19-4 Questions on Polishing now with Polished Updated Photos?

[SirIsaacNewton]

Hey I picked up the 19-4 for 300 bucks and I was wondering how would I go about cleaning it? Maybe a little history on the gun.

I believe the Serial is 87K5***. Thanks for any info

 

[girvin02]

I will leave the clean-up advice to someone more knowledgeable. I can tell you that the gun has been re-finished at some point. The rear sight, trigger & hammer would not be nickel plated if it was factory original.

If you get it cleaned up, be sure to post some "after" pictures.

Good luck.

 

[SmithNoob]

I will pass on the clean up question. I have little knowledge working/cleaning up nickle pistols. Your serial number dates your smith to 1980. I'm sure you will have a nice shooter once you cean her up.

 

[SirIsaacNewton]

Mechanically it is in great shape I am expecting it to be a good shooter. I was even thinking about getting it refinished. Maybe something like a Black-T or NP3 that is kinda why I was asking about the cleaning process. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[H Richard]

Looks like you have a job on your hands. It looks to have been totally plated, possibly nickle, or possibly some form of industrial hard chrome. Since the rear sight rt side seems rounded over, and it was all plated I am assuming it was a police revolver. Probably not shot a great amount, and should make a good shooter.

You need to determine if it is nickle or chrome. Chrome is maybe a little more durable. I'd try Flitz on a few less conspicuous places and see how that works. Flitz can be used on nickle, but hard polishing can penetrate the finish. If you are thinking about a refinish, be aware it will cost you more than the value of the gun.

Good luck

 

[sw44spl]

If its factory nickel it will have a N stamped under the barrel on the flat where the ejector rod is and a N on the cylinder back and one on the frame under the grips.

 

[SirIsaacNewton]

Does anyone have a link on the proper method of polishing. Is this a dremel tool job? I need a step by step instructional list or something like that so I don't do anything to make the gun worse off than it is. It doesn't have the factory nickel stamp so how do I differentiate between hard chrome and nickel?

 

[SirIsaacNewton]

So I dremel polished this thing and it turned out pretty well. The Nickel didn't wear through anywhere even if it appears that way in the photos.

Updated photos.