New Project

[Ronvandyn]

My father sent this one out to me from California.  He got it for $20 and knows that I enjoy firearms (he's an ex cop, he has no one else to blame). 

Its an older Colt Mustang Mark IV Series 80 .380acp.  As you can see from the before picture its in pretty bad shape (I'll be using my new camera after this, still learning how to use that one).







And after the first few hours of work:





I used Naval Jelly and steel-wool to remove the rust and bluing.  On Tuesday a friend is going to bring over his dremel tool and we will finish removing all the rust and blue from it.  Then we get to work on removing some of the pitting from the rust.  All in all this looks like a long term project.  Hopefully I'll be able to get better pictures with my new camera.

More to follow.

Ron

[FarmerRick]

That's a piece of junk and not worth doing any work on.  You should send it to me for proper disposal...   

[NE Bull]

Actually Rick, I'm not far from the metal scrap yard, let me get rid of it for him!

Seriously, it looks like with a dip in the fountain of youth, that ugly old witch could be pretty sexy again!
Keep us posted on the progress.

[bkoenig]

Any metal pitting on it?  I've wondered about refinishing with Duracoat in a situation like this but I'm not sure if it would cover up the pitting.

[Ronvandyn]

Quite a bit of metal pitting actually, all along the slide and the back of the hand grip.  Hopefully we can remove most of that with the dremmel tool and some elbow grease.  None in the barrel though (thank god), just was dirty as hell. 

Never tried or even heard of Duracoat.  I'll do some research on it and let you know what I find.

Ron

[Ronvandyn]

Took the Dremel to the gun today.  As soon as I got done I asked the wife if I could get one.  Them Dremels are GREAT!!

Got all the corrosion off of it, sanded quite a bit of it down to reduce the look of the pitting, and reversed the Extractor.

I read in a couple of forums that this particular weapon came from the factory with about 50% of the guns having a backwards extractor.  Took me and my bud about an hour to figure out what the problem was (this is why the magazine would not seat in the weapon), and another hour to get it swapped around.  The blind leading the blind.  Then I gave him the bad news, we had to remove all the different parts when we get to the bluing stage.  I thought he was going to cry.  Here are some pics of the project at the end of day 2:





Coming along nicely.  I figure another day and we can start bluing the thing.  5 or 6 days of work and it should be a real nice little gun. 

Ron

[bkoenig]

Do you have access to a hot blue tank or are you going to cold blue it?

[Ronvandyn]

I WISH!  No, gonna have to cold blue it.  Its a nice little gun but the cost of having someone hot blue it is just not worth it. 

Ron

[bkoenig]

Darn...I was hoping I had found someone who could hot blue stuff for me...

[FarmerRick]

Give Lonnie a call at Run-N-Iron out in Bertrand, NE

http://www.runniron.com/premium/bluing.html

Not sure what he charges, but he does very nice work.

308-472-1445

runniron@atcjet.net

[Dan W]

A smith in Cortland, NE.  that has received a  bad review here used to do hot bluing


http://www.fcwguns.com/  

[rluening]

I will second Lonnie's work at Run'n Iron. It's worth the drive from Omaha to go wander through his shop, and he does fantastic work.

/rl

[Ronvandyn]

Holy Mackrel, Bertrand?  I had to look it up.  It aint quite BFE, but its only a short walk.

Ron

[FarmerRick]

He has a table at most of the gun shows in Nebraska.  
There is one coming up in Ft. Calhoun on Jan. 15-16 that he usually attends.

[ghknives]

Here is anouther thumbs up for Lonnie. I've had him do several projects and have always been more than satisfied by the results. He is an artist when it comes to gun repair and reasonable too

[Toster]

I am going to have to check the safe when I am at home.  I have one of those, only mine is a goverment First Edition.  Holds 7 in the clip insted of 6 that the mustangs and pocket lights hold.

[Ronvandyn]

Here is an update:

I read quite a bit about how this is done, and while I am no expert I think it has turned out pretty well.  I was able to hot blue the frame and the slide using a Pyrex bowl and the stove top.  I heated the parts up in the oven to just about 180 degrees and the solution just just below boiling (stunk up the whole house BTW, wife not happy).  15 coats later this was the results:



and:



The plastic trigger was broken when I got it so I have to order a new one from Brownells, along with a spring kit.  Once I have the parts I can put it back together and take it to the range.  Should be an interesting time.

Ron

[metaldoc]

How about an update on this little beauty?  It'd be nice to see the end result!

[Ronvandyn]

How about an update on this little beauty?  It'd be nice to see the end result!

The pictures above are the most current, still waiting on the wife to authorize the $$$ for the parts needed.  Springs and new trigger.  All in all a bit over $50, but for some reason I keep spending my budget on things like powder, casings, and gas to get to the range.  All those nit-noy little things in life that make it worth living. 

Ron