I bought a pre 18 last week for $300. No box lot of wear on the blue and rubber grips. It shoots good though. Im taking some gunsmithing lessons from an older ppc shooter and need a project. My question is would i be out of line to rebue and round butt an old 5 screw or should i look at is just a good old truck gun. Sorry cant post any pics. Thanks for any help yall can give.

I would not reblue your 5-screw. The way I see it, honest wear is always more attractive than a reblue. Sonora

I am always dead set against re-bluing and round butting a fine old gun like that is simply out of the question. Why would want to round butt a 4" 22LR anyway, it's not a carry gun? Leave it alone and find another project!

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Dick

OK - I did something many would consider blasphemy, but just finished up re-bluing a shooter grade 1908 32-20 M&P. The reason was it was just TOO UGLY to show up at the range with it in it's current condition.

Bottom line is if a gun had any original finish left, I would not do it, but there are some cases where I think you will actually raise the value by refinishing.

Oh yeah, I added square butt stocks to the old round butt frame as well and it shoots great.

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i like it.

Hello Glowe,
You certainly increased the value of that fine
old revolver as far as I'm concerned.
It looks great now.
teesur.

Thanks guys. I have been restoring old sidelock shotguns for some time now using rust bluing for both steel and Damascus barrels. Had not tried it on a pistol, so this is my first attempt. Ten rusting, boiling, and carding cycles later, I had a new finish. David Chicoine's book, Gunsmithing Guns of the Old West, was a great help with surface preparation and I was able to prepare the metal pretty well, but some pits were too deep.

That's not a reblue, that's a resoration. Looks lovely. Good work!

The gun came out nice, but I don't care for the square-butt adaption
of a nice pair of non-medallion convex grips. A nice pair of period-
correct round butt checkered walnut grips would make the gun look
very nice. And that tung-oil shiny appearance to the grips is definitely
wrong ! Should be a dull linseed-type oil finish.

Mike Priwer

glowe's gun is a perfect example of when to reblue a classic old Smith. And he did a quality refinish. But unless an old gun has close to or a similar degree of abuse and/or rust, I don't refinish them or round butt them. Especially a non-professional refinish and reblue which have turned many nice worn classics into boat anchors and door stops with deformed lines and roll markings.

And if you consider a quality refinish you're up into the price range of just getting a nicer gun with out all the hassles and the wait. Most refinished guns result in unsatisfactory results for the owners who wind up selling them off at a loss so they don't have to look at them.

Many can't afford a nice 5 screw and would really appreciate a worn, lesser expensive ORIGINAL example.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

That looks great!! Very nice work.

OK Mike - here are the orignial hard rubber grips. I would not seperate those from the gun since they are stamped w/sn. I put the square butt grips on the gun for shooting at the range, since I like the feel better than round butts.

Since you brought up the non-medallion grips, could you estimate the date ranges for both medallion and non-medallion grips? I have some N frame medallion grips original to the guns, but they are all from WWI era. I was not happy with the finish appearance myself. I tried a matte Tung Oil finish, but as you see, it did not turn out matte. I had to re-checker the grips and thought that tung oil should work well on fresh wood, but I guess I will have to give it an acetone spray treatment to cut the shine.

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i still like it,. i understand the antique aspect of collecting, but when all thats said and done,..
A) its your gun,
B) make it what you like.
C) someone someplace isn't gonna like it, a pity but a fact.
when someone doesn't like it,..please repeat A & B

It's always a tough decision, refinish or not. glowe has done more of what I would call a restoration, and in my mind a restoration does not hurt, but helps the value. I have only refinished one S&W, and it was a 19-4 that had gotten wet and ignored too long. the pitting was too deep in a couple area's, and it wasn't really a collector piece to start with, so I had a metaloy finish put on it as as wear resistant using gun.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

That is first class metal work. Don't let that gunsmith ever get away from you.

Much as I disfavor refinishing, I understand situations in which a gun's surface is so far gone that some redemptive surgery is called for. I think I'd have done something to glowe's old .32-20 as well. It sure turned out nice.

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David Wilson