Refinish an M-39-2 frame?

What's available to refinish a Mod. 39-2 frame that is showing serious wear? Down to the aluminum.
Dick

Didn't anybody ever answer this question? I'm bringing it up because I have a very closely related question - actually the same question, just a different gun.

I want to refinish the alloy frame and slide on a little Iver Johnson TP22.

Since the 39 frame is aluminum alloy, you could touch it up with any of the anodizing touch up kits on the market. Smith & Wesson will refinish the whole gun or just the frame for a reasonable fee. I had a Colt Commander once that someone had polished the frame until it looked like nickel and then nickel plated the slide and barrel. None of these ideas will help the value of a pistol unless it is totally ragged out to begin with. Robar might have an idea what to do with the Iver Johnson.

texmex said:

Since the 39 frame is aluminum alloy, you could touch it up with any of the anodizing touch up kits on the market. Smith & Wesson will refinish the whole gun or just the frame for a reasonable fee. I had a Colt Commander once that someone had polished the frame until it looked like nickel and then nickel plated the slide and barrel. None of these ideas will help the value of a pistol unless it is totally ragged out to begin with. Robar might have an idea what to do with the Iver Johnson.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I've been doing some reading on the forum. Trouble is the little Iver isn't worth enough to spend a couple of hundred for a pro to refinish.

I'm leaning towards a Duracoat Shake n Spray ($40) or Shake n Bake ($25) kit - unless others here have a better suggestion for something competetively priced that is even more durable.

BC38 said:

Yeah, I've been doing some reading on the forum. Trouble is the little Iver isn't worth enough to spend a couple of hundred for a pro to refinish.

I'm leaning towards a Duracoat Shake n Spray ($40) or Shake n Bake ($25) kit - unless others here have a better suggestion for something competetively priced that is even more durable.

Click to expand...

I have to agree. I've got a little Iver Johnson TP-22 I've had since around 1983 or so. The frame and slide are made of a zinc-based allow, not aluminum. And the finish on my gun has long since vanished. However, me and my children have put more than 60.000 rounds through this little pistol. Yeah, it's ugly as heel, but if you stick with Remington Vipers or Yellow Jackets, or CCI's Stingers, this gun has never ONCE had a malfunction. I taught my wife to shoot a handgun with this little pistol until she graduated to the S&W Model 34 with a 4" barrel and adjustable sights. And she shoots this gun quite accurately out to 75 yards and beyond!

Sorry I missed my point. I digressed. Zinc and aluminum defy finishing to any satisfactory degree. Anodizing aluminum produces mixed results. Just keep it clean and feed it properly, and it will serve you well for many years to com.

To me, the Model 39 is the most handsome auto around so if I had one with serious frame wear I would find someone to reapply the anodizing it.

allendavis58 said:

Sorry I missed my point. I digressed. Zinc and aluminum defy finishing to any satisfactory degree. Anodizing aluminum produces mixed results. Just keep it clean and feed it properly, and it will serve you well for many years to com.

Click to expand...

So the TP22 is a zinc alloy - not aluminum as I had originally thought. That explains the heft of it. Is the slide zinc too? It seems to have retained a lot more of its original finish and color than the frame. Even the parts of the frame that don't come into contact with your hand seem to have lost most of their black color, but the slide and trigger guard are still as black as ever - except for a few nicks and a couple of little spots of holster wear.

Do you think it will take a finish if I give it good scuff with some 400 grit, then degrease it by heating it the oven then giving it a good soak in acetone, reheating it to dry it out, then applying epoxy spray paint and baking it in the oven a couple of hours? That's what I was planning to do using the Duracote spray and bake.

I've read that they are great little shooters, that's why I bought this one when I saw it on ArmsList for $125. I just got it so I haven't had a chance to see how this one shoots yet, but accurate at 75 YARDS sounds almost like a tall tale. Did you mean to say 75 FEET? 75 yards is 225 feet - 3/4 of a football field. Heck I'd be happy if I could make decent groups with a model 10-5 and a 4 or 5 inch barrel at that distance. I wouldn't even dream of doing it with a little 22 sporting a 2-1/2 inch barrel! If your wife can do that she's one scary-good pistol shot!

