black shoe polish? honestly. Easy to strip off if it doesn't help. I'm curious as I want to get a RIA 52009 1911A2 in 10mm. Black phosphate. I'm sure it will get abrasions that don't go down to bare steel. So I will likely end up there too someday.

My uncle was a police detective in eastern Washington. He had a Makarov stolen, and it was found 2+ decades later, across the country. It was being used by a "hobo" for target practice in the railyard, and a railroad "cop" found him and it. When they found it was stolen from a LEO, as a professional courtesy, it was mailed to him at the police station back home. Crazy. Didn't know it was legal for a LEO to just mail a pistol to another LEO. Anyway, his son (my cousin) now has it.