Refinish Mod 28, Beat Up Side Plate

[AccelR8]

Hi. First post here. I've been lurking for a while. I've been a shooter for years and bought my first Smith and Wesson, a Model 28-2 in 1978.

I acquired this 28-2 four inch recently. It looks like it's been shot very little and cleaned meticulously. The bore, forcing cone and cylinder all show zero fouling of any kind-lead, copper, whatever. They also show no visible wear. However the revolver has been carried a whole lot. The bluing shows heavy holster wear on the cylinder, front sides of the frame and end of the barrel. The end barrel actually has had some of the steel worn away by the holster. The front site is rounded off and shiny from wear. There is also some rust that got a start before someone cleaned it off.

I want to refinish it. The biggest problem here is the side plate. As the attached photo shows it has dents all over it. They are nearly as deep as the trade mark. I know side plates are fitted to frames but I figured I'd try my luck at getting a used one. The one I got was worse than the one on the gun! I really don't want to try ordering again. Even though I can return the part shipping can add up ordering and returning parts if they don't meet my objective not to mention creating headaches for the supplier. These are used parts after all.

I guess I'm hoping someone here will have a suggestion. I really would like the dents gone before rebluing. I think they are too deep to polish out as this would require the removal of too much material.

Also, should there be any objections to a rust blue finish on this gun?

Thanks in advance for your advice!
Don

 

[2152hq]

You can easily remove those without any concerns about taking too much material away and making the plate unsafe or too thin.
The factory (refinish) would take the dents and the emblem off and then re-roll the emblem.

When doing it yourself, either the emblem can be recut/engraved, removed entirely, or you can live with the somewhat polished out appearance of the emblem after the plate is done..

Careful hand polishing can limit the wear to the emblem area and still eliminate most of the dent damage. Remember for a rust blue there is no reason to go much higher than a 320/400 polish especially when trying to match the look of a M28 finish.

Rust bluing will look very nice on the revolver. M28's are finished in a satin/matt finish anyway and the rust bluing will match that quite closely.

 

[tennexplorer]

I would personally recommend sending it to S&W for refinishing.

 

[delta-419]

Does S&W still date stamp a refinish/repair?

 

[BruceM]

"Does S&W still date stamp a refinish/repair?"

No. They stopped using refinish/rebuild proof marks a long time ago.

Bruce

 

[AccelR8]

Thanks guys. I haven't decided how I'll handle this yet. A factory job just may be the way I go.

DOn

 

[bgrafsr]

My understanding is that S&W does not re do the stampings when refinishing a gun, so they would probably not re stamp the trademark.

 

[michael thornton]

try fords, they do some realy good work!

 

[cjw3]

try fords, they do some realy good work!

That's true, but plan on it being gone for a while.

They have had one of mine since December 1 and I was told today it would be "...a few more weeks..." before it was finished.

 

[MR. IHC]

i called smith and wesson today about refinishing my model 28-2 today actually, they said it would cost 190 plus shipping. the same area on mine is pitted badly, the guy on the phone said they would have to look at it first before they could say if it could be brought back to as new shape.