19-4 With Rust Issues And Refinish?

I dislike cold blue products. They don’t look like a blued finish: they look temporary and a little like the stuff has been finger painted on the gun. In my experience, it’s pretty miserable stuff. I wouldn’t use the stuff on a gun of mine.

A complete refinish and Re blue by a good shop will run between $400-500. If you’re trying to finish the work by this Christmas, you may have reached the point where it can’t be finished by Christmas this year by a good shop.

Good refinish jobs are time consuming. Since the good shops are relatively small and in great demand, there is often a substantial wait to get the job done.

Smith can’t reproduce the original finish. They’ve changed their ‘blue’ finish to something that looks painted on and is relatively fragil.

Don’t use steel wool on the gun. Use pure bronze or copper wool.

Bits of the steel wool break off the pad and remain in finish irregularities and set up a new source of rust. Using steel wool creates a situation where you remove existing rust but seed the finish with a brand new coat of rust.

I agree, when I read Christmas I thought that might be difficult.
 
I doubt those pits will polish out. Removing them will be costly.

The nice thing about any forum is there are many members who will help you spend your money.

If you want a perfect Model 19, sell that one and buy another one.

Kevin

He doesn’t want another Model 19. He wants this one. Just without rust and pits.
 
Thank you everyone. I'll research and post the final product here, whatever it happens to be. My primary decision will be what my son wants. He knows he will get it at some point, just not this Christmas.
In the meantime, is a brass brush lightly applied in line with the barrel likely to scratch?
 
FIRST - DO NO HARM!

AVOID STEEL WOOL

It can/will scratch the existing blue.

100 Per Cent COPPER kitchen scouring pads from grocery store.

Lightly scrub the rust with the copper pads and any handy motor oil.
Fine gun oil not needed at this time.

If my inheritance, I would remove rust / Apply Cold Blue / Paste wax.
Fine oil for internal parts.

Bekeart

This would be my approach as well.
1) I would start by soaking it a week or two in a 50/50 ATF/Acetone bath,
2) Then to remove the rust I'd give it the bronze wool and oil treatment.
3) Next I'd give it a soak or at least a good scrub with straight acetone to remove the oil from the areas to be reblued.
4) Next I use a small butane soldering torch to lightly heat the surface. When the flame touches the metal you see moisture form - it is actually being heated out of the metal.
5) Once it is warmed enough that the moisture is gone, then dab it with Oxpho Blue or Casey's Permablue.
6) Let it cool, rub it with dry, clean, oi-free bronze wool, reclean with acetone, reheat, and reapply the bluing solution.
7) Repeat until the blue is dark enough to suit you.
8) Once the bluing is done, give it one last wipe with acetone, then oil it.
9) After the oil has all soaked in then wipe off any excess and apply wax.
I've had really great results following this process. If you wanted to try boiling it for a couple of hours first to see how much rust you can convert to black oxide, there is certainly no harm in that either - though I've never had much luck with that approach.
 
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Big frontier gun cleaning pad. It is kinda like a choir boy pad. Great for removing rust with minimal impact on blue. I have had good luck with that. Just clean the rust off and have a great shooter. If I was going to refinish I would do hard chrome brushed finish so no more rust issues. Accurate plating and weaponry in Alabama did a good job for me on a 27
 
I would send it out to a quality refinisher and have it reblued. You will never be happy with spot cleaning. Let it have a fresh start with your son so he can be proud of it.
 
Sorry about your family’s loss, Love your wife, “like” your guns.

I had a friend come by with a similar situation, she was cleaning out her Father’s truck and found a 19-6 in a leather holster, she said she tried to remove it but it was STUCK! She knew nothing about guns and was afraid to pull on it. Everyone here will wonder so I’ll say yes, I over paid her in their time of need. The bore and chambers were bright, sharp and shiny. The cylinder, muzzle and area up the rib around the front sight were the problem areas. I knew the pits weren’t going to polish out but the active rust had to be stopped. MOST polished off with oil and a rag. On the heavy areas I used a styrofoam fingernail polishing board (yes! I’ve found they work great on old guns) with plenty of oil of course.. on the REALLY heavy areas I used 3000 grit wet or dry, again plenty of oil. As everyone may imagine I had to go to WHITE, in the worst areas. Perfect? No, the outside never will be! But it shoots PERFECT


I doubt those pits will polish out. Removing them will be costly.

