Thank you to all for the compliments and suggestions.
The gun is/was a Blue gun, I recall rugerguy stated; started to fix it and then he and his customer made the decision to sell it off as parts, IIRC $200. (2012)
They started cleaning up the cylinder the reason it looks better in picture 2. Re-Blue the cylinder, it would be worth the $200.
Old Army's we're just starting to rise in price, not where they are now.
Browning; This gun will be going Deep Chocolate Brown.
Plum Brown is what Birchwood Casey calls their browning solution, it's ok.
I use Laurel Mountain Forge
Barrel Brown & Degreaser. It produduces a darker thicker deep brown. It's amazing, forgiving and
WORKS.
You can even use it to rust blue by doing one more step… boiling & dipping in distilled water. For the home gunsmith it's works way better than anything that is cold blue or quick blue. Labor intensive yes, but this is the process that old world Rust Blued guns used.
Lots of good reading/ education available. Shop a bit, prices vary dramatically. I will leave a link,
Official page for Laurel Mountain Forge with product descriptions, instruction sheets, and contact information if you still have questions.
laurelmountainforge.com
Product page for Laurel Mountain Forge with product descriptions, instruction sheets.
laurelmountainforge.com
Brown, Brass, & Stag … good stuff.
Lots of hours of handwork on this project, it's the process that I really enjoy. Thanks again.