Before and after pics of my S&W Model 19

[G-MAN]

Several folks over on the S&W forum suggested that I try to rehabilitate the finish on my Model 19 with Flitz before going to the expense of a having it re-nickeled by S&W. I spent about 3 hours polishing yesterday and another 2 today and the rust spots are now gone and the frosted finish is about 95% back to the bright mirror finish it had some 30 years ago when it lured me into buying it. I went into the gun shop with every intention of buying a blued revolver but this one caught my eye. It was more expensive, but I've always been a sucker for nickeled revolvers.

I should have taken the "after" photo before I had rubbed it down good with Ballistol. This stuff clings so well it's impossible to wipe it down to be completely smudge free without using something to strip it off.

Anyway, here is what she looked like after being stored in a gun rug for the last 15 years:

And this is what it looks like after 5 hours of work with Flitz:

[wwillson]

That's really incredible that you were able to restore the finish that close to original. Are you going to leave it as-is now, or are you going to re-nickel?

Wayne

[G-MAN]

That's really incredible that you were able to restore the finish that close to original. Are you going to leave it as-is now, or are you going to re-nickel?

Unless I see evidence down the road that the nickel has truly been compromised (i.e., more rust bleed through, or the nickel starts bubbling or flaking), I'm going to leave it alone. Of course, I'm going to keep it regularly wiped down with Ballistol. I won't ever abuse this gun again by letting it go without routine cleaning whether it's been shot or not.

Here's some better pictures to really show how good it looks now. The lighting on those other pics was off.

Before:

After:

And here's a shot of the whole gun using different lighting. This better shows how the gun appears in person:

[RLH70]

Nice work!