Tease of a 19-3...

[glshuck]

Late night gunbroker acquisition came in yesterday. It is almost perfect except...

I knew the spot on the barrel was there when I bought it. I didn't pay much for it, as I was just buying it as a shooter. I expected there to be a few other issues here and there, but there isnt. It's almost unfortunate the rest of it ended up being so nice as now the pitting on the barrel bothers me more than had the rest of the gun been in shooter condition.

I've been trying to touch it up with cold blue, and filed/sanded most of the pitting out. I think I can get the rest of it out without having to feather it out any more than I already have, but I can't get it to take cold blue very well. It isn't coming out nearly dark enough. Anybody have any tips? I think I have realistic expectations for how well I'd be able to touch it up, but we're not even close at this point.

If its a pipe dream to get it looking half decent with cold blue, does anybody have recommendations and/or guess on cost to send out the barrel for rebluing? The rest of the gun is nearly perfect and it might be worth it.

Thanks,
Garrett

 

[SmithNut]

Nice gun.
You could always make it into a 5" barrel.
Would be pretty cool, the lettering on the barrel looks to be off center a bit towards the cylinder.
An inch off would make it a bit handier.....
Just sayin....

 

[gmborkovic]

Dont loose any sleep over it. It will be a great carry/shooter gun.

 

[glshuck]

Nice gun.
You could always make it into a 5" barrel.
Would be pretty cool, the lettering on the barrel looks to be off center a bit towards the cylinder.
An inch off would make it a bit handier.....
Just sayin....

Not a bad thought. Wouldn't you still have to deal with finishing the end of the barrel though? I assume the front sight is soldered?

I considered trying to find another barrel, but I think the odds of finding one in perfect shape is not high.

 

[glshuck]

Dont loose any sleep over it. It will be a great carry/shooter gun.

If I could get the cold blue to look even half decent, I wouldn't care, but its not even close to close.

 

[IraIII]

Clean it very well with alcohol, or acetone first. Then heat the area with a hair dryer, then apply the cold blue, card between coats of bluing with heating before applying bluing. When done after last coat clean with heavy coat of oil to stop bluing process. I prefer Van’s liquid bluing it works well for me. Here is a link to Van’s gun bluing
How to Blue — Van's Instant Gun Blue

 

[22hipower]

I considered trying to find another barrel, but I think the odds of finding one in perfect shape is not high.

Barrels turn up on eBay and elsewhere more often than we might expect. I bought a S serial numbered 27-2 with a 4.5 inch barrel last year (one of those two item auctions where you have to take both to get the one you want), and no, S&W didn't make any of those for the 27s. The cut one bothered me and I thought I'd just sell it but a 4 inch barrel turned up on eBay at reasonable cost and for $100 I had it fitted to the 27-2.

I think it turned out ok.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

https://flic.kr/p/2qqFEN7 https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934231@N03/

https://flic.kr/p/2qZTdnK https://www.flickr.com/photos/brushypondranch/

 

[TJm15.38]

Looks like someone may have stored it improperly; maybe in a leather holster subjected to high humdity or moisture. Except for that one spot, the gun looks perfect. It should be a great shooter.
I would love to have one like that. Congratulations!

 

[Baxter6551]

Post #6 is right on from what I’ve learned especially heating the metal.

 

[gmborkovic]

Birchwood-Casey made a fortune selling those little blue jars of cold blue.
You could do pretty good doing screws but areas on frames and barrels
did not blend in well with existing blue. If it bugs you, sell it down the road.

 

[stansdds]

The pitting on the barrel certainly won't affect it's accuracy, just a cosmetic issue. If it really, really bothers you, a good gunsmith could shorten it to 5 inches or you might get lucky and find a really nice condition replacement barrel. Otherwise, enjoy it for what it is, a nice shooter.

 

[glshuck]

The pitting on the barrel certainly won't affect it's accuracy, just a cosmetic issue. If it really, really bothers you, a good gunsmith could shorten it to 5 inches or you might get lucky and find a really nice condition replacement barrel. Otherwise, enjoy it for what it is, a nice shooter.

Well, I bought it as a shooter and I suppose it's silly of me to be mad about the rest of the gun being nicer than I expected. I'm not in it very much money. I like fooling around working on these guns, so we'll see what I can come up with.

 

[weatherby]

I've heard of micro welding.

 

[LittleAugieMo]

You wanted a "shooter" and liked this one enough to buy it,so why not go "all in" and make it yours by shortning the bbl? Use the front sights on it or if you prefer another style....well nows the time ! Think you did good!

 

[jimmyj]

You might want to consider "Brownells Oxpro Blue".
I have had success with this.

 

[Model29-26.5]

Always get another barrel, too

 

[glshuck]

I have tried oxpho blue, perma blue, and 44/40. I ended up using the perma blue. It looks better than the pitting did, but it's still motivating to look for a fix. I can spend a few hundred dollars here and still be in at a good price on it if I wanted.

The impulsive side of me is wondering how hard it would be to pinto. If I can find a cylinder with the original hand that it was paired with, how unreasonable is that idea?

 

[Gun Relics]

If I could get the cold blue to look even half decent, I wouldn't care, but its not even close to close.

What's sad is the finish on the rest of the gun is so nice - it's a beauty.

Basically, you can't just color the pitted metal and expect to have good results.

Before attempting something like this, i recommend practicing refinishing on a beat up gun or even just a cylinder, just to see how these things work. Watch a couple of you tube videos. Successfully touching up a spot is less work but more difficult to pull off than a complete refinish.

Blue doesn't cover or hide anything, it's basically just a surface tint. The trick is the metal has to be perfectly smooth. It needs to be sanded and polished to a mirror finish to match the rest of the gun. Any imperfections will show through. A dremel tool with fine sanding and polishing heads will make short work of this spot.

Once the spot is smooth and shiny, clean with alcohol and I recommend first trying Super Blue. Let the blue go on for a minute and wipe off then neutralize with water. Keep doing this until you get a proper color. You can try different solutions. Oxypho Blue will work better with some metals but my experience is it doesn't get dark enough. Once the spot is dark enough, neutralize with water and blend the edges onto the factory surface with oil and 0000 steel wool, overlapping a little bit onto the factory blue. You may have to repeat the process, alcohol, blue, blend, repeat until you get the proper color.

Water neutralization is important because the cold blue will attack the factory blue surface if left on too long and cause it to dull. Leaving blue on a long time doesn't help. What helps is repeat coats and having a mirror like metal surface to begin with.

Below is a Highway Patrolman project I did. The finish was pretty beat up but the imprints were crisp. The metal was left in "satin" which was the original finish.

 

[boykinlp]

Just always leave it “show” side up. If someone asks to see it, hold it so they can only see the “show” side. Seriously, the “show” side is spectacular!
Larry

 

[jimmyj]

Consider sending it to "Fords" for a complete refinish or selling it and purchasing one that is "Collectors Grade".