Cost to reblue a Colt Detective Special?

M

Mikef262

New member
I have never had a gun reblued nor have I ever looked into it. I have a chance to buy a Colt Detective Special for $250. It has two problems though. One being the bluing is very worn on the barrel and cylinder and the other problem being the ejection rod cap is gone.
 
I'm not sure that I'd want to re-blue that gun. The ultimate cost might exceed the purchase price, plus the polishing and re-blue, if not done well, could detract from it's collector value.

As to the cap, you should be able to find a replacement without too much difficulty. Chances are, a Colt revolver "guy" will post and direct you to a source before the day is out.

C
 
If you are trying to restore the high polish blue that Colt put on the gun it's going to get expensive. If you just want a blue job for carry use I would look into a fine bead blast blue finish with no flaw removal or polishing to be done.
 
Not every second hand gun is a Valuable Collector's Item nor likely to become one in the lifetime of the present owner. I see nothing philosophically wrong with rebluing a worn Detective Special, there are enough excellent condition examples out there for the collectors.

But a nice job will eliminate the cost savings of buying second hand.
Depending on the polish, a good reblue will cost from $100 to over $200 and so will increase the total cost of this gun by 40-100%.
 
To re-blue or not depends on whether the added cost is worth it to you.
Nothing looks worse than a re-finish done by a ham-handed polisher, so you need to get it done by a real professional, not some local who only fires up the operation once a month or so.

The best source of a re-blue would be the Colt factory. They can restore the gun to look factory new and replace the ejector rod head.
I'd contact them for pricing:

http://www.coltsmfg.com/CustomerServices/RepairRefinish/FirearmRefinishing.aspx

If you decide to just get a replacement ejector rod head, you first need to know the era your Colt was made in.
Rod head threads and designs changed over the years.

You can date when your Colt was made by using Colt's new serial number look-up feature:

http://www.coltsmfg.com/CustomerServices/SerialNumberLookup.aspx
 
Thanks for the advice guys! I think I am going to go ahead and buy it. Another question. Have any of you guys tried the DIY reblue kits that they have for like $15 or so at gun shops? I just thought of that but not sure. I have never seen a great picture of the job they do. I spent alot of time today looking at youtube videos of them but none of them had to good of close ups of the job. Or they had close ups but the overall quality of the video was to bad too judge. Anyway here is acouple pics of the gun...
 

Attachments

  • 2973256_1.jpg
    2973256_1.jpg
    15.7 KB · Views: 142
  • 2973256_2.jpg
    2973256_2.jpg
    16.6 KB · Views: 107
The gun isn't that bad. It's just used. I would leave it alone. If you want a new gun, just buy one. As you can see, even good bluing is not particularly durable.
The DIY reblue kits are junk, they are for touch-up bluing only-regardless of what they say on the packaging. The finish is not durable at all, promotes rust, and looks terrible. Of course you will find people who tell you they know the "secret" to applying cold blue. Don't believe them.
If you are going to refinish the gun, use a professional refinisher and do an upgraded finish like nickel or industrial hard chrome.
 
Thanks for the advice Bill. That was another idea I was tossing around, sending it to get nickel plated. Would you pay $250 for it even with the missing part?
 
If the missing part is readily available at a reasonable price and it restores it to good working order and good mechanical condition and it has some wear on the blue. I would buy that for $250.00.

What part are we talking about?

I bought some used S&W Revolvers that there are lots of with some wear on the blue. Had em parkerized instead of bluing.
 
I would check Numrich for the parts you need. They have a very good enventory of parts for most weapons.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top