An old oddity: .44 Special 4" with Chrome Lined Bore

[jaymoore]

Bought this back in 1988 or '89, I think. First .44 Special that I owned. Had to find another set of scales as the one that were on it were very right handed, which I'm not. A suitable set showed up within a year of purchase and have been quite satisfactory.

But the really odd thing about this five-screw revolver is the bore. It's chrome lined! Not leaded up, nor polished. It's that disinctive matte bluish white of the "industrial hard chrome" typical in M16s and M14s. Can't imagine it being a factory thing. And why not do the cylinder throats and chambers as well?

Stupidly enough, I never sent for a letter in all this time, so...

At any rate, it's an old if seldom shot favorite.

Some photos (Please excuse the lint!):

Whoever modded the grips had a go at the insides as well, I guess, but wasn't too worried about appearance where it couldn't be seen. The finger pads on the outside indicate the fellow had right largish hands. Certainly longer digits than mine!

 

[Art Doc]

Really cool gun.

I really doubt the bore is plated. Who would do that and why? makes no sense. I think what you are seeing is the result many rounds of lead bullets being fired and maybe a chemical reaction with the cleaning solvents. I have seen guns with such coloration.

 

[keith44spl]

That is kinda unusual...Having worked on and cut off a few chromed lined barrels,

She sure looks chromed from your pictures. That would sure cut down on erosion.

An ol boy I used to know ran a little hard chrome shop. His main business was flash chroming gages,
O.D & I.D. plug and ring types. He would do I.D. plating on shotguns and rifles bores for his buddies...
I guess a revolver or pistol barrel would be the same.

Shore nuff looks like it from here.....


Su Amigo,
Dave

 

[diamonback68]

Agree with Dr. Pig. It's oxidized lead and just needs a good cleaning.

 

[H Richard]

From what I can see, it isn't leaded up. It very possibly could be hard chrome lined. If, when new it did lead up badly, and he had access to someone who could do it, it would have been one solution to his leading problem. I've seen worse things done for smaller reasons before!

 

[jaymoore]

Agree with Dr. Pig. It's oxidized lead and just needs a good cleaning.

Trust me, I've cleaned it more than once over the past 20+ years! Mostly after shooting it.

But it wasn't real clean when these photos were started. Here's some fouing left after a few jacketed rounds:

 

[keith44spl]

Wells,

I had a Model 53 - .22 Jet hard chromed inside and out....

The hard chrome made the copper fouling easier to clean out and the chromed chambers helped
eliminate that pesky cartridge case backin' up problem.


Su Amigo,
Dave

 

[jaymoore]

And here's some gunk in the cylinder after some unsatisfactory lead bullets for comparison:

Yuck! But comes out easily enough.

 

[S&W ucla]

You should letter it. It looks right as a factory 4" 5-screw. They are quite valuable. Much more than a 6.5" if factory original. Neat gun regardless of the bore being chromed or not.

 

[Photog]

I have a pre 64 M70 in 375 H&H that was sent, "in the white" to Marker Machine Company in the late 50's. They black chromed the action and barrel, and hard chromed the bolt and bore. I have all the correspondence from him to and from both Winchester and MMC detailing what was to be done. Great shooter and easy to clean.

 

[2152hq]

Touch a bit of cold blue (on the tip of a toothpick is good) to the bore itself.

If it's chrome plated,,it won't take at all. If it's just in the white, or a combination of lead burnished out over polished steel, ect,,it'll still take the blue.

 

[jaymoore]

Touch a bit of cold blue (on the tip of a toothpick is good) to the bore itself.

If it's chrome plated,,it won't take at all. If it's just in the white, or a combination of lead burnished out over polished steel, ect,,it'll still take the blue.

Well, I could... But would it prove anything to the doubters without them being there in person during the test? There's no question in my mind that it's been plated.

It's just odd.

A bit of overrun where the masking was away from the exact edge of the rifling on the upper portion of the photo:

And another shot at random:

BTW, I misremembered- The first .44 Special I purchased was a new Lew Horton 3" Model 24. About two-three years previous to this revolver, thereabouts. Got it with a Smith & Wesson left hand holster when I ordered it through my FFL dealer. The 24 has been used and carried a lot! The holster not hardly at all.

