Aged 1851 London Navy

[Fredcdobbs]

This started when I put my new Uberti 1851 London Navy into my ultrasonic Hornaday cleaner but accidentally put brass cleaner in the basket. An hour later I had a clean gun...clean of all traces of bluing and most case color!
So I antiqued it. I took the opportunity to remove all the Italian proof marks except the one on the side of the frame as I didn't want to file past the case color foundation. I cleaned all parts well and browned with Laurel Mountain Forge Browning solution purchased from www.trackofthewolf.com. Their instructions were obviously made for places with more humidity than Socal. They say don't heat the metal but it's so dry here, I found that heating parts in the toaster oven helped a lot. Clean the metal, heat and apply a THIN coat of soltion, Wipe off in between coats and reapply as before. When color is to your liking, wash in a bath of Baking Soda solution to neutralize the acid. I then coated carefully inside and out with Ballistol.
I like the effect. Looks like an old museum gun to me but it is nice and slick, smooth and ready to shoot.

[rifle]

People like the aged look on the cap&ballers. Sometimes a new gun just looks.......well.....too new.

That Navy looks like an old well cared for gun. Like Great Granpa left when he went to pushin up daisies.

[Paladin UK]

Rifle says...

People like the aged look on the cap&ballers. Sometimes a new gun just looks.......well.....too new

+1
Paladin (What lurvs his C&B pistolas ) UK

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[Navy Six]

Nice recovery after the ultra-sonic cleaner incident Fred. The gun looks good after your refinish, but I sure like the look of a brand-spankin new Uberti London Navy as well. Do you have another to match this one?

[Fredcdobbs]

Nice recovery after the ultra-sonic cleaner incident Fred. The gun looks good after your refinish, but I sure like the look of a brand-spankin new Uberti London Navy as well. Do you have another to match this one?

Thanks and no I don't have another Navy. I do have a Dance and will have a Rem 1858 belly gun finished in brown.
I'll leave it at a count of three. I really like bluing better but this is fun for a recovery on a screwup.

[TwoWalks Baldridge]

Fred beautiful look, job well done.  One minor thing if you want it to look like a museum piece - the grips fit.  On every old weathered revolver in a museum I have seen the grips have shrunk some.  Them grips just look too blamed new on this beautiful specimen.   

[Fredcdobbs]

Fred beautiful look, job well done.  One minor thing if you want it to look like a museum piece - the grips fit.  On every old weathered revolver in a museum I have seen the grips have shrunk some.  Them grips just look too blamed new on this beautiful specimen.   

I am aware of it but can't bring myself to bugger the wood. I'm not making a fake or trying to fool anyone. I just wanted a cheap cure for a moment of dumbass when I stripped them.

[RattlesnakeJack]

Although I've always wondered why people "antique" reproduction firearms if they mean to portray someone in an era when the firearm would have been new, or nearly so .... this is certainly a case when you had little choice, and makes sense in that situation.

Compare with my original London Navy (Upper Canada issue) ....