Actually the 'refinish' isn't. I sent Marshall the frame with the cut off barrel and the cylinder. The ejector rod housing is aluminum ala Ruger. And since the original aluminum housing had the shoulder for the screw buggered on it and had no finish left, I put a Ruger housing on it. I had already shortened the barrel with a hack saw and squared it some with a bench grinder. Then I shortened the ejector and housing to fit. I pulled the front sight out of the piece of barrel and sent all of that to him. He squared the muzzle, crowned it, machined a flat for the EH stud and a slot for the front sight. Then he silver souldiered both those on. Since I was going to put the brass trigger guard and grip frame on it, I told him it looked a little grungy for those and could he wipe a little cold blue on it. (Actually it was a 'lot' grungy. It looks much more blue in the pic than it really was) He said he had some 'very good' cold blue he used and said he would. That's all it is, I expect it to wear off quickly but Marshall said his was pretty durable. I don't think he polished anything first because he only charged me for the crowing and machineing and souldierin, nothing for the blue. On close inspection it looks like a nice, clean used gun. This gun is going to get a lot of honest use, so 'pristene' would not have fit it's job description at all. The old 'Colt' grip frame shape will beat your hand up pretty good with heavy magnum loads so this gun will shoot a lot of 'heavy 44 special' level loads, at aprox 1000 fps area. That's one thing I do like about the Ruger Blackhawks; their grip frame being another 1/8" from the back of the trigger guard does make it a lot easier on the hand with heavier loads. I think this is going to be my favorite woods gun! I really like this gun and the way it feels and handles! This is one project that has turned out even better than I expected. 44 Man
