Kentucky Armory Club

I'm thinking of doing a restoration on a gun I recently acquired. It has family history, but not much real value. It is close to 100 years old and I really don't want to mess it up worse that it already has been by being neglected for many years. Because of that, I've been kicking around the idea of just having someone with more experience restoring metal to take a look at it. A google search turns up a ton of out of state restoration places, but I'd like to find someone local. Any suggestions would be great.

What is it?

It's a Colt 1903 hammer less 32acp. Manufactured in 1920.

Pics

Marcus wrote:Pics

of before I started working on it?

I really like these old designs. If I remember correctly, Theodore Roosevelt carried one of these Evan as President. Worthwhile endeavor you are beginning. Best wishes.

Have you considered talking to Colt directly about it? I'm pretty sure that they have a tune-up/resto shop not unlike S&W. That piece would look righteous if it were restored to the original Colt bluing.

Crush, kill, mangle, maim, destroy.

I for one would love to see this restored properly

it might cost a lot more but I would rather colt do it than some hack

Dave1965 wrote:it might cost a lot more but I would rather colt do it than some hack

Who you callin a hack?!?

He is calling me a hack , dweeb Gunsmoking

As to a local shop
There are none that I know that does a Colt re-blue. They use hot blue or rust blue of some sort.

I use a hot blue.

If you check my Facebook page , there is a 1903 that I re-blued.

It really looks like this will be cost prohibitive. It would be different if it was a high dollar gun, but it looks like the restoration would cost significantly more than the value of the gun in pristine original condition. I may put this on the back burner for a while. Especially since it doesn't seem like anyone local does this kind of work. If rather have someone I can talk to face to face than to ship it off to someone I don't know.

I bet Cranky, the poster immediately above you, costs less than shipping it off to Colt's custom shop. He is local and does hot blue finishing.

Whootsinator wrote:I bet Cranky, the poster immediately above you, costs less than shipping it off to Colt's custom shop. He is local and does hot blue finishing.

Cranky's busy working on a sweet ass Mauser, leave him alone! haha

do it yourself- have fun and learn at the same time.
Soak in a rust remover, fine wet sand to get smoothed over, fill in pits if needed, and Gunkote finish. If no pits, or not too bad, Plum Brown or Super Blue from Birchwood Casey.

Fireclean should do wonders on the rust.


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Love my 1903s:




I'd clean that with oil and 0000 steel wool and shoot it as is.

Text me tomorrow iron I have some rust penetrant that should help you get started.

I will warn you; if you detail strip them these things can be a sumbitch to reassemble.

Unless you have three hands, in which case it's merely difficult.

Frailer wrote:I will warn you; if you detail strip them these things can be a sumbitch to reassemble.

Unless you have three hands, in which case it's merely difficult.

Yes of that I agree

Frailer wrote:I'd clean that with oil and 0000 steel wool and shoot it as is.

I'd agree with that except start with something other than steel wool. Use a softer plastic/brass bristle brush or something like to get the rust out of the pits you'll probably find. When you do this, try to follow the "grain" and don't use a brush in a drill, hand only. Avoid sanding/buffing, you'll just lose the stamps and crisp lines of the flat areas on the pistol.

I'd guess there is pitting in the rust so a refinish won't eliminate them, my vote is retain as much of the original finish as possible and make sure its cleaned and safe to shoot.

Then enjoy it as is eve with a blemished finish. No refinish will increase its value, unless its just something you want to try and it suits your personal taste. I've never seen any refinish that closely duplicates that particular "blue" of that vintage of Colt.

My opinion only.

I've always been told that copper wool was soft enough not to scratch the steel, but will still remove the oxidation.