Care and cleaning of a hard chromed handgun.

H

HoraceHogsnort

New member
Recently my Ruger Vaquero got the hard chrome treatment and I'm think'n that cleaning will involve a couple of blasts of break cleaner and a few shots of compressed air (except for the barrel, which will have a bit of solvent laden cleaning patch run through it). Is the hard chrome up to maintaining a gun with minimal cleaning? How about lube? I'm think'n to just pass on the lube altogether.
 
Clean and oil it like any other gun. The finish is very durable, but needs lubrication. A light coat of oil on the outside will insure corrosion can't take place.
 
Yes, properly applied hard chrome is very rust resistant.
If the plating has any flaws or thin spots (not unusual) the underlying metasl can rust. Why chance it? A light coat of oil will prevent it.
Lubricity is another matter. Chromed guns should be lubricated as any other gun.
 
Chroming carbon steel blades is a good idea. The edge will have the chrome abraded away.
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1950'ish switchblade knives were made this way - I've got one - chrome is still good on that part of the blade that hasn't been sharpened.
 
I have seen Indian and Spanish switchblades with nickel plated blades. I can't recall any chromed ones. Could you post a picture?
 
Bill, I'll try to post a picture of it in the next couple of weeks - it's an old Latama Italian switchblade - could use a little restoration, but it's no too bad. Bought it from a buddy of mine in the early '80's - I think his dad left it to him - I always felt a litte funny buying it from him since his dad didn't leave him with much but some not-so-nice memories. Maybe that's why he wanted to get rid of it.:confused:

Anyway, it's an interesting knife - I'll snap some pictures of it and post it, as long as the mods won't be too harsh on me.....It is gun related, because we are discussing chromed steel, right???
 
Right. But I can assure you that no Latamas were ever chromed.
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I think you're wrong - I'm fairly certain that my blade is chromed - not nickel, and it is an old Latama. I'll just have to snap a photo of it and let you look t it and see what you think.
 
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