God help me! I just ruined my new Uberti 1851 Navy

J

Jay27

Inactive
Oh man! I am so heart broken....Got my brand new Uberti 1851 Navy and took it out to shoot today. It shot fantastic. The beauty of it was so gorgeous.

I took it home to clean it. I used boiling water, dish soap, a splash of murphys oil soap and a splash of vinegar. The finish is now gone.....The bluing is toast and so is the case hardened. I'm sick to my stomach. I don't even want the thing anymore its so ugly. I don't know what to do. I am so mad and upset I even went out to get a pack of smokes and want to hit the bottle...

Maybe I should just brown it? Try to reblue it?

I want to quit shooting for the rest of the year as punishment. Im just sick.
 
Cerekote it. In bright pink:o

A pic might help. If you look at many/ most of the original guns from the 1800's they have very little finish left on them. In many ways having the finish gone helps make it look original.
 
#1 vinegar s the best thing to remove blue- andI did it to y Uberti '51 on purpose

#2 s you use and shoot your revolver, it's going to get dinged - in the field during he Civilwar, revolver ws subject to many things that would quickly affect the finish - snow, rain, humidity, etc. - I know you liked the way it looked, but it will still shoot just the way you want it to and you'l enjoy it

I have antiqued a number of C & B through the years - on my Uberti '41, I stripped it and browned it with plum brown - washing to put wear on the high spots, etc. but I liked it browned so much, I put left it that way - the browning will get wear to it just as much as the blueing would have and that's fine with me.

Sorry for what happened to yours but look at it as a "learning experience" and move on and just enjoy it. You have the options of blueing, browning or just leaving it bare and letting it age with use. You didn't "ruin" it - you gave it "character".
 
Ceracoat it ?

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Polish the brass --

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If you want a finish verses letting a patina a build on its own, rust blue it. Go pick up a bottle of Mark Lee Express blue. Easy to use and you get very nice results if you take your time with the prep. I've slow rust blued a number of rifles and hand guns but the Mark Lee is much faster. Ends up with a nice dark blue finish
 
I have to ask, where did you get the idea of using vinegar? Warm water and a little dish soap will do just fine.
 
This can serve as a lesson for all the concoctions that people dream up for cleaning black powder. It isn’t that hard, water with a dab of soap, dry then oil! Safe and effective.
 
I've never read anywhere to use vinegar to clean black powder guns. What I do (when I remember to do it) is spray the bore, cylinder/chambers down with Ballistol at the range immediately after finishing shooting, then go home and clean do a proper clean.
 
I have admired a few “antiqued” models on these forums. I’ve been thinking that I might want to learn how to do that antiquing and give one of mine a face lift. Although none of mine show great wear that needs addressed.
 
It's the vinegar that stripped the bluing. Strips whatever it is Ruger uses on GP 100's(bluing it ain't. More like paint.) too. Did it to mine with home made, vinegar based, leather dye when I wet formed a holster.
"...so is the case hardened..." Not if it was real. Case hardening is literally the metal hardened to about 50 thou into the steel. It doesn't wear off.
Your options are rebluing by a $mithy. Or cold bluing(Birchwood Casey makes a Cold Browning and a faux colour case hardening(in a kit $30.51US on Amazon) product too. Don't think U.S. Civil War kit was browned though.) the whole thing. Even though cold bluing isn't made for whole firearms and doesn't provide much protection, it's better than bare steel.
Keep in mind you need to refinish the insides of the frame(assuming it's steel) and its internal parts too.
"...just leaving it bare and letting it age with use..." That equals rusting.
Ceracoat or Duracoat certainly are options. Don't think either is cheap though.
 
"...just leaving it bare and letting it age with use..." That equals rusting.
Click to expand...
No. Countless Civil War Springfields -- left finished in the white -- still exist/are used by N-SSA shooters. My own 156-year old`63 Colt's Special contract is one.

Shoot/clean/wipe it down w/CLP and/or silicone cloth like you would any other blued firearm and it will grow old gracefully just fine.
 
so is the case hardened..." Not if it was real.
Click to expand...

Case hardening on Italian guns and Rugers is an acid wash. Real case hardening will fade in time and exposure to sunlight and will eventually patina to the same color as the rest of the gun.
 
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