Smith and Wesson will only reanodize 3rd gens. I noticed Ford's reanodizes.. http://www.fordsguns.com/ and seen a lot of good reviews here on the forum.

I prefer to use KG Gunkote for such chores on a gun that has little or no collector value. I've had some excellent and durable results using it. If you can completely disassemble and reassemble the pistol, you can do it yourself.

snowman.45 said:

I prefer to use KG Gunkote for such chores on a gun that has little or no collector value. I've had some excellent and durable results using it. If you can completely disassemble and reassemble the pistol, you can do it yourself.

Click to expand...

Not familiar with this product. Is it expensive? Baked on? I'll see what I can find online. Thanks for the tip.

Went to a local range and shot the little Iver today. I can tell you right now that it DOES NOT like Remington cast lead cartridges very well. Failure to fire, failure to feed, failure to eject. You name it. Unfortunately that was all that was available at this particular range. I tried Wally world on the way to the range, but they had no 22s whatsoever - zero. I know these little Iver's are a little finicky about what you feed them so I'm gonna have to try it again with some CCI.

Got home and went to clean the little bugger and discovered the ejector hook was missing. The spring is still there, and the pivot pin too. The pin was slid upwards and was sticking out of the slide, so the only thing missing is just the little flat hook that catches the rim of the spent casing to pull it out of the chamber. I called the range and asked them to look for it, but no luck. So I went on Numrich and ordered a replacement for $12, along with a spare trigger guard (I've read they have a tendency to break).

Speaking of which, I noticed that recoil tends to cause my trigger finger to push down on the finger guard, disengaging it and locking the slide back quite frequently. Have you had that problem allendavis58? Anybody have any suggestions on what to do about it? My finger is fat enough that it pretty well fills the trigger guard, and with room for only two fingers to wrap around the short little grip, I can't seem to keep the muzzle from "bucking" upwards - at least a little bit. Unfortunately the trigger guard only has to swing down 1/4" to disengage from the slide allowing it to move all the way back (for takedown). Keeping it from disengaging and "locking open" is a real problem - at least for me.

Aluminum Frame refinish

It can be done but it's hard to find someone who will do it right. It is very expensive and not cost effective. True refinish required "hard anodizing" as opposed to regular anodizing and then after the black hard coat is applied which comes out basically flat black, you need to have a Hard clear coat anodizing applied on top to give it the sheen it had when new. A little like what is now done in car painting. Only a couple of places will do it. They require that all steel parts be revoved from the frame as steel messes up the anodizing bath itself by poluting the chemicals. The last I heard there was a place in California that would do it but was very expensive. Check with Don Williams the gunsmith in Prescott Valley as I think he was aware of the place.

The other choice is to have a cerrokote finish applied. It will go on and looks like the original anodizing and does not have either the expense or trouble of the anodizing baths.....removal of all steel etc.

On the problem of the trigger guard pulling down upon firing and the slide locking back,,it's a very common problem with the IJ TP22.

They work the same as the Walther design in that there is a small spring and plunger under the back tail/pivot point of the guard,,that's what gives it the upward pressure to keep it in position.
The Walther has a steel trigger guard and can take the very strong spring it uses to keep it in place. The steel guard does not flex or bend when pulled down to TD the pistol.
The steel Walther guard is actually heat treated to near spring temper hardness. Very tough as it takes a lot of abuse both during use and TD.

When they made the TP22,,the trigger guard is an alloy casting and is very brittle. The guards break often on these.

To avoid simply breaking the guard during normal TD when you pull the guard away & against the spring tension, they opted for a lighter weight spring to keep it in place.
Problem is, that a lot of people experience what you do in that your trigger finger pulls the guard down during recoil and allows the slide to go back to the TD position.
On some the slide actually bumps upwards and begins to raise up and off the frame during the shot when it gets to full recoil.