 

[CptCurl]

That's a neat gun. Obvious to me it's no lead fouling in the bore as the bore is spotlessly clean. How does the forcing cone look?

 

[jaymoore]

How does the forcing cone look?

Well, that area was even harder to shoot with my wee camera of frustration. No manual focus kinda thingie. So, by the time I'd cleaned it, I didn't bother trying more- So far! Let's see what DID make it to the album...

That's about the best I could do at the time. Too washed out to show proper colors. But the machine marks in the grooves are visible, so there's not much lead except in the forcing cone. I might try again at some point. But don't hold your breath and expect immediate results!

 

[CptCurl]

Looks like chrome to me.

 

[jaymoore]

Touch a bit of cold blue (on the tip of a toothpick is good) to the bore itself.

If it's chrome plated,,it won't take at all. If it's just in the white, or a combination of lead burnished out over polished steel, ect,,it'll still take the blue.

Oh, just as an aside for anyone that might ever want to check for chrome plating on carbon steel, this is a perfectly viable inspection method, providing the metal is oil free. When I was running jig grinders and such, we would often use a "mysterious" blue fluid called "chrome check" to see if the OD or bore had been cut back to parent metal during pre-machining in preparation for a new application of chrome on bearing journals, etc. The fluid smelled amazingly like cold blue...Probably cost four times as much, though as it had to be FAA approved.

There's also magnetic coating thickness checkers and other methods for magnetic alloys. Non-magnetics usually rely on Mk.I eyeball inspection to see if the chrome is all gone, so I have some experience there, too.

ETA: Since this seems to be a photo thread, here's the 4 incher's brother on steroids:

Rather more recent aquisition, but there's nothing much odd about it. Just another boring old five screw. With a letter, BTW. It's "more experienced" than it's lightweight brother, but that's fine with me!

 

[410bore]

Oh, just as an aside for anyone that might ever want to check for chrome plating on carbon steel, this is a perfectly viable inspection method, providing the metal is oil free. When I was running jig grinders and such, we would often use a "mysterious" blue fluid called "chrome check" to see if the OD or bore had been cut back to parent metal during pre-machining in preparation for a new application of chrome on bearing journals, etc. The fluid smelled amazingly like cold blue...Probably cost four times as much, though as it had to be FAA approved.

There's also magnetic coating thickness checkers and other methods for magnetic alloys. Non-magnetics usually rely on Mk.I eyeball inspection to see if the chrome is all gone, so I have some experience there, too.

ETA: Since this seems to be a photo thread, here's the 4 incher's brother on steroids:

Rather more recent aquisition, but there's nothing much odd about it. Just another boring old five screw. With a letter, BTW. It's "more experienced" than it's lightweight brother, but that's fine with me!

nice 5 screw 4"...when did it ship? Did you or the previous owner swap out the hammer and trigger?

 

[kcwheel]

I have seen a 4" pre model 24 that looked exactly like that. It was in as new condition with no obvious signs of firing. This revolver shipped to Rex Firearms in New York City in 1955, carrying serial number S100xxx. The frosty appearance visible in the muzzle did not show in the breech end of the barrel. Under good light, it looked like it ended about 3/4" back from the muzzle. It did look like either very fine sand blasting or perhaps chemical etching. So there were at least two like that, something to ponder.

Ken

 

[Jim Watson]

I am thinking along with photog #10.
I remember Col Charles Askins and others plugging the Marker Machine Co. and their chrome plating work in the 1960s. I wonder why nobody does aftermarket chrome bores any more.

 

[jaymoore]

I am thinking along with photog #10.
I remember Col Charles Askins and others plugging the Marker Machine Co. and their chrome plating work in the 1960s. I wonder why nobody does aftermarket chrome bores any more.

Possibly because it's easier to do the whole thing? No worries about incomplete masking, etc. I remember that Metalife and Armaloy were big firearms "hard chrome" plating concerns in the '80s. Metalife I thought looked more like a stainless S&W looking finish and Armaloy did a matte finish sort of like the chrome plating on S&W hammers and triggers in stainless revolvers.

Could be your friendly EPA, et al. have run most of these shops out of business?