What is the finish on this 1905 Military & Police?

[OLDFED]

Brown Bar Gun?

Jamaican Bar Rum! Take a 12 oz. glass filled with rum, dip a bar rag in and rub on gun. Drink remaining rum. Do this every day for 100 years and get a brown gun.

 

[max503]

I vote that it's not copper. Copper turns green with age.

Lots of metal shops in St. Louis back in the day. My guess is someone plated it. They worked in a metal shop and threw it in with the pots and pans, or whatever else they were plating.

I powder coated a single shot shotgun barrel when I worked in a PC shop.

 

[jmpishnery]

I think what you are seeing is what is left of the original blue finish.

 

[nitrofix]

Try licking it. Maybe some Seagram's 7 spilled on it.

 

[CMudrock]

You guys dont think that maybe living under the bar for decades turned the blue to brown. Think cleaning chemicals and moisture And maybe smoke? I guess the grip frame mightn't be affected by that....unusual for sure.

Robert

Looks like some woodworking machinery I protected with WD-40
- Before I knew better (big mistake).

 

[Old_Cop]

I like it and the story. Leave it alone.

 

[Hondo44]

I'll say upfront I don't know what the finish is.

But after reading handejector's thorough analysis, and studying the photos, I believe it is plated probably with nickel or something akin to nickel. And either, most likely, the nickel bath was tinted with blue or some other close color that didn't work well. Or less likely, was put in a bluing tank after plating but didn't take well at all or didn't stand up to cleaning.

And the gun was shot a lot but the front of the cyl and barrel throat area were never cleaned. It would be interesting to see how well that area could be cleaned up with a good scrubbing. Maybe the same finish as the exterior of the gun would be revealed.

I think the extractor acorn knob is a new part replacement that is factory blued. Or the knob, not being plated, took the bluing very well in my 2nd scenario above.

Just my speculation that's no better than anyone else's.

 

[Cleandean]

I would vote for a bronze finish by electroplating. The turn ring has been filled in … and paint from a spray can would not hold up to that. So although it looks like metallic spray paint it is too even for that . Why bronze ? Maybe to match the other vintage hardware around the sink and beer tap system behind the bar.

While I owned my Tavern … I kept a SS . Mod 67 behind the bar . During most of my 14 years had that gun stashed where I could get it quick.

 

[Modified]

I'm not sure what it is but I'm pretty certain that color is the result of something someone was using to clean the gun.

My registered magnum doesn't have the same uniformity of that color, but it has had (I believe) the same stuff applied to it to make it go all olive green like that.

My Beater Registered Magnum - Done!

Bunch of picture in there.

I don't think I have any really good pictures though that adequately portray that green color like your gun. Also I don't know that my gun was ever nickel. I do know that over the years, after owning and handling a lot of "beaters", I came to realize that this green color was something that was done (probably accidently) to more guns then you might expect.

In the case of your gun, I might go so far as to say whatever this stuff is that got used on the gun borked part of the finish really good, and the owner just figured they would do it to the whole gun to make it uniform.

 

[mikepriwer]

I've red-outlined two areas on this gun, in the following image.

These outlined areas appear, to me, to have a greenish tint, or color. It looks like copper that has oxidized. Perhaps these areas were not protected, as the rest of the gun has some kind of shiny coating that is perhaps a protecting layer.

Regards, Mike Priwer