Fox Collectors

In 2010 maga45 posted a picture of his 1918 Sterlingworth that had the receiver polished to a bright finish. My 1912 Sterling worth had received the same treatment before I acquired it [sometime in the early 1990's]. I am wondering if this was a popular treatment at one time, and has anyone else seen this done to an old side by side shotgun? This can be an attractive alternative in certain shooting venues, but personally I don't think it is appropriate for a field, or hunting gun. any and all comments would be welcomed.
Myles

I have a Parker Trojan and an old Stevens 5100 that received the same treatment at some point before they landed on my doorstep; neither is chrome bumper shiny, but shinier than I'd like (the Parker more so than the Stevens). I've often wondered if it was a look someone preferred, or if when some of the colors were worn off someone thought it would look better all one color. Personally I'd prefer it hadn't been done, but I live with it. I have asked several times for some simple ways to tone it down a bit without doing a major take-apart and have received a lot of suggestions (including rubbing the action with lemon oil and also with an onion!) but I've never tried anything.

I also did not care for the look. After trying many formulas, that did not touch the surface [I did not want to use muriatic acid, I wanted a relatively safe formula] I scuffed the finish with a 3M pad, I then mixed 3 parts white vinegar, 1 part hydrogen peroxide, and just a little table salt. I painted this on with a Q-tip. It almost immediately started to turn a silver grey finish that looked like guns do when the case coloring has worn off over handling and time. After about 10 minutes I saw brown rust starting to form. I wiped the rust off with a clean paper towel, washed the receiver down with a spray gun cleaner, and then sprayed everything down with Rem-Oil. The next day I saw rust starting to form again, so I took the rust off with some OOOO steel wool, and repeated the spay clean and oil process. One more day and the same process, and I had a finished product. I'm sorry I can't post pictures, but she now looks like a well cared for veteran of many seasons of hunting [as a 100 year old gun should]. I would not soak the receiver in a bath of this formula, as it would be almost impossible to clean out any interior assembled parts that were affected. With the barrels and butt stock removed, this was an easy project. I don't know what the magic in this formula is, but it was the only formula I found that worked, the vinegar by itself didn't, nor the hydrogen peroxide by itself, even the toilet bowl cleaner [hydrochloric acid] had no effect.
Myles

Myles. How long ago did you do this and how has it held up?

I only did this treatment within the past year, but after several trips to the range, it seems to be holding up quite well. I have not noticed any changes since I applied the finish, It seems that it is in the metal rather than on the metal, and is holding up much better than a washed out cold blue. I have heard others refer to this finish as a "forced patina" which is really artificially aging bare metal. I got the idea from knife makers, and just had to tailor the right components. Because the case hardening was still there [without the color] many formulas didn't work, even cold blue had no effect on the metal. In the past I have used cold blue on in the white screws and such, applying it for a short time and washing it off with gun scrubber to achieve a gray finish. Too dark, or too light, polish it off and try again.
Myles