I'm about ready to bead blast and brown my Ruger Blackhawk and was wondering if anybody else has done this.
Has anybody sent one out to get done???
Who???
I've done a few muzzleloaders and my Marlin 30-30 in brown and love it.
I really like it because it's different and looks old.
Does anybody have any pictures of different finishes???

I would not bead blast a Chrome Moly Revolver and do a bottle brown on it.Invitation for lots of rust.There is comercial Blueing remover available.Have it Cerakoted Brown.It will have the same look.

I agree, brown might not take at all on the steel. You will have a mottled gun at the best.

I thought about getting out the airbrush and Duracoat it, I've done that to a few guns.
You may be right about it coming out spotted.
Oh well, I guess I'll find something else to play with.
I'm getting Spring Fever I guess!!

quote:

Originally posted by bfrshooter:
I agree, brown might not take at all on the steel. You will have a mottled gun at the best.

It might look like camouflage......could be cool!

Browning is something we've all seen on damascus shotgun barrels. I used to have an old Parker like that, many years ago. It really went with the gun and looked good. The point of course being to make the damascus pattern stand out. I can see it enhancing muzzleloaders too. But, on a Ruger Blackhawk I think I'd want something more six-gun looking.

That's just my opinion. As a place to get some color ideas for Rugers, I recommend taking a look at Gary Reeder's website and some of his work.

Some time ago one of the majors did a series of SAAs in about 5 different finish shades, including variations of brown. They were real interesting looking. It may have been USFA, but I could be wrong. I just looked at their e-site but couldn't find it. I was going to link it here.

Anyhow, good luck on it.

All of my hunting revolvers are stainless and I have yet to have any animal spook from my guns.
I love stainless AND blue but stainless is easier to maintain.
My muzzle loaders are browned because it is traditional and was meant to rust the gun to prevent further rust. Blueing and browning is nothing more then rust but if the steel needs a blue to take, it needs special salts and every make of gun might need the salts tweaked depending on nickel content, etc. Even temperature and time will affect blueing. Some guns with certain alloys or hardening just come out purple.
It is a science, not something to play with.
Even a stainless gun can rust because the chrome content is not that high but it is high enough to prevent blueing or browning although there are special processes to color them.
This is not kitchen table work.