The nice thing about any forum is there are many members who will help you spend your money.

If you want a perfect Model 19, sell that one and buy another one.

Kevin
 
I would not consider a rebarrel making a different gun. You could pick up a used model 19 bbl in much better condition and have it installed without dealing with the pits.
 
If you decide on a refinish, Glenrock Blue in Glenrock, Wyoming has done excellent work for me on S&W revolvers. Had a M19 with a thumbprint sized blemish on the sideplate. Spoke to the owner, sent it in. Amazing match to the original finish. Also had them do a re-blue on a Model 15. Very nice work without overpolishing.
 
If you decide on a refinish, Glenrock Blue in Glenrock, Wyoming has done excellent work for me on S&W revolvers. Had a M19 with a thumbprint sized blemish on the sideplate. Spoke to the owner, sent it in. Amazing match to the original finish. Also had them do a re-blue on a Model 15. Very nice work without overpolishing.

Unfortunately, polishing will not remove those pits. They will need a proper machinist to attend to them. Or a good welder.

Kevin
 
Sorry about your family’s loss, Love your wife, “like” your guns.

I had a friend come by with a similar situation, she was cleaning out her Father’s truck and found a 19-6 in a leather holster, she said she tried to remove it but it was STUCK! She knew nothing about guns and was afraid to pull on it. Everyone here will wonder so I’ll say yes, I over paid her in their time of need. The bore and chambers were bright, sharp and shiny. The cylinder, muzzle and area up the rib around the front sight were the problem areas. I knew the pits weren’t going to polish out but the active rust had to be stopped. MOST polished off with oil and a rag. On the heavy areas I used a styrofoam fingernail polishing board (yes! I’ve found they work great on old guns) with plenty of oil of course.. on the REALLY heavy areas I used 3000 grit wet or dry, again plenty of oil. As everyone may imagine I had to go to WHITE, in the worst areas. Perfect? No, the outside never will be! But it shoots PERFECT
Got any pictures that you could post of the 19-6 - maybe some BEFORE & AFTER photos?
Just curious...
 
I would not consider a rebarrel making a different gun. You could pick up a used model 19 bbl in much better condition and have it installed without dealing with the pits.
A good suggestion - IF you can find an M19 barrel to swap.
From what I have seen over the last couple of years, M19 barrels with intact forcing cones have become pretty much unobtanium these days.
10 or 20 years ago, maybe, but these days, pretty hard to find from what I've seen and heard.
But I could be wrong - it surely wouldn't be the first time ;)
 
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I would knock the rust off, just keep an eye on it and clean as needed. Good quality refinishing is extremely expensive these days, and will not add value to the gun. I have had guns with lots of blue wear down to exposed metal, and they never rusted. I am not real fussy about maintenance either. And used to live in a pretty high humidity area.
A good candidate for a simple working gun. Not pretty just effective.
 
Got any pictures that you could post of the 19-6 - maybe some BEFORE & AFTER photos?
Just curious...

Just after, and I’m no photographer!
I’m sure many will cringe at my efforts, but this is by far the worst rust I’ve ever attempted to remove. I knew the owner and he was a little rusty himself, I think of him every time I look at this (his) gun.

Leather +Humidity = Disaster
 

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Just after, and I’m no photographer!
I’m sure many will cringe at my efforts, but this is by far the worst rust I’ve ever attempted to remove. I knew the owner and he was a little rusty himself, I think of him every time I look at this (his) gun.

Leather +Humidity = Disaster

Looks like you killed the rust, and that's the most important thing. Nothing you can do about the pitting, but a good cold blue touch up will still make it look a LOT better. The pitted areas being bare steel really makes them stand out and a good cold blue touch up would make them much less noticeable.
Just one man's opinion.
 
You cannot easily replace the missing metal where it is pitted so I would consider having it beadblasted and reblued. Bead or sand blasting will knock off all of the rust including the rust deep in the pits and help even out the metal.

While cold bluing looks good in pictures on Internet forums I have never seen it look that good in person. More of a 5’ away look. In addition cold bluing wears off quickly from handling and holster wear.
 
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