# Need Refinish Advice



## JimmySays (Jun 8, 2007)

Have a Sig P6 and a S&W Model 10 in my gunsafe that need refinishing.
I prefer not to return them to their respective factories for the job.
I would like suggestions, preferably companies you yourself or a close aquaintance have used.
I would like to keep the cost reasonable, but quality is most important to me.
Help me please. Thank you. :smt1099


----------



## JimmySays (Jun 8, 2007)

I finally realized my mistake. Instead of asking for assistance, I should have said I had all the definitive knowledge on firearms finishes. Period.
All I had to do was throw brand "X" instant gun blue out and everyone would have sounded off about the best finishes on the planet, bar none.
I am slowly figuring out this site. :smt082:smt082:smt082:smt082


----------



## Baldy (Jun 21, 2006)

Hey Mr.Jimmy I feel your pain as I got a couple of guns in the same shape. I can't find anybody here to do it. I tried some of that blue wonder and it does about a so-so job. Nothing to write home about for sure. Good luck.


----------



## OLD NAVY (Jul 18, 2007)

*Gun Refinishing*

Hi,I found this place just a few miles from my house,Iam going to take my old colt army special to them in a couple of weeks.The prices on their site looks good.navy

http://www.elitecustomguns.com/index2.htm


----------



## Charlie (May 13, 2006)

I've always heard great things about Ford's in Florida ( www.fordsguns.com ) and Tripp's (www.trippresearch.com) here in Texas. I don't think Tripp's does revolvers. Although I haven't done it, my good friend refinished an older S&W with a spray/bake-on finish and it turned out very good and was pretty easy to do. :mrgreen:


----------



## milquetoast (Nov 25, 2006)

I am biased. The only refinisher I have ever used is Robar, just because I have known Robbie for a long time, and his shop is close by. NP3 for lubricity, Roguard for the black color, Polymax for camouflage or tan/OD. I have also had him blacken two stainless guns. Robbie told me once, "I make shiny things dull, and dull things shiny."

Quality is the best, but the price is not cheap. "Reasonable" is a subjective thing.


----------



## Borderline Bob (Oct 25, 2007)

*refinishing*

What matters is why you want to refinish them. If you have any thought of collector value, do not refinish them. Just get some Flitz and follow the directions.

As to the P6, Sigs are like the energizer bunny; they just keep going and going, however ugly they look. You really don't need to fix the finish for a "shooter." If you're taking them into hard times, you want to spend the money to get a durable finish (and something newer and less "experienced" than a P6). I echo milquetoast for Robar. I have a Robar-ized (NP3) 226 that I drug all around East Asia and abused mightily. You'd never know it. I saw a DoD test of Robar finish (the black stuff) where several guns were hung on wires in the ocean for a week, with ammo in them. They were pulled out, the water shaked out of them, and then fired. Oh, yeah, the finish was un-marred.

Cylinder and Slide did a Colt 1851 cylinder for me, blue, and it's very nice. Blue is NOT a durable finish, however.

If you're looking to just "pretty up" your shooters, ask the local gun shops who they recommend. You still want to see some of their finished (no pun intended) guns. Check carefully in the angular areas, such as where the recoil shield flares into the frame, barrel to frame, inside the grasping grooves on semi-auto slides, etc., for differenced in the quality and color. Ask VERY detailed questions about how they prep the surface. Many a nice gun has been butchered by a thoughtless person sanding or otherwise preparing the surface, and either diminishing the engraving or erasing it altogether. If they do screws, screw holes, roll pin holes, or anywhere a tight fit is used, ask how they re-fit the parts. "Hammer time" is not the answer.

If you want a refinish that doesn't substantially alter the value, and you still want to be able to say "factory," send the gun to the factory. Colt is quite reasonable and their work that I have seen is magnificent. The S&W Custom Shop does great work, too. Don't know what Sig does - never felt I needed it.

Hamilton Bowen built a gun for me on a blue Ruger Redhawk frame, and it has a gorgeous, non-reflective surface. I suspect he knows a thing or two about finishes.

For anything you plan to take into harm's way, spend the money for one of the nationally recognized shops to do the work, like Robar's NP3, or one of the powder coatings. At that level, reputation means a lot.

Borderline Bob
Say not so much "I know," as "I wonder."


----------

