So........tell me about refinishing.

Hun Shooter that Hi Power looks really good. I have also heard good things about Brownell's Oxpho-blue. Been thinking about trying it on an old Colt Woodsman I picked up several months ago. Don't freak out about a home reblue of a Woodsman. I probably paid too much for it in the shape it is in. Mechanically perfect, but the frame and slide have very little if any finish. However the barrel is about 80-90%. Guessing it is maybe a replacement. The gun shoots great, but somebody has taken a wire brush, or steel wool to the frame. Most of the markings are quite faint. With a magnifying glass, and some imagination you can see the Colt horse. Thinking most of any collector value is already long gone. But it is a great shooter, and a low cost home blue would make it look a little better. If the barrel were the same patina, and scrubbed finish as the rest of it I probably wouldn't bother. But it looks pretty silly as is.
 
Cheapshooter, your post about the Hi Points made me laugh out loud, literally. I mean, back in the day you could get what was called Rolls Royce and Continental kits for the Volkswagon Bug, so why not splurge a little on yer 2x4 pistol? :D

Seriously, the idea of value never entered my mind. Really what I was thinking about is what this BT is gonna look like after 5, 10, and maybe longer years of being carried, if just one year has produced the wear it has. I thought these aftermarket products could prevent that from happening, but since it doesn't really do that I will save my money for something else, like another cheap 380 maybe. LOL
 
SonOfScubaDiver said:
Seriously, the idea of value never entered my mind. Really what I was thinking about is what this BT is gonna look like after 5, 10, and maybe longer years of being carried, if just one year has produced the wear it has. I thought these aftermarket products could prevent that from happening, but since it doesn't really do that I will save my money for something else, like another cheap 380 maybe. LOL
Click to expand...


Again, guns will wear with use... if you train with the gun, it will wear.

Something like NP3 or CPII, it will look like stainless... in regards to wear. The finish will not wear off with regular use. It will polish to an extent. It is a tougher finish than a lot of stock finishes, so holster wear will also be reduced (again, there will still be some... but not like taking a spray-on finish off after a few months).

If you look on GunBroker or other auction sites, try to find PA State Police Berettas, which were sold widely surplus, and have NP3 finish. That will give you some idea on how holster wear occurred with those finishes. Most I’ve seen are pretty good looking for police trade ins.

If you want a finish to look immaculate from your getting it back to 10 years from then... not going to happen if you shoot/carry the gun. If you don’t like the battle-worn finish, NP3 and similar platings are pretty good. Not going to say you won’t see wear, being it isn’t the case... but it will not be the type of wear you have issue with. Also, I’ll agree it isn’t an investment... unless you consider it for yourself. I traded my CPII plated .45 PX4 and a bunch of magazines, and it was the same as any other used PX4.

I’ll admit, I do like my guns looking good in the long haul. But my choices in finish really were decided on due to rust problems with certain guns or guns that I wanted added lubrication. Them holding up well over the years was an added benefit. While I have a few guns that are sentimental or collectible (take a little extra care for), most of them are just tools. My wrenches are rust free, but don’t look like they were just purchased.
 
As Denis says, commercial refinishing is expensive, even a nice paint job.
CCR would charge more than half the replacement cost of your Bersa.

I have seen a small shop and DIY jobs that came out OK, but I have seen some ugly messes, too.
 
"...destroy the resale value..." Applies to collector stuff and most milsurps, but not a Bersa Thunder or any Bersa. Or any commercial firearm be it a long gun or hand gun. The current condition matters too. Cheapshooter's Woodsman, for example, is already as bad as it can get cosmetically and isn't a collector piece. Refinishing it won't affect its value. Doing it to a vintage 1911 will.
Anyway, doing it requires a complete disassemble of the firearm. Mostly taking out all the springs and plugging the barrel. And cylinders on a revolver.
I'd think in terms on industrial hard chrome rather than any of the paint finishes. Or Cerakote that's literally thin ceramic. Industrial hard chrome lasts and polishes itself vs cracking or wearing off.
"...that Hi Power looks..." It's an FEG. Not that it matters.
"...kits for the Volkswagen Bug..." Kubelwagen/Thing. Be serious. snicker.
 
