My new .41 Long Colt shoots better than some modern handguns I've owned, 1 1/2" at 25

[Ardent]

I wouldn't touch the finish either, she's beautiful, I'm finding myself now in the "leave it be" camp as part of the beauty of these guns is their age and story. Finish indicating that is a beautiful thing, the way I see it I can have a pretty rust blue and case colour job that takes 15 hours or I can have a gorgeous patina that took 115 years to make. I case colour myself and have clave and proper setup, also do rust bluing so it would be easy for me to bring her back to new, but in the end she wouldn't be as pretty. I love character in a gun, shiny new doesn't have it.

 

[dingus]

I wouldn't touch the finish either, she's beautiful, I'm finding myself now in the "leave it be" camp as part of the beauty of these guns is their age and story. Finish indicating that is a beautiful thing, the way I see it I can have a pretty rust blue and case colour job that takes 15 hours or I can have a gorgeous patina that took 115 years to make. I case colour myself and have clave and proper setup, also do rust bluing so it would be easy for me to bring her back to new, but in the end she wouldn't be as pretty. I love character in a gun, shiny new doesn't have it.

Thanks yes i agree im leaveing it as is being as guns like mine have been selling for +6K im not going to be altering it.
I love the gun more than any other cept maby my Bisley FTT with its 7.5 inch barrel.

 

[Ardent]

Mike Venturino wrote an article on the Smith No. 3 in .44 Russian and loading for it in the last "Handloader", nothing groundbreaking but certainly interesting.