Reblueing after revolver was Cerakted?

[Critch]

I bought a S&W K-frame 15-4 that has been Cerakoted (or one fo those coatings). It looks like parkerizing and it doesn't look bad, however, I would like it returned to the original blue if possible.

Anyone have any experience doing this? There are a number of gunsmiths I know that do bluing, but I don't want the gun to be altered anymore than it already has been.

Also, the blade sight on the rear has a bad nick in it from a previous owner damaging it, is that blade hard to change out?

 

[epj]

The blade is not hard to change. You get a kit that includes the screw and nut which has to be replaced. Believe it may include abstaining tool as well. Midway has a video on how to do it. About a 10-15 minute job.
Hope your refinish turns out ok.

 

[tlay]

If you are going to refinish your gun and blue it you had better hope it is parkerized. Whatever coating is on it has to be taken down to bare metal. This is where most of the money goes towards a refinish, the metal work and polishing. I am not familiar with that coating and how hard it is to remove but you will have a lot of money tied up in it to reblue it. Maybe you might want to leave it as is.

 

[GunarSailors]

I did it, and am glad I did.
Daves Gunsmithing-S&W Mod 15 reblue... | The Outdoors Trader

 

[2152hq]

Particle blasting w/ glass beads will remove most any of the bake-on coatings and leave the bare metal with a matte finish.
There are different size glass beads used to get different effects to the metal. Some(most) shops use one-size-fits-all bead size as it's expensive and time consuming to change over the blasting unit each time. Bead sizes are usually refered to as 'mesh sizes.

Do not 'sand blast'..it is much too coarse for this and not needed.
It will only add to the labor needed to polish out the metal afterwards.
Plus sand blasting can very quickly erase markings and alter edges and contours on the parts when done by unexperienced hands.

Completely disassemble when doing a refinishing job.
I even take the bbl off on a revolver no matter if it's getting a hot blue or a rust blue job.
There's old oil and crud in the threads that can spoil the new bluing job and it's a good place for hot blue salts to hide and creep (weep) out later as a white colored bloom of salt and spoil the job too.

With no further polishing after the glass bead blasting, a hot bluing will result in a very attractive but matted look.
Or the metal can be polished to any degree from that point to the customers liking.
The bead blasted matte finish look can be left on the top and bottom edges of the gun,, and the sides only brightly polished for a slightly different look. Some factory handguns are finished up like that.

As already stated,,the bluing is the easier part of the process. The polishing requires the most care and skill.
Though a person doing the hot bluing not watching what they're doing can spoil an otherwise nice looking job too.

Good luck with your project!.