I have a question. When a gun has been re-blued. Or it is at, example 60% blue, what does that mean? Is that like the wear and tear on the whole gun, a certain piece maybe?
I believe what you are talking about is "bluing" - or the process of chemically treating steel from rust. Essentially it's an easy, and somewhat cheap, weapons treatment. Information on Bluing If you are shopping the used market, and the ad says bluing is 60%, that means that the finish of your weapon is pretty mucked up. However, the nice thing about bluing is that, with some work to strip the gun down, and the right equipment, you can re-do the process and get a nice, almost perfectly clean, blue-black finish again. JD
It generally means there is 60% of the finish remaining. In that condition, w/o any pitting it would be a good fixer upper. If it were a 1st generation Colt SAA, it would be considered very good condition (For its age).
Okay. That's a really good point. Depending on the weapon in question, 60% could be a steal. Advantage: Robo JD
Rebluing of a 1st. generation Colt SSA would probably reduce its value. Expensive old guns are alot like expensive antique furniture, refinishing takes away from the value. CD
Fer sure, refinishing an antique weapon is very detrimental to the value, unless (perhaps) done by the original manufacturer and documented as such. And, what about bear steel? Would that be a steel steal?