Ruined 342ti ?

[K W C]

Have I killed my 342?
@ 10 yrs ago I bought a like new 342ti with the silver finish.
Shortly after , I got my chl. I custom ordered a leather pancake holster & began to carry. I did not realize these guns were so rare in numbers. I carried the gun every dat for 6yrs. The holster wore the finish off most of the gun & deeper in some areas.
Again not knowing the gun was rare , I had it duracoted.
Is there any chance S&W can restore this gun, or should I just keep using it?

 

[Sebago Son]

Duracoat ain't made to come off... I'd leave it and use it.

 

[Hapworth]

It's a working gun -- don't worry about Duracoating it. Carry it, shoot it and enjoy it.

 

[bombmaster]

Its a carry gun... Enjoy carrying a gun others leave abandoned in safes. I commend you.

 

[Rick_A]

I'm with the others. It has more value in something used daily than taking up space in the safe.

 

[winddummy]

Just shoot it

Firearms are designed to be shot and carried. A safe queen is about as useful as a hammer. I shoot all of my firearms regardless if they have value or are limited editions. If I just want to look at it I'll buy a painting.

 

[RonS]

It isn't ruined unless it doesn't work and can't be fixed. All you did is lower the collector value and make yourself an uncommon carry gun.

 

[kaaskop49]

There have been 2 recent 342 threads, folks having found minty or LNIB guns in LGS's. From the responses, it is interesting how many 342s can be found in the outside pockets of LEOs, most (if not all) of whom carry semi-autos as duty guns. This is what they were designed for!

OP, you carried the gun daily for 6 years. Bravo. You re-finished it. Bravo again. Now carry it for another 6 years. And then another 6. Let it keep you alive as it has done in the past.

 

[K W C]

Y'all have made me feel better about using the gun.
I'll just keep on carrying.

 

[snubbyfan]

OP, you carried the gun daily for 6 years. Bravo. You re-finished it. Bravo again. Now carry it for another 6 years. And then another 6. Let it keep you alive as it has done in the past.

Works for me.

 

[rmw]

Refinishing it in factory form just makes it refinished anyway, and it will never be as valuable if it were in original factory form, so just continue carrying it is my opinion.

 

[snowman.45]

I had a 342Ti a while back and traded it off for I don't remember what. I wish I still had it. I also had a 340 M&P I sold. Wish I still had it, too. I still have a 640 and a 340Sc that I did a similar refinish job to. I used KG Gunkote Titanium on it. It looks good and is pretty durable, but I'm about to strip it down and refinish it again due to a couple of areas of roughness caused by the operator not knowing how to use his airbrush properly. I also took out the lock and replaced it with The Plug. Then, just to make the recoil a little more bearable, I replaced the titanium cylinder with a stainless steel one.

As was said by others in this post, the gun was meant to shoot. If I still had my 342 and it was in need of a little sprucing up, I wouldn't hesitate to use one of the coating systems to make it look new (for a while, lol).

 

[demkofour]

There have been 2 recent 342 threads, folks having found minty or LNIB guns in LGS's. From the responses, it is interesting how many 342s can be found in the outside pockets of LEOs, most (if not all) of whom carry semi-autos as duty guns. This is what they were designed for!

OP, you carried the gun daily for 6 years. Bravo. You re-finished it. Bravo again. Now carry it for another 6 years. And then another 6. Let it keep you alive as it has done in the past.

I purchased my first 342Ti around 1990 (when they first appeared on the market). Throughout the years on duty it was carried either in an ankle holster in in the pocket of my BDUs. When it started to loose the clear coat on the high spots, I sent it to Birdsong and they did a marvelous job re-finishing the pistol in Black-T (except for the actual Ti parts.) Looks great and wears very well. It's on my ankle right now...