Are these painted or anodized? They look like chiiping paint when worn on the edges.
Has anyone ceracoated one of these? is there a color that is close to the original in ceracoat paint line?
My Model 42 from the late 50s and my Cobra from 1967 are both black anodized with blue steel parts except for case trigger on the 42. I stopped carrying the 42 along time ago so the frame looks a lot better than the Cobra.
I don’t know about Ceracoat , but a factory type refinish will require removal of barrel from frame which has a higher risk of frame damage for an alloy gun. My Cobra is looking a little worn but I plan to leave it that way.
In regard to re-finishing anodized aluminum. Anodizing is a conversion process not a plating process. It actually converts the surface to an aluminum oxide of sorts which goes into the surface and grows slightly. There are several types of anodizing and the resulting varies from less than .001 to several thousanths. Anodized parts will be larger after anodizing than they were before anodizing. What needs to be kept in mind that to be re-anodized the parts will need to be re-activated by chemically removing the old oxide layer and since it went into the surface an equal amount to the outward growth the part will be smaller after stripping than it was when machined prior to the original anodize and will still be smaller after re-anodize than after the first anodize. With items having a generous tolerance the parts can still be within spec after all this but it can effect close toleranced characteristics and be no longer within specification.
Black Oxide on the other hand does not really build up any thickness and will strip off and can be re-applied with minimal if any change.