Cowboy guns...

BHunted · June 19, 2019

I always wanted a cowboy gun for my collection. A buddy of mine, retired marine, said his eye sight wouldn't allow him to see the sights good any more. He had a Uberti Cattleman 45LC in stainless., What a nice gun. When you cannot afford or find a Colt Peacemaker, Uberti makes fantastic arms. In any event, I bought it from him. I already had a Uberti Yellow Boy Lever action, also in 45LC... The rifle is beautiful. Wood is excellent and brass is like gold. Which brings me to the point of this post.

Uberti does not sell any pistol in stainless with brass features. But I wanted a lil brother for the rifle. So I started a project. Brass is beautiful but also a pain in the arse to keep from tarnishing and finger prints. I have a solution for that later.

I decided to electroplate certain parts in Gold. Gold will not tarnish like brass. But all the look. Here are some of the steps... hope the pictures come out in logical order... (Did a few bullets too)...
Broke down entire gun.

Electroplating is fun. You can do it at home. This is not your KMart gold dip. You are actually electroplating via electric. Table top kits are avail for different finishes....Only caveat is certain metals will only stick to certain surfaces. Gold happens to stick onto stainless steel and a couple others. If you wanted to do copper, you'd have to plate another metal onto the gun that copper will stick too. If any of you are curious in taking on a project, check out Caswell Plating. They are NY State.... great people to deal with. https://www.caswellplating.com/

Oh, yea! If you never heard of it, Renaissance Wax or Ren Wax for short, stifles all tarnishing and makes wood look like a million bux. I believe it was created originally for museum pieces. A lil can goes a long way. It will reduce finger prints on brass and such and make grips and stocks luster. I did an experiment. I polished all my brass weapons. Knives, etc. They would tarnish quite rapidly if left unattended. After several months, went back to check and viola, no tarnish. Great stuff....