Just sick. Gunsmith advice please

[lm6y]

Sometimes you gotta learn the hard way. I have a Matte Black Colt Officer's ACP with less than 200 rounds through it. I keep it in a case with the magazines. In my infinite wisdom, I thought I would wrap it in an oil wetted rag to keep everything from being scratched up. Once a week, I get all the spoons out, and just give them a once over, but there have been a lot of Family health issues lately, and I hadn't gotten to them in over a month. All are in good shape when I inspected them, and got to the little 1911 last. When I pulled it out of the case, and unwrapped it, my heart just sank. Rust every where. Deep rust. Bad, deep rust. This is where you get to learn from my stupidity, and ignorance. My thought was, if I use a microfiber cloth, it will soak up MORE oil, and protect it better. Not the case at all. I'm guessing that microfiber cloths are also very hygroscopic. Learn from my mistake. Now, onto the part where I bow my head, and ask the experts how I go about fixing this. A little background. I am a professional tool and die polisher with 20 years experience, and have free access to sandblasters, and everything from 220 AlOx to fine glass bead, and all of the polishing tools to make a steel surface look like a mirror, and the experience to use them. Before I do ANYTHING, what is the best way to go about this? I really want to go back to the matte black finish, and I know the value is likely destroyed, but it has more sentimental value than monetary. What say the experts? I'll post some pics soon, if I can keep from vomiting.

[fanaudical]

Sorry to hear, but sounds fixable. There are some good, knowledgeable gunsmiths here. Post pics and wait for advice before doing anything further...

[lm6y]

[KFC911]

Well that just sucks Brent, but don't despair! As posted already...wait for David (Targa911s) to show up and get you pointed in the proper direction...

[scottmandue]

I can't help but thanks for the heads up, I am guilty of only pulling out my couple of spoons a few times a year and cleaning them. I will pull them out and inspect them when I get home.
I an curious to hear from the gunsmiths how this could happen... I clean with solvent then wipe down with a light coat of gun oil and put them in the case... I have not had a problem and I live a block for the pacific ocean.

[Hads930]

I can't help you other than to say I hate that you are experiencing this. Can you provide the brand of oil?

[Rick Lee]

That's not a rare gun, so you shouldn't feel bad about sending it off for a refinish. Check out CCR or Robar. Their work is top notch. I'm partial to Robar, as they're down the street from me and their NP3 coating is a great technology and looks awesome. This might cost you a few hundred, but the gun will be better than new.

[flatbutt]

that happened in a month +? dang that sucks.

[lm6y]

Thanks for the replies, but the thing that's killing me is that it was Dad's. Not even one of his favorites. But, he passed it on, and told me to take care of them. He did it when he figured out he was "slipping", and has recently been diagnosed with Early Onset Dementia, and is in a nursing home. It feels like I let him down, and THAT'S what's eating at me. The lube is Froglube. I applied it as instructed, and soaked the cloth in the liquid, then wrapped it up. The other three pistols, three rifles, and shotgun were prepared with Froglube as instructed, and they are all just fine. The only difference is that this particular spoon was wrapped in a microfiber cloth. The Commander that is my carry spoon sees the most abuse, and is exposed to the elements a bazillion times more than the Officer is, and no signs of rust anywhere. I have to think it's the microfiber cloth drawing moisture from the air. Again, learn from my ignorance.

[Don Ro]

Damn!
Subscribed!

[futuresoptions]

Very simple, clean and polish it and then use this to make it like new again. Basically it is black military grade parkerizing. Plenty of YouTube videos on the process.

https://www.lauerweaponry.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=1036

You have to do the process in a heated stainless steel tray. Since that is a pistol, you can use one of your stainless cooking pots


Sorry, changed it to the right link...

[futuresoptions]

Well, actually the first link has an additional chemical to give it a deeper black. You will have to choose which kit you want. Here is the link with the additional chemical.

https://www.lauerweaponry.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=1037

[speeder]

Sorry to hear but still trying to understand how this happened? Is it extremely humid where you live? I've never had a stored firearm deteriorate and I do nothing special in terms of storage but they are never in a damp place.

It's a drag but try to stay positive and thanks for sharing so that it might prevent others from doing the same.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by speeder

Sorry to hear but still trying to understand how this happened? Is it extremely humid where you live? I've never had a stored firearm deteriorate and I do nothing special in terms of storage but they are never in a damp place.

It's a drag but try to stay positive and thanks for sharing so that it might prevent others from doing the same.

What he said... I'm having a hard time understanding how a microfiber cloth could have done this.

However think positive, I'm sure a competent gunsmith can fix her up!

[targa911S]

Ouch! That looks like it was at the bottom of a lake. and it won't buff out! Art has done some parkerizing and can guide you through the process. Pretty simple if you can boil water, yer good to go. You have access to the tools and materials needed for the prep. You will have to completely disassemble the gun so I hope you have done your homework on that and how to reassemble it. Other than that, if you don't want to DIY it, talk to Henry @ supertech as he has a guy that can do the job or just send it back to Colt that way it will be a factory re finish. Last I knew they charged $200.00, comparable to most other shops. I do not parkerize as I haven't had to learn the process. Art is your guy to talk to about it. His gun came out perfect.

[lm6y]

Thanks guys! Southern Illinois is VERY humid. In between the Mississippi, and Ohio rivers, at least 5 pretty good sized lakes within 20 miles, two pretty good sized swamps, and lots of little rivers, and streams. In the summer, the humidity just kinda parks itself here, and swirls all season. When the temps are in the 90's, and the humidity is around 85% it gets kinda miserable. We kinda laugh when westerners say it doesn't matter if it's a dry heat, it's still the same. We know better.
And I just have to believe it's the microfiber that did it. Three other pistols in the same range bag, in the same safe, and they weren't damaged at all. It may not be that at all, but don't take a chance.
Targa, I've had her apart before, so no big deal. Even for another bass player like myself It looks to me like it's just a glass beaded steel that's been blued. I can do the glass bead stuff easy enough. Our shop also does nickel, and chrome plating, and for a brief moment I thought of making it a Satin Nickel to match my Commander, but, the box, paperwork, and receipt all say Matte Black. I'm one of the few that like a Satin nickel 1911. I'll do my homework on the Parkerizing. I really can't Thank all of You enough! Pelican really is a wonderful place.

[Mericet]

Not sure why that happened, but another option for you is to strip the gun, sandblast (not beads) and then Cerakote. The blasting media will eat out any rust. If you buy a small starter kit of Cerakote, it will include detailed instruction on how to use it but I think their website has all of that too. We do this for a lot of customers that have water/rust damage to their guns.

If you want to keep it more original you can save some money by doing the draw filing, sanding and polishing before you send it to someone that can parkerize it.

[HHI944]

That looks like a perfect candidate for a complete rebuild with some shiny new Wilson goodies and a cerakote job.

[HHI944]

If you DIY, please do the research and strip it completely down to get every last bit of rust. It's not that hard, I stripped my first 1911 to bare components in about 25 minutes with the aid of youtube. Be sure to get the bore as well. I can't imagine that whatever rust might be in there would significantly impact performance, but you do want to make sure it's gone!

[wdfifteen]

Gees Brent, you make it sound like it's your little girl's kitten or something. It's a F-kn gun. There are millions of them out there. You make it sound like, "OMG! I F'ed up my favorite spark plug and now the world will never be the same." They are interchangeable. Just get another one.