aging Steel on replica revolver

[joebiplane]

I just purchased a 40 year old Navy Arms (Uberti) replica of an 1875 Remington " new Improved army" cartridge revolver.
the pistol has a lot of the bluing worn off the grip area but the barrel and ejector are not so bad. the receiver is CCH and decent.

I wish to make the pistol look more like it was made 100 years earlier than it was. If possible, I would also like to make the stamped " Navy Arms, Ridgefield, New Jersey " GO AWAY. what's the best method....fill in stamping with tig ? or silver solder and smooth out before " aging" metal ? what is the best way to do the aging process. Bleach, vinegar, salt brine?
I need advice fro one of you master gunsmiths. I don't want to ruin the barrel and ejector so I only get one shot at this

Thanks
joe

 

[george wilson]

I would not fill in the lettering with silver solder as the lettering will then appear in silver. I haven't tried welding over letters,but unless the welding metal is pretty much the same alloy as the barrel,the "ghosts" of the lettering might show as different color steel after you file it off,so be careful. If I wanted to do any welding on the barrel,I'd fill the bore with something to protect it from oxidizing and possible flaking off of the metal inside the barrel. Plug the barrel at both ends to keep the stuffing material in place. Possibly reduce some soft ceramic fire bricks to dust and fill the barrel with it to keep oxygen away. I think that would work fine. Tamp it down well and plug the bore at both ends.

Perhaps someone else has a better idea of what to protect the bore with.

I have seen repro revolvers soaked in vinegar to completely remove the blue. They look pretty realistic afterwards,except you can see machining marks on the metal that were not obvious before. You might have to do some smoothing of the machine marks and re soak to get a consistent finish. After that,a bunch of shooting with black powder will complete the aged look. Do clean the gun after you shoot,just don't go out of your way to scrub off the discoloration from the shooting.

 

[old cone]

Brownells sells a material called Heat Stop or some such name. It is like a putty and I imagine you could fill the barrel with it. I use it on the od of bolts when I weld or bend the handle but in the bolts I use a close fitting aluminum rod as a heat sink. They also sell a gas welding rod that contains nickel and it supposedly takes a good blue. I suppose gas welding would generate too much heat though. Problem with tig on detail is the shrinkage around the perimeter of the weld.

 

[george wilson]

Coat hanger wire makes good welding rod for gun barrels. We have used the Brownell's wire many times,but I knew a very competent gunsmith who only ever used coat hanger wire.

 

[ironmonger]

<<snip>>I wish to make the pistol look more like it was made 100 years earlier than it was. If possible, I would also like to make the stamped " Navy Arms, Ridgefield, New Jersey " GO AWAY. what's the best method....fill in stamping with tig ?
Thanks
joe

You might try to TIG the barrel without using any filler metal at all.

Set up an argon purge from the TIG flowmeter, feeding it into the barrel and plugging the other end with a small piece of kaowool or other refractory material. Just a short plug. The bore will be as good as it is before you started. Incline the barrel upwards from the end which the purge gas is being introduced. Run the purge long enough to flush out all that nasty air.

Since the stamping did not remove any metal, it may flow to fill the stamped area just by surface tension and if so, all the metal will be the same... so discontinuity when you re blue or finish.

not a gunsmith, but I played a welder in a previous life )

paul

 

[gregg]

thirty years ago saw a musket that had its stamps removed by peening the stamps with a ballpeen hammer till level and finished up with a file. Easy to say but devil in the details and I don't remember how big or deep the stamping or know how much was filed away. to level it all out. Details could make this doable or not.

 

[dulltool17]

+1 on what ironmonger suggests...if you're using TIG, you already have Argon.....just need to divert a small amount of flow thru the barrel. You only need enough flow to keep the Oxygen displaced..
Doug

 

[HighWall]

I fixated on a Pietta cap & ball last year. The trickiest part was regulating the sights, but that's another story. I removed the unwanted stamping by peening and then filing, finishing up with wet and dry sandpaper. I removed the existing blued finish with vinegar, then rinsed it well in boiling water. I reblued the barrel and cylinder with Oxpho from Brownells. Since I didn't want it to look brand new, the grayish blue achieved with the cold blue is just right. I simulated holster wear with burgundy scotchbrite, just polishing the high spots. The vinegar did a really nice fade on the color case frame, but you have to be careful not to overdo. I left the small parts alone. It came out great and shoots right to point of aim at 20 yards. Very satisfying project. I refinished the grips with oil, but would like to eventually replace them completely with bone. They are the least attractive part of the project at this point. They were never anything special and the refinish didn't really help them very much.