Bright nickel finish on guns

[Mooseman]

After seeing Emptymags beautiful RIA 1911 in another thread, I wanted to pose a question. I love the look of bright nickel but what happens if it gets dinged or scratched? Will the under layer show through? Can it be repaired? I've always loved the look but shied away from it due to questions of durability.

A dream gun of mine has always been a nickel long slide 1911 with some ivory grips. One can dare to dream.

[justashooter]

a nickel finish is a thin coating (.002" or less) that is plated on the steel. it can be scratched and can be breached. it normally has a hardness of about 50-55 Rockwell C, so is extremely resistant to scratching (more so than most blued guns), but it will loose the brightness of finish in "duty" use. refinishing a nickle plated gun is expensive, and takes a week or so in the shop.

there are lots of nickel finish grades. what you get in result depends on how the steel underneath is prepared. if the steel is highly polished you will get a bright finish. if it is glass bead blasted you will get a satiny finish, etc.

[thundrr1]

Some of us go with stainless steel.....



I can put ivory grips on it if you want .....

[raxar]

I'd go with satin stainless as mentioned above, same look but much more durable. To paraphrase someone when they saw my recently acquired S&W .32, "When nickle finish looks rough it looks ROUGH".

[Mooseman]

hmm, not a bad idea!

[mike12_nguyen]

You don't need nickel finish, polished stainless is bright as hell. You can do it yourself just takes a lot of buffing. Aluminum can be polished as well. This is my cz 75b, polished frame and the mag has an aluminum polished base, you can't tell the difference between the two.
[IMG][/IMG]
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[Emptymag]

^^^ A polished CZ75 was what I was dreaming of getting, but the RIA popped up for $350 and I'd have been an idiot to pass up a deal like that.


By the way, a really awesome forum member gave me some grips to try out on my RIA...

Pardon the dirty gun.





Gonna try shooting it with both before I make a final decision, but the rosewood grips win for looks.

[dunno]

I kinda like the gray grips better on that gun.

[Emptymag]

I'd go with satin stainless as mentioned above, same look but much more durable. To paraphrase someone when they saw my recently acquired S&W .32, "When nickle finish looks rough it looks ROUGH".

Satin stainless is most certainly not the "same look" any more than a parkerized gun is the same as a blued gun.

I have a stainless Colt Pony and nobody has EVER said "HOLY FUCK is that thing SHINY!!!"

LOL!

[dunno]

I had to come back to this thread, I keep thinking Tommy Lee Jones would call these "Nickle Plated Sissy Pistols" Lol Having said that . . . now I want one.