Hate the billboard on the GP-100 barrel? Sand it off. Pics...

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DHart

New member
About the only thing I didn't like about my GP-100's was the fricken "Read the instruction manual" wording on the left side of the barrel... even the GP-100 logo on the right side of the barrel is a bit much for my taste. I finally got fed up with the look, figured what the hell, and decided to dive headlong into my stainless 3" GP-100 and erradicate all that wording for ever. Several hours of work with a Dremel, some 150 grit sandpaper, and some Flitz and this is how the beauty looks now. The pics don't show it at all, but I polished the gun to gleam almost as brightly as high polished nickel... feels amazingly smooth now and I love how it looks. Too bad Ruger doesn't make them like this, crisp and clean, with reduced power mainspring and trigger return spring... a very sweet spot for a revolver.

KGPF331_L.jpg


KGPF331_R.jpg


KGPF331_LF.jpg


BILLBOARD BE GONE~!!! Gotta say, as much of a Smith freak as I am, I LOVE this gun!

NEXT: re-sculpt and polish the trigger.
 
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DHart

What type of bit did you use on the dremel tool. By the way, you did a real good job. Looks nice.
 
Great job now if you would just get rid of those :barf: ugly grips.The first thing on my rugers that goes are the grips.To me they just look cheap :eek:
 
That is SERIOUS Dremel artwork. You did a nice job on what has become a beautiful revolver, DHart. You need to work at least part-time for a gunsmith if you aren't already.

Excellent job and you should strut a little.

Rabbi
 
Wow, great job DHart. I've thought of taking some stainless welding rod & filling in the lettering. Then sanding it smooth. However it might affect the heat treatment. You've gotten around that problem, although with a lot of work.

That's now a fine looking revolver.
 
A word of warning.

Depending on the jurisdiction, altering the warnings engraved on the gun may be illegal!!

Who knows what certain states have on their books!!
 
P.S . Id rather see the ugly warning mark on the barrel than a useless annoying lock in the frame. but I wont hijack or start that tired thread topic again. :)
 
Beautiful job. I'm sure Masaad Ayoob would not like what you have done because he spends most of his time worring about the Law-yas. Fleiger
 
Pretty. I'll be picking one of these up as soon as I find a decent price, but I wouldn't dare to try it. Not worried about lawyers or liability, but my major concern is messing up that gun!
 
I am most impressed

Never saw a Ruger look so good, you got more (you know what) than I do for taking the chance, but it was well worth it.
Its the one thing that I hate about rugers, we call it the
"gettesburg address" on the side of the barrel
 
Thanks for appreciating the "new look". Not the least bit worried about the legal concerns. All the removed wording says is "before using gun read the instruction manual." No big deal. Life's too short to worry about that.

For those who are interested, I used the little sanding "drum" on the dremel... pretty coarse grade... next gun I might use a somewhat finer grade. Make sure the dremel never stays still... constantly move it back and forth along the length of the barrel. Work carefully. Not hard to do, just use good care. Work to maintain the curvature of the barrel - or, another cool option, create a "slab side"! Then sand by hand with 150 and 220 grit. Then use a ScotchBITE pad, finally polish with Flitz on cotton pads. About 4 hours. Looking at the barrel, you don't really see any evidence of removed metal... the lettering is not that deep! Not brain surgery by any means, but does require good care.
 
Dude, you have brass balls! I would never have the stones to "operate" on my guns. Looks smooth and sexy now, though....good job! :p
 
I don't really think it was all that gutsy, but I have several dozen handguns and have refinished a number of stainless guns, including the 3" GP-100. In fact, the 3" GP-100 was the handgun that first got me into refinishing stainless. When I bought it brand new, under the glass I found several pin point rust spots. So I started to do some research on what i could do to remove the rust. First the steel wool idea (NOT regular steel wool, as that would introduce carbon steel particles into the stainless that would rust). COuldn't find any stainless steel wool, so I turned to ScotchBITE pads. FOund they did an awesome job on stainless. THen I tried some Flitz to brighten up the ScotchBITE effect a little. Over time I used the ScotchBITE and FLitz routine on eight or nine new-to-me stainless S&W's that I bought used. Made them all look better than new. SO once I had that experience under my belt, I knew I could sand off the lettering and then just clean it up with sandpaper, ScotchBITE, and Fltiz. So really, it didn't take brass balls, just an ever increasing amount of experience in working with stainless finishing.

I found this 3" 66 in a pawnshop looking pretty used, dull, tired, and scuffed up, including one decent sized scratch. After my ScotchBITE and Flitz routine, look how it came out:

66-4_LF1583.jpg


66-4_L1574.jpg


66-4_RF1578.jpg


Once you've done this to a few used stainless guns, you can easily take on sanding down the lettering.

VFM... Yes, I COULD have removed the lettering with P-shop as I use P-Shop all day every day as a pro photographer! But this I did the old fashioned way... with elbow grease!
 
Mr. Hart...I know you could have used p-shop as we've discussed your photographic prowess several times. I just thought I'd tease you a little bit as you are the gun board's ace photographer as well as an accomplished stainless refinisher. The Smith looks nice too.
Good work!

Bob
 
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