I may have made a mistake, but.......

[clovishound]

Well, I talked to my brother yesterday, and decided I needed to pull Dad's old Colt out of the safe and clean it. I had forgotten how bad the barrel looked on it. It's an old Colt Challenger, the first gun I ever shot, and I made sure it was the first that Clovispup ever shot. Anyway, most of the bluing was gone and it looked terrible. I went over to my buddy's today, and asked him his opinion. Before I knew it, we were getting out the cold blue and gloves.

I didn't do a full on strip. It still has a few spots of surface rust, but if I want to go a little further, I can strip it back down and remove any remaining surface rust. The barrel turned out great. The rest is a tad uneven in the right light, but still looks 100 % better.

It's not a collector's piece. I will never sell it. I like the looks of it much better now. I might spend a half a day sometime and completely field strip it (the Colt's are a real pain in the behind to field strip) and remove any surface rust and redo the cold blue.

Anyway, here it is.

colt.JPG

[Jdl447]

I think it looks darn good. If you're not going sell it and are happy with it,no one else's opinions matter.

[TRock]

I guarantee it looks better than I could have done...

[North Country Gal]

No mistake at all. I'd have done the same. Wouldn't worry about it one bit. Yes, just by virtue of being a Colt, the Challenger will always hold its value, but the diehard Colt collectors are more interested in the prestige models and much less so on the basic models like the Challenger. That, and a cold blue is a temporary fix, anyway. It's not really considered refinishing, as a hot blue would be. Enjoy. Those old Colt 22 semi-autos were great shooters.

[clovishound]

After posting this, I got to thinking, I know...... dangerous. Anyway looked up the born on date from the serial number.

1952

At this point I'm glad I did it. It looks so much better. I think my Dad would be pleased.

He wasn't a gun person. He had this pistol and a Remington .22 rifle. My Dad would occasionally take my brother and I out plinking. It was a real treat for us.

If I think about it too much, I might start looking at a proper hot blue refinish. It doesn't see much use. I really don't like the plastic grips, but hey, it's a family gun, so.... Not quite sure what to do with it other than take care of it, and shoot it from time to time.

[GFK]

Looks nice!

[BigAl52]

It only needs to please one person and you know who that is.

[BrokenolMarine]

Very Nice. I would make some wood grips for it, or check eagle grips. They probably have some.

[clovishound]

Funny, Clovispup and I were just talking about making some wooden grips for it. They have some really nice ones available. Rosewood, with a thumb rest. Expensive though. I may just try my hand at a pair.

[Abnermal]

Nice! I We all have guns of limited collector value but that in no way makes them any less precious to us. Dads' 97 Winchester and Savage 340 come to mind. Neither will be show pieces but they are a part of his life and mine. That's good enough! Enjoy and cherish your Dads' Colt-it is truly one of a kind!