P1/P38 Dura Coat/Teflon /High Polish Blue ? recommendations

[bobsterlobster]

My wife surprised me with a P1/P38 for the holidays. (Yea me). She wanted to get me shooter I could to plink away at the range with. It appears to be an original German Army NATO issue post War with round reinforcing pin, no date but still marked P38, Barrel is excellent has German army eagle and NATO number on it, shoots fine, numbers match, but two things mar it for me. The slide has the importers electro pencil import marks on it, some outfit in Redmond ,Washington, the finish is very worn. No pitting or scratches, just worn finish.

Even though it's a Sunday plinker at the local DNR outdoor range "winter and summer", I intend to order a new slide for it without electro pencil markings and have the whole thing refinished. I take it no ancestor of mine is going to be ridiculed on the TV's Antique Road Show 50 years from now for refinishing it and ruining the original "patina".

I have no interest in getting it chromed or nickel plated .I like the black finish .Getting it re blued with a high polish is one option though Gander Mountain for instance , but I was wondering about having it sent out and getting one of the coatings Dura coat or Teflon etc. Has anyone done this to a P1 or P38 or can recommend an out fit with outher coatings ?

[searcher451]

I've had great luck with Mac's Restorations:

HOME PAGE

He does quality work, and his prices are reasonable. He's also a doggone fine 'smith; when he's finished, your pistol will be returned to you in excellent working order.

Welcome to the forum; enjoy your time here.

[Fremmer]

You might consider refinishing with something as close to the original finish as possible.

[rollin59]

If you want to get it reblued to look fancy (but not original), try RGS Restorations in Oshkosh Wisconsin. They do fine work. I have not used them but have heard good word.

http://www.ronsgunshop.com

Personally, the Durakote doesn't do a thing for me. Classic military pistols should be some kind of blue or parked, not painted pink or something.

[bobsterlobster]

If I would do any type of coating it would be strictly black. The new black grips and a deep black finish would look great, but its all strictly personal appeal. I am leaning to a Gander Mountainhigh line blue job, I just thought some of the coatings would ease cleaning, take the four season weather at outdoor ranges better. Still curious if anyone has done any of the coatings on a P1 ever. Whatever I do I will post a picture.

[Barnacle Bill]

Second on Mac's. I had him do my P5 & 5 mags in his "Tough Gun" black finish and it looks great. While he was in there he replaced all the springs, so its almost like a new pistol. Pistol functions and shoots great, too. Only drawback I can see is the way the P5 mag catch works damages the finish on the back of the mags, but that's probably going to be the case with almost any finish.

Oh yeh, if you've got an alloy frame I imagine the frame is anodized and the slide & barrel are parked. That's how my dearly departed BW-surplus P1 was. The P5 was anodized frame and blued slide. The anodize on both was pretty beat-up looking. Anyway, Mac's TG works on both steel & alloy, so the P5 came out looking the same all over (except the grips, of course, and given the texture on P5 grips they even pretty close to the TG).

It isn't that expensive, so I was thinking about doing it to the P1. Now that the frame cracked, I am looking at getting another frame and carrying over the parts from the old one. Since Mac takes everything completely appart anyway, I'm thinking he'd just finish & reassemble on the replacement frame instead of the cracked one.