Of course, my Stevens is a project gun. It's been burnished and it needs some kind of finish on the receiver, magazine and barrel. Do any of you gun mechanics out there have a suggestion how I should color the metal? I'd like to brown it. Can I do that? Is there a cold browning solution?
If I have it reblued by a gunsmith it'll cost way more than the gun is worth and it'll come out glossy and very black. This gun doesn't want to be glossy. I've never tried to cold blue an entire gun. If you try don't they come out mottled and dull?
A thin skyblue, re-blue would look nice, kind of like the original Colt SAA cylinder/barrel blue, but can that be done by the average gunsmith....or me? That light blue kind of lets the steel color show through and I think that would look nice on this gun.
If some of the burnishing flaws and a bit of pitting here and there, show through the finish that's okay with me. I don't want to take it down anymore. It looks to me that the old finish was taken off with some kind of acid and then buffed. Lettering still looks pretty sharp though.
Fifty years ago an old gun dealor, Dave Cunningham; an icon on the West Coast in the gun biz, told me that to brown a gun all you have to do is to paint it with vinegar and leave it outside. Seems a little Redneck to me....but my neck is a little pink.
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