Hi all, I picked up an 1800's Belgian made 73cal Howda double pistol. I'm wanting to shoot this old beast and was thinking about haveing the barrels and action maganafluxed first. Would this hurt the finish at all?

Lars45---

Dye penetrant test hurt nothing at all.

With muzzle loaders you need the bore examined all the way back to the breech plug. Many were left loaded or improperly cleaned and the chamber area is rotted out........in fact I examined a great old 24 bore percussion double that light could shine through the bottom of the barrels in the bedding..... THAT would have been VERY exciting to shoot!!!

Email me if you want a quote on it.

LAR45,

I don't know what kind of finish that gun has, and it depends on the electrical "resistance" of the finish. I would guess that it has a rust blue, and I do not know if that would require removal or not.

In the Aerospace industry, Paint, Primer, Black Oxide coating (essentially "salt blueing") and Phosphate coating ("parkerizing", in firearms lingo) must be removed at the electrical contact locations prior to Magnetic Particle Inspection (MPI). There is also a chance of electrical arcing if proper electrical contact/bonding is not achieved, and arcing would certainly be detrimental to any finish.

A Fluorescent Penetrant Inspection (FPI) would most likely not hurt the finish (or require removal), but will not find the sub-surface defects that MPI is capable of identifying. Defects/cracks must extend to the surface to be detected by FPI.

Hope this helps,

Bill