highpower3006
New member
This time a P220. I am a sucker for what I call orphan guns, you know, the ones that sit in the back of the bottom shelf because they are too ugly or beat up to attract much attention. The first thing I do at any LGS is to look at the used gun selection to see if there is anything that might interest me. In the case was this well-used P220 with just about as poor a paint job as I have ever seen. I mean really, if you are going to go through the effort to strip a gun down and refinish it, why not make an effort to do a nice job? Apparently that was too hard for whoever did this one as it kind of reminds me of the black paint that the British used on their FTR's after WWII.
Anyway, I have been kind of half-heartedly on the lookout for a German made P220 for a while now but am not interested enough to spend a lot of money on one. However at $359 with a couple of magazines, this one was as cheap as I have ever seen one and I decided to buy it. Looking beyond the terrible looking finish, mechanically it is in excellent condition with a perfect bore. I pretty much can't stand the Hogue grips that are on it and am not to wild about the rail, but the grips can be changed and perhaps the rail will grow on me.
I wish that pictures would adequately convey just how awful the paint job was on this poor gun, it really had it all, orange peel, runs and chips in the paint. I say was, because I couldn't stand it anymore and went out last night and got some cheap aluminum trays and a gallon of Lacquer thinner, dissembled the gun and threw it in a Lacquer thinner bath. It only took about ten minutes for the old paint to fall of and reveal the original finish underneath. Granted there is some holster wear on the slide, but in my mind some honest wear looks 100% better than the hideous paintjob. The Picasso that painted it didn't even bother to strip the frame before spraying as there was paint on the internals. After I cleaned the powder residue off the inside, lubed and reassembled, it is much smoother than before. I'm pretty happy with it.
After:
Anyway, I have been kind of half-heartedly on the lookout for a German made P220 for a while now but am not interested enough to spend a lot of money on one. However at $359 with a couple of magazines, this one was as cheap as I have ever seen one and I decided to buy it. Looking beyond the terrible looking finish, mechanically it is in excellent condition with a perfect bore. I pretty much can't stand the Hogue grips that are on it and am not to wild about the rail, but the grips can be changed and perhaps the rail will grow on me.
I wish that pictures would adequately convey just how awful the paint job was on this poor gun, it really had it all, orange peel, runs and chips in the paint. I say was, because I couldn't stand it anymore and went out last night and got some cheap aluminum trays and a gallon of Lacquer thinner, dissembled the gun and threw it in a Lacquer thinner bath. It only took about ten minutes for the old paint to fall of and reveal the original finish underneath. Granted there is some holster wear on the slide, but in my mind some honest wear looks 100% better than the hideous paintjob. The Picasso that painted it didn't even bother to strip the frame before spraying as there was paint on the internals. After I cleaned the powder residue off the inside, lubed and reassembled, it is much smoother than before. I'm pretty happy with it.
After: