Refinish Savage 1907 and S&W M1917?

[JGalt]

I'm considering getting these refinished. Both guns are in good mechanical shape, but not cosmetically. Neither gun is close to museum quality.

The Savage has roughly 50% finish remaining. Original barrel was bulged, and the person (not me!) who removed the barrel from the slide damaged the front of the slide, both have been replaced. Functions well, but man, what a horrible trigger.

The M1917 has surface pitting, here and there. Certainly not pristine, and has approx. 70% finish remaining.

Based on condition, I don't consider these to be ultra-collectible, but I like them, and do enjoy shooting them occasionally. Would it make sense to completely strip them with something like Evapo-Rust, get a mild, conservative polish and a re-bluing to protect the remaining metal?

I'm going back and forth on this, and would like to get some comments.

Thanks!

 

[walt o]

the savage =the cost of bluing will never be recovered if you EVER sell the gun .
the S&W 1917is it a commercial or military? i would soak it in ED'S red and use bronze wool lightly rubbing to remove the rust .You will not get rid of the pits and not hurt what bluing is left . .If the pits are deep over a pin head size you will buff out most of the lettering originally on the gun and probably never get your cost of the work out of the gun. It is your gun and nobody wants a bad looking gun just shoot it and enjoy it ,keep it oiled and it will last

 

[Leadeye]

^ This.

 

[ghitch75]

I'm considering getting these refinished. Both guns are in good mechanical shape, but not cosmetically. Neither gun is close to museum quality.

The Savage has roughly 50% finish remaining. Original barrel was bulged, and the person (not me!) who removed the barrel from the slide damaged the front of the slide, both have been replaced. Functions well, but man, what a horrible trigger.

The M1917 has surface pitting, here and there. Certainly not pristine, and has approx. 70% finish remaining.

Based on condition, I don't consider these to be ultra-collectible, but I like them, and do enjoy shooting them occasionally. Would it make sense to completely strip them with something like Evapo-Rust, get a mild, conservative polish and a re-bluing to protect the remaining metal?

I'm going back and forth on this, and would like to get some comments.

Thanks!

clean them up and shoot them.....

 

[Squirt239]

As a guy in the business, don't do it.

Bluing is expensive. Its labor intensive. Those together are not cheap.

 

[JGalt]

As a quick note to Walt, haven't had the M1917 out in a while, but believe that it is a military contract piece.

Wanted to thank everyone for the comments. They are appreciated.

 

[EOD Guy]

Have you considered rust boiling? I recently did this (after much research) in order to conserve a rifle in its current condition. Worked great and converted red rust to rust bluing and should be the original method used to blue your gun. Mark Novak covers this in one of his Anvil videos on YouTube.

Here is my first whack on a 1898 Krag.

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