Oh, the humanity.......

bannockburn said:

This...

After WWII most returning G.I.s weren't think about long term collectible value and there were any number of auto shops that offered chrome plating to "dress up" that Luger someone brought home from the war. My brother has a mint condition FN Model 1910/22 from the Netherlands contract that somebody nickel plated at some point in time. I told him it looks like a presentation piece and he got it for a fraction of what the gun would have gone for with it's original finish.

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In point of fact guns were well known to rust like the dickens - a blued finish isn't the high standard of durability, and plenty of soldiers had seen what became of guns with phosphate while carried thru jungles and Europe.

They cared enough to spend money out of pocket to help preserve it. A plated finish became the norm then. Nickel, chrome, whatever. It was even the standard on knives, to reduce corrosion and keep it cleaner in use. Plenty of hunting knives during that era picked up plated finishes and that trend went forward into the 1960's - which became the push to stainless steel.

And that is where our guns wound up. Plenty of cops and troopers carried slick stainless revolvers on duty, and the results were worth it, they didn't corrode or rust nearly as much.

Plated guns were just a step in that direction, the plating wasn't just for show, nor was it useless egotism. And plenty of us like shiny guns, a lot. It's not an "all tactical" or go home world. Considering the comments on black finished economy grade guns - which are universally derided.

There's no win on the internet, somebody is wrong somewhere.

I can also confirm from personal experience that guns were often chromed to hide severe pitting or rust damage after being carried all over theater, or being picked out of a pile after several weeks.

Once I saw a Mauser C-96 at a gun show that had been chrome plated. However whomever had done it had only removed the grips with no further disassembly before putting it in the tank.

Kaeto said:

Once I saw a Mauser C-96 at a gun show that had been chrome plated. However whomever had done it had only removed the grips with no further disassembly before putting it in the tank.

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I am going to guess that did not work, like a rattle can job?

That poor 1903....

All moving parts no longer moved. The thing was only good for a paperweight. And the guy was trying to sell it for $150. ( this was back in 1978)

We're presuming that 1903 was a good condition, functional-complete gun. The previous owner may be a collector with multiples and this was the worst of them. Significant cracks-damage to the slide or frame, mismatched frame and slide or ... The owner had it repaired and worked over to provide a modernized variant that could be fun to shoot again.

Many here have no idea how is was after the War. There were 30 million obsolete bolt actions for $10.
Handguns from 5-50 bucks. A proud Vet could "plate" his trophy for a few bucks and show it off for decades. God bless them. These Men earned those guns, cherish their service.

I met the second owner of this P38. He acquired the pistol from the first owner, a German serviceman, who "did not need that anymore". I did not ask about the details. The second owner was a WW2 combat veteran and he managed to bring the P38 home. If you look at it, an AC 40 is a 1940 Walther. He also had the magazine chrome plated, and it was serialized to the pistol.



Used to be chrome shops all over the place, I think till the 1980's. They poured out their chemicals in the city sewer systems till that became unpopular, and now, a chrome plating shop is hard to find. There is one an hour drive away and the guy is so back ordered, it takes a year to get something out of him. But, post WW2 through the 1980's, if you wanted to plate a firearm, there were lots of guys doing it, it was cheap, and why not? If you brought this thing back from the big war, it was yours, you wanted it not to rust, and you were not going to sell it.

The second owner of this P38 died a few years ago, so the value of his pistol is of little concern to him. And it never was, he never sold it, but his relatives did.