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Heat Blue - An Experience 03/14/2008 - By R. H. McCrory
RHM Pix
Heat Blued 1902 Colt with Original 95% 1902 Colt Below for Comparison
Heat bluing a 1902 Colt automatic I assembled from parts.
HEAT BLUE a Pistol Project
I bought parts to assemble this Colt 1902 .38ACP from wherever I could and put together a complete pistol. A few parts I couldn't find I made, all the little pins, the hammer mainspring and the muzzle end plug for the recoil spring. Neither of these were as simple as they look. This is a project piece that I plan to convert as necessary to shoot .380 auto. The original .38 ACP is no longer produced.
I decided on heat bluing. The slide had about 50% blue on it with some fine pitting. I polished the curved top and cleaned and polished a worse pitting patch on the side near the hammer. The frame had only fine rust which I polished well on the curved parts and only somewhat on the sides - more to match the sides of the slide. This was a frame never installed, a new in-the-white frame that had been poorly stored.
I put the frame & slide in the kitchen oven (stripped of all other parts) and turned the heat to about 500 plus degrees and watched it thru the window in the door. When it looked blue I took it out with pliers and looked at it in outdoor light. It was a bit purple, so back for a while with the heat turned up a bit. Then it came out blue. Not bad at all, maybe a half hour in the oven.
A few places were a bit purple that I had to 'help' with a bit of Brownells T4. I went over the entire surface against the side of a fine wire brush wheel. Altogether a successful job, not as blue-black as the Colt original but good enough for my 'project piece'. Another 1902 about 95% shown as a comparison.
In the "slide show" is a close-up of slide lettering on our project piece. See the "splash effect" along the edges of the letters where the metal is raised
by the die being forced into the surface. This is seen on some of Colt's early autos in which the lettering is finely or faintly impressed. When present it is a pretty good guarantee against hving been buffed for refinishing. Most pistols don't have it and have deeper or bolder markings - - probably having lettering impressed before final surface finishing.
Been there, Done that!
As a project, I plan to rework it to shoot .380. More about that, when and if.
Photo Gallery
Click here for Slideshow. You can also click on any of the photos to start slideshow.
Project Piece Above Original 1902 Colt
Side View
Top of Slides
