Bluing on a new revolver

[jeffrefrig]

You can cake all of the wax on there you want and all you'll end up with is shiny scratches.

"Shiny Scratches" by DeathGrip sounds like a cool song by an even cooler band! But you're right I'm sure!

 

[pantannojack]

I don't think Boogers are supposed to look like older Smiths.

 

[DWalt]

Regarding EPA, I can tell you how that works. There is an EPA regulation called the Clean Water Act (CWA). Its purpose is to keep as much pollution as possible out of "Waters of the U.S." which is rather broadly defined. The main activity regulated is wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), as they discharge mainly into "Waters of the U.S." i.e., rivers, streams, oceans lakes, etc. As a part of the CWA, Municipal (city, county, etc.) wastewater treatment plants (and even some private WWTPs) are required to permit industrial wastewater discharges into WWTPs. They are technically not EPA permits, but it amounts to the same thing. To do this, the CWA identifies several dozen industrial activities that require WWTP permits in order to discharge their industrial wastewaters. Those are called "Categorical Activities". One of the Categorical Activities is "Metal Finishing" which includes a large number of different metal finishing operations, one of which is oxide treatment (metal bluing). The consequence of any industry performing categorical activities is that they must obtain a pretreatment permit from the WWTP before they can discharge industrial wastewaters to it. And in order to obtain such a permit, the industrial facility must generally perform some type of industrial wastewater treatment to reduce or eliminate wastewater toxicity, which, depending upon the specific wastewater, can be simple or very complicated, according to the requirements of the WWTP pretreatment discharge permit. It's actually somewhat more complicated than that, but that is the general requirement . In brief, if an industry generates a categorical wastewater, it must be pre-treated to some specified purity level prior to discharging it under WWTP pretreatment permit into a Municipal WWTP. And that can be expensive if you generate a lot of bluing-related wastewater.

 

[Dhs The IV]

Ruger did release a GP100 in a high polish blue. It is significantly more expensive than a regular Ruger. I thought long and hard about buying one before I started buying S&W. I like the aesthetic of the S&W a lot more and I personally feel like they have better triggers. Rugers always felt more utilitarian, I am not impressed with their standard blue but it’s tough and does what it’s supposed to do. I haven’t handled the high polish one and I would want to before I plunk down the extra cash for one.

 

[Bullet Bob]

My new S&W Model 19 Classic has excellent bluing.

 

[jeffrefrig]

I thank all for the replies, and they are all making sense. I suppose you get what you pay for. Even if my gun was all shiny & smooth, it would still come home from the range, get powder & bullet residue cleaned out of it, then locked up in the cabinet until next paper-killing adventure. I shot it and several others yesterday and it shoots better than I can hold it, and rested I have it dialed in pretty darned close to stop the paper from getting me from 25 yards away. Can't ask for much more for $750 or so new. Heck, I recently paid 5 bills for a model 15-3 that's about 47 years old. It's shiny, but I'm slowly working on getting it dialed in. It would be more fun if I lived out where I can shoot on my property, but all I have is time now with work being a thing of my past. Along with shiny new guns! Thank you all. (I didn't say yinz!)

 

[gwpercle]

The kind of blue finish you want can no longer be provided by a factory.
Too much skilled labor required and real bluing solutions are probably considered hazardous .
Only a company that specializes in refinishing and restoration can do this type work . Do a search on Custom Gun Bluing and several companies will be found .
Gary

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

The only way to get a shiny, polished blue finish is to strip the old blueing, then polish the metal to the desired level of smoothness/shine, then re-blue. Other than a few special runs of stainless revolvers, Ruger does not make highly polished firearms, they also don't have the price tag of a highly polished firearm.

Ruger does make highly polished firearms. My stainless vaquaro shines like a mirror.

 

[jeffrefrig]

I suppose this is a related question: Are the new Classic series S&Ws' bluing any better than, for example, the finish on the Ruger I originally started the thread on? I've only seen pictures. I believe there was an article not too long ago in one of the NRA magazines, but I don't remember them talking about the finish. They may have, I just don't remember. Couple months ago I was looking to buy one, basically window shopping in the S&W revolver site, hoping to find one that caught my eye. The lock would not bother me, nor would any changes to the innards. I just didn't pay attention to the finish, only the numbers after the $ sign, which weren't too outrageous.