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JiminTexas
November 28, 2011, 11:06 PM
Well, tonight I bought a new toy. It's going to take some work, but I think that I'll have fun with it, both in refinishing it and in shooting it. The second model was made between 1882 and 1884. I bought this on line, so obviously I don't have a complete picture of what it is going to need. The internal workings seem to be in working condition. It cycles, indexes and times up as it should. The bore has "light pitting throughout" and the nickelplating is worn through in several spots. I'm thinking that I can just replace the barrel, pretty easy to do in a top break pistol, the cylander gap can be set with a flat file. I did a little research on replating the thing, but it seems that this is a very complex and dangerous (at least at home) process. So, I'll probably just strip the nickel plating off and blue it. It appears that it comes off with a lot less technology thanit goes on with. But still, it is the part that I'm unsure of. Brownells has a room temperature nickel stripping solution that is suposed to work in 30 minutes to 4 hours without killing you and all of the neighbors and not dammaging the steel. Unfortunately these old guns weren't made of steel. At least not steel as we know it today. Many were made of iron. That's why you can't shoot smokeless powder in them. If any of you out there have any any experience with this or similar strippers, I certainly would appreciate your input.

Magnum Wheel Man
November 29, 2011, 09:05 AM
I shoot many 38 S&W guns ( all of my collection ) with smokeless, Trailboss to be specific... I have loads that go from pop gun / mouse fart loads with soft lead round balls, to medium target loads with cast bullets, to some nickel cases I load pretty hot & use a heavier cast lead bullets, for CCW use ( used very rarely in the guns )...

... in fact if your gun is a spur trigger single action... which I think it is, I used one this summer to re-qualify for my CCW... ooops, never mind, I see you posted yours was double action, after I re-read your post

I have one that the mechanicals were good, but the finish was nearly gone... I chopped the barrel to 2", used a checkering file to knock off the partial info left on the top sight rib, & added a thicker more useable front sight... mine currently wears a set of older J frame wood grips ( my hard rubber grips are put away ) & will be going to Ford's refinishing this year for a polish & master finish re-nickel job

I like the gun alot... & actually have 3 of them... one with a 3" barrel, & one with a 5" barrel that I found a set of original S&W medallion mother of pearl grips for

as far as home finishes... I've not been real happy with the home blueing... it's fine for touch ups but doing the whole gun probably it won't look new... I've also seen ( even professional re-blues ) that the blueing on the frame of the gun doesn't match the barrel & or the cylinder... suspecting that they used different irons / steels for these components, & the different alloys took blueing differently

James K
November 29, 2011, 01:12 PM
I very much doubt you will be able to find a barrel for that gun that will be any better than the one you have. I would clean it up as well as you can, with limited use of a steel brush if necessary, then just shoot the gun.

Those spur trigger Smiths are nice guns but a bit hard to hang onto when fired. The original sights are close to unusable, but were typical of the period. The guns look simple, but the parts are not, and are pretty scarce.

I am editing this to correct the above. The OP clearly said that the gun was DA and I was misled by the previous post saying it was a spur trigger. All the above applies, except that the DA models were made in greater quantity and some parts are available.

If you decide to strip the plating and have the gun blued, I would take it to a plating shop, not a gunsmith, to be stripped electrically. Then, if possible, do the polishing yourself (tip - leave the sideplate in place while polishing) and then just have the gun blued by a professional. (COLD BLUE WON'T WORK!!!!!) The cost will be less if you have the gun stripped and polished before turning it over to the rebluing shop.

Good luck.

Jim

Bill DeShivs
November 29, 2011, 02:54 PM
You can safely strip old nickel, and re plate at home. Caswell plating has kits, as do I.
Plating is not difficult at all. Refinishing is.

JiminTexas
December 11, 2011, 03:14 AM
I have decided that I wont be replacing the barrel after all. I disassembled it completely and got it cleaned up and much to my suprise and joy it is in pretty good shape and so is the nickle plating. But wow! it has an Arnold Swartznegger main spring. It'll shoot single action, but you had better have a manly thumb to cock that baby. Double action is not too bad at all. You it be accidentally going off in your pocket, but itis tolerable, not bad for a 128 year old revolver. By the way Numrich sells the barrels for these.You can buy an original for $56 or so or a newly manufactured replacement for just under $40 The Newly manufactured barrel is in the white and you'll have to cut the forcing cone for it, but that is an easy fix.