Color Case and Carbona blue.
Zombie Pistol finished with TR Gun Kote.
Antique Nickle.
Flat Black TR GunKote -looks like glass beaded bluing.
This is a polished sides and glass beaded perimeter blued finish on a Springfield 1911A1.
1921 Thompsen with original blue finish. Yep, it’s real!
Glass beaded stainless steel.
TR Gun Kote polymer finish.
These photos are of a Ruger Blackhawk, that has been finished with traditional carbona blue, high polished with color case hardened frame and Nitre blued screws and pins. The charge for this type of finish runs $950.00 and up depending on the level of hand polishing required in order to prepare the metal plus shipping to Doug Turnbull for the color case and carbona blue. The total cost of the labor for the pictured Blackhawk was around $2,500.00.
Metal finishing is the most expensive part of custom gun work. If you want square corners, sharp screw holes and ripple free flat surfaces the metal must be hand, block sanded without use of power equipment. Grit paper is wrapped around flat pieces of rubber eraser, wood and other backings, concave surfaces have to be polished with grit paper wrapped around matching convex surfaces and round surfaces must be shoeshine polished. The gunsmith starts with 120 to 220 grit paper on every surface, progresses through 320, 400, 500, 600, 800 1,000 and 1,200 grits. The metal is then caustic blued, carbona blued, color cased, nickel, gold or silver plated, glass beaded for stainless steel, or finished with a combination of all of those.
There are many other finishes such as antique nickle and the new “high tech” polymer finishes.
Following is a estimate of what it will cost you to finish a Ruger Blackhawk revolver to a high polish with a combination of the above described finishes:
Gun Kote Baked-on Polymer Finish…………………………..$475.00 for a 1911, Browning High Power or Ruger single action (Includes complete dissasembly and assembly.).
Rifles $295.00+ (includes complete disassembly and reassembly, but the price goes up with the complexity of disassembly and reassembly.)
1200 grit finish on all parts……$550.00+ Add $75.00+ for very light removal of rust pits. Removing heavy dents, abrasions, pits, and other marks while preserving lettering is very costly and is quoted on a piece by piece basis.
Color case frame and carbona blue all other parts….$375.00+
Nickel or silver plate handle…….$275.00
Nitre blue all screws and pins……$165.00
Engraving by Terry Theis, Weldon Lister or Brian Powley…………………………..$2,550.00+ and up for deep relief 50% coverage. Deep relief 75% coverage engraving will cost around $1,800.00 to $3,500.00. These prices are ballpark figures dependent on the engraver, size of the gun, hardness of the metal, and many other things that effect the art of engraving. Engravers are artists who work at the highest level of their trade so prices are subject to change and fluctuation dependent on many factors, but the prices quoted will be close for plain scroll engraving without gold inlay, initials or scenes. Shipping to and from the engraver is extra and is usually around $70.00. Before engraving the surface must be polished prepped for the engraver which is an extra charge. The least expensive surface preparation, if the metal surfaces are free of pits and scratches, is glass beading which will run around $185.00 and up.