It's a shame
 

Working with relatives in a different part of my family to acquire (I mean buy) an AAHE 12ga. (1910) that's been blued...everywhere (skeleton butt plate, barrels, trigger guard, frame, you name it) except for the forend latch, trigger and grip plate which have all been gold plated. The stock has been varnished and checkering is in quite good condition. The gun has been in "our family" since 1916 and no one knows when the gun was blued, or whether it was hot blue or cold blue and all people that would have knowledge are now deceased. My questions are, can a blued gun be restored to factory finish? How can you tell if it's been hot blued or cold blued? If hot blued, has that process effected the metallurgical properties where the metal could not be restored to factory finish? I'd like to save this gun if it is salvageable and know it will be expensive to do so but it may be worthwhile. PGCA letter says the gun was returned for restocking in 1916 abut no other work shows up. Your thoughts please. Thanks.

bluing can always be redone-

the correct finish for the barrels is slow rust blue, not cold blue

the issue with hot bluing is the soft solder used to join the barrels, not the barrels themselves - it may, or possibly may not be compromised due to the heat used

this should be inspected by a qualified double gun smith

What Rick said . . .

Good luck, a worthy endeavor!

Blueing salts are harmful too if they are trapped under ribs between barrels etc.





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Sounds like a Fancy Gun. All blue and Gold plating.


Anyway, anything can be corrected. It is just a matter of how much time, effort and expense are put into it.

Hot bluing can compromise the barrels and the ribs. If the worst has happened, it can be corrected, but would mean taking the barrel set apart and putting it all back together again.

The Hot bluing would not compromise any of the other surfaces. BUT... improper bluing processes often go hand in hand with crap polishing and prep work. I mean buffing and wearing down of engraving and rounding over of hard edges, etc... Much harder to fix. Hopefully it is not THAT bad.

Tom, Cullity can examine it and give you an honest opinion

Gold and Blue gun, would be right at home here in West Virginia.

Thinking more Michigan colors than WV

Pictures, Tom.

Bill, here’s a photo. My Aunt auctioned the gun in May 2016 but it was returned as “not as advertised”. Nobody on that side of the family hunts or shoots so I’ve tried occasionally to buy it but my Aunt said she was not ready to part with it. My cousins are now in control of the gun so I’m trying again. Could be a big risk on my part and will get it checked out prior to writing the check.

Tom,

It does have a lot of contrast! Good luck with the endeavor. If you do restore it, please post the updates.

Ken

I'd be very happy with it as is, since a family member had it done.

It’s difficult to tell for sure from a picture, especially a small one, however I would speculate from what I can see is that the barrels do not appear to be either cold or hot blued. Again, that’s just speculation but the barrels look like a correct rust blue. The receiver is harder to tell but likely has the same finish as the barrels. I would think it would require some touch-up of the engraving after polishing for re-case hardening. I can assure you there have been a lot of guns restored that didn’t start out looking as nice as this one does. At least from what I can see from the single small picture. Are the other pics from the auction still available? That would help. I wish you good luck on acquiring this gun!

Seems that a gun like that deserves to be brought back to its former glory.

https://www.pookandpook.com/lot/park...auge-w-1593474

Better pictures can be seen here

Forend checkering lacks the mullered border that any nice Parker would naturally have and the forend tip is not as elaborately engraved as the grade 7 guns would be embellished with.





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