I've actually made 2 trigger guards for these pistols from solid stock, roughed out on a mill then hand fitted. They have stayed in service for 20 or more years w/o breaking or bending and with a stronger spring under them.
I'm not looking to make any more of them(!), but that is one way to fix the little blaster.
I've fixed a couple others by drilling and cross pinning the front lug on the trigger guard to the frame. A tiny 1/16" pin does it and remains in place unless there is a special need to disassemble the pistol.
All done with the owners consent of course and after explaining that the quick TD of the gun will be gone. But they were more than happy to be able to save the pistol and continue to use it with the simple fix.

To the best of my knowledge, neither pistol has ever needed to have the pin punched out and the gun TD'd for anything,,even cleaning and lube is done w/it assembled.

The guns are very ammo sensitive. Seems like Remington HS was good in them, but that was when Remington 22rf ammo was good stuff anyway. So much has changed.

flintsghost said:

It can be done but it's hard to find someone who will do it right. It is very expensive and not cost effective. True refinish required "hard anodizing" as opposed to regular anodizing and then after the black hard coat is applied which comes out basically flat black, you need to have a Hard clear coat anodizing applied on top to give it the sheen it had when new. A little like what is now done in car painting. Only a couple of places will do it. They require that all steel parts be revoved from the frame as steel messes up the anodizing bath itself by poluting the chemicals. The last I heard there was a place in California that would do it but was very expensive. Check with Don Williams the gunsmith in Prescott Valley as I think he was aware of the place.

The other choice is to have a cerrokote finish applied. It will go on and looks like the original anodizing and does not have either the expense or trouble of the anodizing baths.....removal of all steel etc.

Click to expand...

Reddog - the OP isn't looking anymore - he has another thread he started that talks about what he did with his S&W. I resurrected this thread after it had been dead for 8 months rather than start a new one.

His revolver might be worth investing in a professional refinish, but my little Iver Johnson isn't worth spending that kind of money.

I'm looking for the best do-it-yourself (a.k.a. CHEAP) durable refinishing solution that the knowledgeable folks around here can recommend.

2152hq said:

,,,I've actually made 2 trigger guards for these pistols from solid stock, roughed out on a mill then hand fitted. They have stayed in service for 20 or more years w/o breaking or bending and with a stronger spring under them.
I'm not looking to make any more of them(!), but that is one way to fix the little blaster.

Click to expand...

Since I don't have a mill, that isn't an option for me - unless you could be persuaded to "rough out" one for me on your mill (Id pay you for it of course) and I could do the hand-fitting.

2152hq said:

I've fixed a couple others by drilling and cross pinning the front lug on the trigger guard to the frame. A tiny 1/16" pin does it and remains in place unless there is a special need to disassemble the pistol.

Click to expand...

I might be able to do this myself with my drill press. Not a bad idea - though I like the steel trigger guard idea a lot better

2152hq said:

The guns are very ammo sensitive. Seems like Remington HS was good in them, but that was when Remington 22rf ammo was good stuff anyway. So much has changed.

Click to expand...

Remington HS? High Standard? I don't know which of their current offerings that would compare to, but what I was shooting was their "target" grade RNL, and I wasn't too impressed.

OK, I'm down to a couple of choices, both from Brownells.

GunKote - matte black is the only color they have in the aerosol cans. This is the bake-on product.

OR

Alumahyde II - they have this in aerosol cans in several colors.
This is the air-cured epoxy that they recommend be cured in a stream of 90 degree warm air.

Anybody with experience/opinions with either of these two choices?

The bake on stuff is probably longer lasting.

A friend used the bake stuff to re-finish the frame on a Colt Cobra. I carried the gun for years and the finish held up well.

Be advised. If you plan on baking your gun in the kitchen oven, do it when the wife / girl friend is out of the house. I'm told it really stinks up the place.

My friend uses a toaster oven set up in his garage.

If the alumahide is the same as the stuff I have, you have to wait a week before repainting. It takes that long for the epoxy to cure.

allendavis58 said:

I've got a little Iver Johnson TP-22 I've had since around 1983 or so. The frame and slide are made of a zinc-based alloy, not aluminum.

Click to expand...

"Zinc-based alloy", also known as "pot metal".