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Colt Peacekeeper Restoration (Finished)

Rabbit2047

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So I traded into a 1985 Colt Peacekeeper in pretty rough shape. First pic is what it looked like when I brought it home. The previous owner had begun stripping it after finding some minor pitting on the barrel and frame while removing some surface rust.
colt1.jpg


I spent the two previous days attacking it with an assortment of wire & nylon brushes, various grades of sandpaper, steel wool, microfiber towels, CLP, and Mother's Mag Polish. The second picture shows the results from a total of 9hrs of elbow grease.
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This revolver is somewhat of an oddity for Colts. Colts generally have very deep lustrous blueing. For the entire run of the Peacekeeper (1984-1987) the only factory finish Colt Offered was Matte blue/black. This was accomplished by bead blasting the bare steel to a satin finish before the blueing process.

The third picture is halfway through the media blasting process. To save costs during the experimentation phase of this restoration I used Baking Soda as my abrasive. I will use glass for the final product.
0703191710_HDR-1.jpg


This morning I blued it for the first time and I must admit I am extremely pleased with the results. I have to tweak my blueing recipe just a little to get the color 100% correct. But as you can tell from the 4th pic..... I am 4374: close and ain't got that far to go.
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The 5th and final pic (red background) is one I snatched off of Google. This is what my Peacekeeper should and will look like when finished.
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Stripped the blueing and found part of my problem was an uneven bead blast. I only used a very fine abrasive on the first go around. I went with a 50/50 sand/soda mixture this time around. Much more even. A little rough but I will smooth that out on the next pass with my pure baking soda.
0704191258_HDR-1.jpg


For those interested....here is my spray rig. Cost me $5 to make and works great.
0704191259_HDR-1.jpg


I do have a commercial rig I will use for the final product, but for now I went back to the basics as a way to re-acquaint myself with a skill set I have not used in many many years.

I still do much of my smithing by hand, as I fear that if I rely too heavily on a tool, my appreciation for the art will diminish alongside my ability to perform a service in the absence of that tool.
 
Ran out of one of my chemicals I use to change the tint of my blueing solution so I didn't get anymore work done on the Peacekeeper.

However I did decide to go ahead and do one of my EDCs. It's an early 70s Charter Bulldog 44spl with a 3 inch barrel.

I had let a friend borrow it and she totally ****ed to the blueing on the cylinder so I had already stripped that when this pic was taken.

Before:
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And this is what it looks like after refinishing
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Little update on the Peacekeeper.

I have given up trying to match the blueing. Soooo....

Matte Stainless and wood grips it is.....

I was hoping to have it finished today and listed by this evening, but I managed to **** that up by getting distracted.

I run my media blaster at 80psi. Had a video conference so I unhooked the blaster and snapped on an air nozzle then cranked it up to 140psi to dust myself off.

When I resumed blasting an hour later my dumbass forgot to turn it back down and as a result totally knackered the internals of the blaster. Oh well. Guess I will buy another one Wednesday....

Anyways....here she sits in her half finished glory.
0722191813a_HDR-1.jpg
 
Little update on the Peacekeeper.

I have given up trying to match the blueing. Soooo....

Matte Stainless and wood grips it is.....

I was hoping to have it finished today and listed by this evening, but I managed to **** that up by getting distracted.

I run my media blaster at 80psi. Had a video conference so I unhooked the blaster and snapped on an air nozzle then cranked it up to 140psi to dust myself off.

When I resumed blasting an hour later my dumbass forgot to turn it back down and as a result totally knackered the internals of the blaster. Oh well. Guess I will buy another one Wednesday....

Anyways....here she sits in her half finished glory.
View attachment 2207388

Nice! Tell us about those GRIPS... :)
 
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