any help or cure for butcher engraving? can get it cheap, lockup is good, thinking of making a bobber out of it. But if there is no hope for the finish, well...
7326234.jpg

4605825.jpg

45 ACP?
Buy it cheap and enjoy shooting it. If the seller want extra for the fine, unique custom work leave it for someone without a clue.

Yup 45acp, the photo does it no justice, this poor revolver will make you cry. if there was a way to reasonably fix I would, such a crime!

I'd buy it cheap and then make up a good believable story about the "engraving" that would add a little cachet to the gun while at the same time be impossible to verify
Maybe like it was engraved by the bird man of Alcatraz or something along those lines.....

__________________
Forum consigliere

Previously owned by Pablo Picasso and used to persuade his critics. A .45 can be very persuasive!

If it was cheap enough, I'd buy it and shoot it.

__________________
"I also cook."

If it works and you can get it cheap,why not buy it? The guys in the duckblind will get a kick out of it,that's for sure.
f.t.

__________________
South Carolina-God's country

I guess you could call that "naive art" or something and take it to the Antiques Road Show.

Maybe just having it polished and refinished would help a lot. But speaking for myself, I would just buy it (if very cheap) and shoot it or use it for parts.

I've seen worse. A gun shop around here had a Brazilian that looked like the frame had been stored in salt water. Then somebody got the idea to do an economy refinish by spray painting it a dull silver. (Maybe they thought it would look Parkerized? Or satin chromed?) It was horrible. The worst thing was the bore. It looked like a sewer pipe. You could only see faint traces of rifling here and there.

It was marked $400 and they wouldn't come down. They no longer have it so I assume somebody paid their price. I never would. Yours is so much better than that, so dry your tears.

__________________
You're shy a few manners.

By the way, the diamond magna stocks are not correct for that revolver, but could be readily sold to help reduce the net cost. If it's cheap enough, BUY IT!

__________________
You're shy a few manners.

The engraving don't look half bad from here...But, those post war stocks have got to go!

Sum nice carved MOPs would set that off jest right.

If she's cheap enough...I'd give her a whirl.



Su Amigo,
Dvae

__________________
"IN GOD WE TRUST"

What's there can be removed. Now you have the cost of polishing plus the cost of the gun.
(Quality polishing work on a DA revolver is more than that on a SAA or a semiauto generally.)

Then figure where you want to go from there and add that cost.
Re-blue, parkerize, plating, engraving (and refinishing).

If the bottom line money is more than you'd spend for a decent shooter of the same look & finish that you wouldn't have to do anything to,,then don't bother.

If you like the project aspect of it and like something different,,it's a good candidate if you can buy it right.
Sometimes we just like to make stuff up for ourselves a little special.

JMHO

I have decided to let this one slip away, I hate ugly guns and as much as I would like to "rescue" it its more than I want to take on. If anyone wants to go to the link on it, just pm me. just be aware the current owner thinks its rare and wonderful.

Have it Park'ed and I bet it hides the worst of it.

You could also have a talented engraver try to incorporate the existing "engraving" into a new design. I've seen that done with very nice results.

David

Yeah, if he wants a "rare and wonderful" price for it, let it go. I still may be worth it to write an offer ($200?) and your phone number on a card and give it to him.

Who knows, he may shop it around and find out the most he can get for it is $100 and give you a call.

__________________
You're shy a few manners.

I like guns like that...I've got a safe that needs a door stop and it will fit right in with the motif of my gun room.

__________________
Jim
S&WCA #819

That looks like a great shooter. My way of thinking about gun finishes is the same way I think of Car Paint. It might make your car look bad***, but it certainly doesn't make you faster.

Same deal with Finishes on guns, might make your revolver look awesome, but it sure can't help it shoot straight!

My opinion, buy it and shoot the heck out of it!

heres the link to it, hope this dont get me in hot water, Im not so good about reading fine print so if this is a bad, moderators please edit.
Revolvers : US ARMY M1917 S&W .45 REVOLVER

I think a good gun refinisher could take that engraving down to flat metal and reblue to make a great looking shooter. If the price was right, you could justify putting some money in a frame refacing project.

Looks like someone already did that: "Theater engraved in Korea"

Too much $$ at half the price.

Thats the touch that finished it for me. Pure crudely crafted BS, thats gotta be up there with "my dog ate my homework"

Can you spell barbecue? I think I'd have one of those guys with the electroplating brushes color it gold.

__________________
Randy
Provenance nerd

Poor thing.
I'd rescue it for $200.00 .
The trigger being worked on has me worried.

Dismantle...'Metal Spray' to select portions...assemble with flat-head dummy Screws, judicious Draw-Filing...careful correct methods of Polish...re-Blue..."done".

What do you think the chances are the "engraver" did the trigger work as well?

So when was the last time you found a mechanically sound DA45 for $400? Bet its been a good long while. We buy guns for different reasons. Believe it or not, some folks actually commit heresy and shoot their guns! Some even buy their guns with the specific intent to fire them and use them for home defense. (note: I don't know any of this for a fact, being firmly in the safe queen camp.)

Much worse than the attempt at engraving is the abuse we see regularly where the Brazilian guns were all tossed in a barrel (maybe open to salt water) then shipped over choppy seas back home. We do know that the vast majority of the 1917s were made over maybe a 20 year period, ending maybe 75 years ago. Most are pretty sturdy guns, with the majority of the damage being cosmetic.

The OP here says they sold it. I'm guessing someone got a pretty good deal. There was a time when you could buy pretty good examples of 1917s for maybe $25. Those days are long gone, just as the days are gone when you could score one for $500. Prewar N frames have a pretty strong following, and its growing. The only problem seems to be the shortage of guns for them/us to buy.

__________________
Dick Burg

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little

__________________
Jim
Many K and N Frames

Actually, now that I've seen the listing, this looks like a pretty rare pistol. A U.S. Army Model 1917 made in 1910. That's a very early prototype!

Quick, make an offer!.

David

And who knew those are the "Original grips" !!!!!?????

Ok, maybe he means that in addition to the stocks shown, he also includes the originals. Somehow that seems unlikely though, given that he thinks it was made in 1910.

"$495 OBO"
Yeah, if you really needed a shooter / home defenser it may fill that need. Thing is, I would rather put the $500 toward a better one. But someone else may not care.

__________________
You're shy a few manners.