Welcome to the forums from the peanut and cotton covered plains of the Wiregrass! The problem with nickel plated guns is they look worse than a blued gun with equivalent wear. There are a couple of ways to make it look better without refinishing the plating.

Blue Wonder Gun Bore Cleaner will remove the rust and clean the bore without damaging the finish. A gun this old will likely have some bore corrosion and that needs to be arrested. There may also be residual lead or copper in the bore grooves that it will remove. But, before cleaning with Blue Wonder, I would immerse the gun, sans grips, for about a week in a 50-50 mixture of auto transmission fluid and acetone in a chemical resistant and sealable container so the acetone doesn't evaporate. After soaking it, remove and spray it down with aerosol carb/parts/brake cleaner. Flush the cleaner into the action through the hammer or trigger opening until the effluent runs clear. The cleaner will evaporate and then you can clean the rusty areas with Blue Wonder Cleaner. When you are down to bare metal where the plating is gone, polish the entire gun with Mother's Mag polish until the bare spots blend with the plated and it will look as good as you can make it. Then, you can either coat it with Renaissance Wax or a good quality, clear carnauba floor wax. OR, just keep the outside coated with a light film of gun oil.

Or, you can use Naval Jelly to remove the rust after soaking it in the mixture and following procedure I mentioned before. Polish and wax and you're good to go.

I hope you can get it looking good since it seems to be in pretty nice condition for being 100+.


Edit: Uh. After cleaning, you need to lightly lubricate the action, and parts that move like the yoke bolt and center pin.

__________________
Guy
SWHF #474 SWCA LM#2629