Metal finishing on a bi-metal revolver ???

M

Magnum Wheel Man

New member
so I have a custom revolver it was built on a stainless Ruger Single 10 that I just couldn't make myself like... I converted it to an 8 shot 257 Special ( centerfire ) when the work was done, carbon steel was used for the barrel & new cylinder, & the finish of the carbon steel in the white, matched the stainless exactly... trouble is, it's not very corrosion resistant in the white, & I'm fighting finger prints & dusting of surface rust...

so to complete, I feel I need to finish the barrel & cylinder at minimum...

I'm wondering if I can nickel plate the barrel & cylinder in some form, that will match the stainless frame, or if I can nickel plate both the carbon steel & stainless to get a matching finish???

also considered blueing the barrel & cylinder & leaving the balance of the gun in stainless ( it's a single action, so the extractor tube is also stainless )

looking for suggestions here... duo color, or one color, & anyone in the know, that could recommend weather the nickel should be able to match the stainless??? & or if I'm assuming correctly, that I could nickel finish the stainless to match the carbon steel parts if they were nickeled at the same time...

the gun... right after it was completed...



Thanks
 
Plating stainless is rather tricky.
You could brush plate the carbon steel with nickel, but it will be yellower than the stainless parts. PM me, and I'll send you a source for brush plating gear.
A good commercial plater should be able to nickel or hard chrome the entire gun.
 
BILL thanks for the comments ( I had hoped you'd see this thread )... I honestly wouldn't want to try brush nickeling myself... right now anyway... & I'm aware of the slight color difference between nickel & stainless, so I'm most interested in either high polish blueing the barrel & cylinder, or plating the whole gun... I just wasn't sure how tough the stainless was to plate...

I'll be taking the gun to the finisher that blued my little spur trigger S&W, & likely they'll be doing the work... I'm just trying to get a feel for my options & pros & cons

is there one plating ( like hard Chrome for example ) that plates better on both metals, than others, or are they all similar, provided the proper prep work is done ???
 
Strangely, I have never tried to plate stainless so this is just a guess-
Once you get the plating to start on the stainless, they all should be the same. Industrial hard chrome is the toughest wearing plating.
 
Back in the 90's, S&W made some J frame 38's with Aluminum frames and stainless barrels and cylinders, in a natural finish.

They never really sold well because of the looks, to they took the leftovers at the factory, gave them a black finish, and called them "Model 042", which was never listed in their catalogs

I have one of them
 
received the gun back the other day... decided to high polish blue the barrel & cylinder, polish the stainless parts, & replace the factory grips with some black buffalo horn...

I don't know what I think of it yet... but MRS picked it out / noticed it immediately when walking in the gun room, with it on the wall with many others ( she doesn't often notice a new gun ) yet said this one looked distinctive...

hard to take pictures of highly polished guns, & I was trying to get a contrast between the polished black, & polished silver...

Thoughts ???

before...



after...



 
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