Refinishing an old friend

[Powderman]

Today, I called Smith and Wesson for some prices on a refinishing for my M29. I have about 17K rounds through this revolver, and it is the first one that my wife bought for me after we were married. As you can probably guess, I have a bit of an attachment to it.

Here are some before photos. A friend of ours helped us with them; they're not the best in the world, but I hope that they will show the shape of the revolver before repairing and refinishing.

Smith and Wesson said 4-6 weeks; it will probably go out tomorrow.

 

[HSMITH]

Man, that gun looks to be in very good condition. Are they going to repair something or just refinish it?

 

[Powderman]

Yes, there is repair work to be done.

Some time ago, in some overzealous gunsmithing, I managed to screw up the trigger/hammer relationship. It kicks back the trigger now in single action mode. It is beyond my capabilities to fix right now, so back to the factory it goes.

About 99% or the rounds to be fired through it have been cast reloads, at about 1100fps.

 

[fecmech]

Powderman--Did S&W perhaps give you a price on rebluing that would share with us?? I too have an old friend ( a K-38 from the 70's ) that is getting rather worn looking and have had thoughts about refinishing. Nick

 

[Powderman]

I got a "ballpark" figure from S&W--it should cost about $150 to do the high-polish bluing.

 

[Walt Sherrill]

I've considered having S&W nickel-plate a S&W that is now blued. They would, a year or two ago, do that for about $250 -- and give you paperwork to show that it is a "factory" finish. That is an attractive alternative, as well.

 

[Erich]

I just last week called them about an old Model 36 no-dash I'd like to have reblued (Teddy Jacobson told me that S&W was the way to go for such work, so that's good enough for me! ) : They quoted me $166.00 + $14.00 shipping.