Maintaining a Nickle Finish

Never use any metal polish no matter how mild it says it is, unless you absolutely have no choice.
ALL metal polishes are abrasive and each use removes a thin layer of plating.
Use too often or just rub a little too hard and you can go right through it.

A good product to preserve and protect the finish is a good NON-AUTO wax.
Johnson's Paste Wax or the high grade Renaissance Museum wax is perfect.

To store, the best place is on a shelf where air is free to circulate around it.
A gun safe with a dehumidifier is perfect, or just a cabinet of some sort.
Worse places to store: In a closet, in a fleece, cloth, or foam lined case, in a holster, or in a Styrofoam box.
 
Dfariswheel - thanks for the advice. Gun happens to be a NIB 1954 mfg. Colt Government model. It's a really beautiful piece and I want to maintain it as such. Currently it is wrapped in the heavy wax paper that Colt used and in it's cardboard box. I use the Renaissance Wax on my blued models so I'm GTG there. If I wax it, in your opinion, would it be o.k. to place it in a unsealed plastic bag to set it in my gun safe. My safe has carpet covered shelves, but I would feel better about having something between the gun and the shelf.

Thanks again,

Bob
 
Don't put it in a plastic bag. You can buy gun preservative-treated bags from Brownells if you feel a need to bag it.
 
It also depends on what they used as the base for the nickel finish. Cheaper nickel finishes often have a copper base. This can react with certain things (and certain peoples' perspiration) and cause rapid degradation and blackening. That's what happened to my Rock Island Armory 1911; my sweat was destroying it (RIA customer service gave me a new one for free in my choice of finish). A high-quality nickel finish is one of the most durable finishes out there, on the other hand.
 
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