Best Python value & investment(Nickel 2-1/2" or Blue 4"?)?

[Monkeyleg]

slick6, it sounds like whatever is causing those bumps is coming from underneath the nickel plating.

Plating--whether nickel, gold, or chrome--needs another metal to bind to the steel surface first. Usually it's copper. From there you can add oodles of plating of different metals until you reach the Holy Grail of chrome plating: the triple cupro-nickel chrome that I had done on the bumpers of my 69' XKE. It was like gazing through The Looking Glass.

Sorry, I digress. It really sounds to me as though a previous owner used an ammonia-based solvent to clean. Ammonia will cause the copper plating to lift off the steel, then the nickel follows.

It may also well be that the Colt platers let some dirt or gunk get on the gun before they started plating it. From what I've seen of their work from that era, it's probably not likely. If the plating were done by any of the Big Name Harley custom shops that do custom plating on pipes, etc, around here, I wouldn't be surprised. I've had pieces of chrome the size of silver dollars just pop off due to poor prep work.

If you're able to pick off specks of nickel plating with your fingernail, then you're probably going to see more plating coming off later. Take a good, close look at the gun with a magnifier. If you see more tiny cracks or breaks in the plating, you're probably going to see those flake off as well.

Oh, and for those purists who think that a blued Python fetches more than the same model in nickel: The auction results on gunbroker.com prove me right. Nothing attracts the eye like a pimp-nickel Python.

 

[Majic]

Before you go to cleaning you better check with the owner as you could put some scratches or swirls in the finish. I would try to pop one spot off with my fingernail and see what's underneath. If it's shiny and not copper color I would use the spots as possibly getting the price lower and give it a good cleaning when I get it home.

 

[slick6]

Rust spots!

Majic:

Thanks! And, I'll do as you have suggested! No, I wouldn't have done anything to this gun, without first, discussing this with the Gun Shop owner, to see what he might want to do, to check this situation out? It's "Puzzling" to see a nice(New)looking nickel gun, that has these rust(Like) looking spots, to imagine, what could have caused this to happen? Because the nickel finish, looks new(Except for just having these rust spots!)and does not show like a nickel gun(That has aged or has had some chemical applied to it's finish, to actually start lifting the nickel from the steel gun!)and, it's only when you pick up this gun and look close and run your nail over the bumps, to have your nail to catch on these? The nickel is not flaking or lifting or doesn't show any signs of being loose or having any cracks in the finish!

 

[BluesBear]

Brown lumps?

Did somebody splash their Coca-Cola on it? If so get it off fast since it will eat through the nickle.

Seriously, is sounds like dried solvent or something on it.

The early 70s Pythons were still awsime revolvers. But the big chunky syrofoam "box" with an outer cardboard sleve that Colt used usually didn't survive. WHile you will still find a lot of 1970 era S&W and Ruger revolvers with their boxes, Colts are usually found without them.


(of course most of those old S&W boxes are fakes)

 

[slick6]

Rust?

I went back to the Gun Shop to inspect those "teensy-weensy" spots that look like rust? The nickel underneath these spots is intact and is solid as a rock! I could not push off any of these spots with my fingernail! They really dont stick up very much(As they are just barely above the surface of the nickel finish!)and you have to get the gun in the correct amount of light, to enable seeing these tiny specs!

I know that it has been mentioned that nickel isn't supposed to rust-but, I had read somewhere that nickel was very rust resistant(But not 100% rust proof!)! If this is true-then, these spots appear to look like extremely light surface specs of rust? If it is, I'm wondering if it could be removed(With something that wouldn't harm the nickel finish?)and if so, if no harm has come to the nickel, then my question would be, if this Python, could still not be devaluated(Or, otherwise ruined?)? I'm just going by the appearance of these little spots, looking as though this otherwise mint looking Python, had sat in a drawer and finally some extremely light rust had just started only on the surface of the nickel finish? However, if this situation, would still mean that this gun is no longer considered to be worthwhile-then, I'd certainly want to pass on buying it(Otherwise, if it's not ruined and the rusty spots can be removed, with solid nickel underneath?)I'd want to buy it? Please give your opinions(As I'm certainly no expert on nickel finishes on guns!)? :banghead:

 

[Majic]

I have yet to see nickel rust. Crack, flake, peel, or pop off, but never rust. I would say that something has dried on the finish and if you soak it it will come off. Get a magnifying glass, bright light, and give it a real close inspection.

 

[dfariswheel]

Lets try this again.

Nickle itself DOES NOT RUST.

The steel UNDER the layers of nickel rusts and causes the nickel to bubble up, flake off, and expose the rust UNDERNEATH.

Nickel is a pretty finish BUT, if the nickel is scratched, blemished, or develops rust underneath, there is NOTHING that can be done about it short of a complete strip and re-plate job.

You CANNOT "polish" or "buff" out blemishes on nickel, and since rust is UNDER the plating there is NOTHING at all you can do about it.

It sounds like someone may have splashed something on the gun, which then dried.

All I can suggest is asking the shop owner to use a Lead-Away cloth or some solvent to try to remove the spots, so you can establish exactly WHAT the situation is.

If there was something splashed on the finish, DEPENDING ON WHAT IT WAS there may be no damage at all, or there may be tiny "freckles" left in the finish.

If the finish is 100% intact under the spots, you may have a good Python.

If there are blemishes left after the spots are removed, OR the spots are rust beginning to lift the plating, the finish is PERMANENTLY DAMAGED, and CANNOT be "fixed", polished or buffed out.

The ONLY recourse would be to have the damaged finish stripped off, the underlaying steel re-polished, and a new nickel plated finish applied.

When you see a nickel plated gun that's rusting, what you're actually seeing is a hidden problem that's finally becoming visible.

Moisture can work it's way underneath the plating and cause the steel to rust.
This is HIDDEN FROM VIEW, until the rust eventually starts to show on the surface as tiny spots and bubbles.
By that time the steel has already been damaged, and the value PLUMMETS.

Before you invest your dollars in this one, you'd better be SURE about what you're seeing, because WE CAN'T see it, and have no idea what the spots are.

 

[slick6]

Rust?

dfariswheel:

Thanks! And, I will take your advice and I will report back here, the results, after I have talked with the Gun Shop owner, about trying a Lead Away cloth or some solvent on this nickel Python? And, if he tries this, whatever happens?