove Bluing. A QUICK LIGHT buff with minimal pressure - that's all! Don't get carried away! A little goes a long way. Don't over do it! That should improve the dull finish.

ALSO I would NOT use any other polishes like Mothers or car products as they will be too aggressive and remove bluing too fast. When used as described above the Flitz is a great product. When abused, well.........

Might have had some uneven holster wear and a previous owner put a piece of masking tape around the bbl just to the rear of any of the wear. Then cold blued the muzzle & lastly removed the tape. Leaves the nice demarkation line but the bluing rarely matches.

You can try some of the polishing tricks to bring the muzzle area back up to a brighter look, but don't look for a perfect match.

Thanks very much guys! I appreciate your expertise. Too bad I can't attack the gun with a little polish before buying in order to see if that is just "holster wear" (as claimed by the shop) or if it is a cold bluing attempt to get rid of some muzzle wear. After this thread, I'm kind of thinking it is the latter (unfortunately).

The gun shows some "honest wear" elsewhere indicating it was no safe queen although it is devoid of abusive damage such as scratches, dings/dents and corrosion spots so it still isn't bad for a 50+ year old gun. The problem is that the price is more like that of a safe queen so it becomes a very tough decision.

After further thought, I decided to blow off the revolver in question... which is really too bad as it is a model we rarely see around here in any condition. I would even be okay with a shooter-grade gun with some "honest wear" in that particular model but not one with a cold bluing touch-up job just in order to raise the price. Let them fool someone else, not me.

So thanks guys for setting me straight and saving me from likely "buyer's remorse" later. I appreciate it!