But Bill, I could do that chrome thing and bling it out to the max. If you bought it, you'd have the only one like it for miles and miles and miles around. :D
 
I probably wouldn't buy a Bersa, but I damned sure wouldn't buy a refinished one. I'm sure most buyers feel this way.
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I'm conflicted on this.

Case in point - I own a West German 1991-manufacture triple-serial SIG Sauer P226 that was an Israeli law enforcement pistol in its past life. I bought it cheap, and functionally it's perfect, but judging from it's looks, it has quite a few stories to tell. Like many folded-steel slide SIGs (which love to rust), there's pitting on it that will only get worse with time.

It's not a collector pistol by any means, and refinishing the slide with a modern finish like Cerakote will essentially stop any further deterioration.

It is truly worse to preserve the physical pistol itself over its history?
 
IMO, no. I also point out to people that while firearms may have history, few are part of history. Even West German SIGs, which I adore, were at the time mass production pistols. They were tools to the people that used them. I don't think the people that used them would see it as sacrilege to refinish a tool to keep it operational.
 
On a Bersa, no buyer down the line will give a flying phooey if it's been refinished or not.
It's a Bersa.
Refinish would neither add nor detract from any re-sale value.

No historicity, no collector value, no classic appeal.
It's a Bersa.

If you want to gold-plate it & put ivory panels on it, go for it.
If you want to let it acquire the marks that regular carry inevitably create on a gun, leave it alone.

Entirely up to you on what you want to spend on it.
Whichever, don't let any subsequent sale down the road affect your decision.

It's a Bersa.
You'll never get much out of it, doesn't matter.
Denis
 
I know this is a little late to post...I know a guy in Pennsylvania that you can ship your parts to and he reblues them. He’s done a Winchester 1897 for me and it turned out beautiful! Pretty darn cheap and he does an excellent job. He does hot tank bluing...none of that bake on or cold bluing hogwash. If you’re interested www.blackcote.com ::D
 
Perhaps all of you should read my original response again.
What I said was that refinishing his gun is not a good idea for several reasons.
I then explained that if he were to refinish it that rebluing and painting the gun were not good options, but if he were to refinish it, that upgraded finishes cost about the same as bluing and gun paint and made more sense.
 
Refinishing won't necessarily ruin the resale value of a gun, unless it's a collectible gun.

Refinishing may make help you sell a gun for more or a bit more quickly, but you'll almost NEVER recoup refinishing cost by getting a higher sale price. Refinishing is a lot like "action work" -- nice to have on a gun you're buying, but it may not be something you'll want to pay for.

There are times when refinishing makes sense, but it's often simply a matter of having a gun you really like but looks like crap; and you get it refinished so you can brag about it rather than hide it! :) People often do the same with their cars...

Here's a chart I pulled together some years ago about the various finishes, based on various magazine and gunsmithing articles. Higher scores say the finish is better.

I'm sure this can be updated, but it's generally still correct. Apparently, some of the spray-on/paint finishes depend as much on who does the work as the finish itself.

Finishes-1.gif
 
I recently purchased an old (1966) S&W model 15 which was down on it's luck. It had quite a bit of surface rust with light pitting. The rest if it was in very good shape. I refurbished it knowing full well that it would destroy any collector value. Fortunately, I'm not a gun collector.

Before with lovely patina


After..fairly presentable. Sadly, stripped of any collector value. Rust Blue


Opps Semi-Auto forum..... sorry.

How's this for a Rust Blued Semi-Auto
 
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Again- with a Bersa, there is not now & never will be ANY collector value, so that's a total non-issue in consideration of refinishing one.
Denis
 
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