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March 10, 2010
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I'm in the process of buying a collectors edition 445 supermag revolver with a ten inch barrel and lots of gold plating all over the gun. It's one of those limited edition Heritage Foundation models with 24 carrot gold plating that's not meant to be fired. I've been looking unsucessfully for a while now for a stainless 445 supmag revolver so I settled for this one because it had a nice unfluted cylinder that hadn't even been turned and the price was right.
My plan now is to begin shooting the gun as soon as i get it. Eventually the gold plating will start flaking off but long before it does I'm sending it off to be completely refinished in brushed titanium nitride gold finish. I'm also going to mount a scope on the 10 inch barrel and add a second unscoped 6 inch barrel to the gun. I'm also accenting the gun with a nice laminated rosewood grip. The only thing that I'm having problems finding is a shop that will refinish a scope in satan gold finish. If any of you know anyone please let me know. I'll be back to post some pictures once the gun is finished and in my possession.
March 10, 2010
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That would be a satin gold finish on the scope and not a Satan gold scope finish, lol. I'm hoping to leave the devil out of this project.
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Range Officers
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February 9, 2009
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Nathan,
First 
to the 
. Sounds like you have quite a unique project going on there. We will be very interested in seeing some 
of the finished product. I have never heard of any scope being refinished. Hopefully some of the other members here as they welcome you will be able to shed some light on the scope question.
A man cannot have too many SuperMags
January 22, 2008
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Welcome to the
I've not see anyone that will put a finish on a scope either. Let us know what your research digs up!
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November 17, 2008
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to the . sounds like an interesting project. As far as plating a scope I am sure someone (in the plating business) out there has the same motto as I. I can do anything you can afford. Good luck and waiting for some cool pics.
LB
Wisdom is merely the realization of how little one knows, therefore I am wise.
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Range Officers
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February 28, 2009
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Welcome Nathan.
Looking forward to those pics of the finished product. As far as the scope goes, the body is probably made of aluminum so any shop that does anodizing should be able to handle it. Of course, you will have to remove all the glass and the adjustment mechanisms. That might not be too difficult, but the reassembly, collimating, and sealing could be something of a challenge.
-Mike
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May 2, 2009
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Wow--titanium nitride is some hard stuff--should look cool when done though.
SHOOT
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January 24, 2009
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Sounds like a cool project, definitely let us know how it turns out!
I'm also interested in hearing how fast that gold plating starts to wear off, that's been a question that's intrigued me for a long time. I imagine it will start showing almost immediately on the cylinder.
aboard!
October 1, 2009
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I am thinking for a scope finish, how about Duracoat??
It is tough and reasonably priced, and you can get any color you want.
Also , Welcome to the forum and we can't wait for the
maybe before and after pics??
aboard!!
March 10, 2010
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Thank you for the warm welcome. I've got two projects started, the first is the titanium nitride 445 supermag and the second one is a 357 supermag restoration project. I'll be posting pictures of both guns once I start making some progress.
Supermagfan said:
Nathan,
First
March 10, 2010
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Here's a picture of the project gun below. I would have preferred to start with a stainless gun but for $1300 and a 90 day layaway from Cabelas, I couldn't pass it up. The seller paid at least $2,000 for it but was unable to resell so they dropped the price. I've seen this gun for sale online for at least 18 months before I finally bought it. Since these highly decorated guns that aren't meant to be shot haven't lived up to their projected value, I'm willing to bet that once this gun recieves a titanium nitride finish its value is going to go up. I have no plans of selling it but it's good to know that it could go for as much as $2,000 on gun broker once its finished so I'm not wasting my money on the cost of refinishing.
Anyway here's the project. I can't find any 445 brass right now so I'm going to send this gun away most likely without firing it, so the service life of the 24 carrot gold plating will still be a mystery. The gun is going to be sent away to Cogan Plating and Weaponry Inc.
I'm going to have them strip the gold and bluing off and then apply a brush gold titanium nitride finish followed by a trigger job. The 10 inch barrel is getting a scope mount and I'm going to add a few more barrels starting with a 4 inch barrel. I found a place that will duracoat a scope but I'm not sure if Duracoat's gold color will match very well to gold titanium nitride. If not the scope, base, and rings will be in black matte finish
I just paid the gun off so it should be in my possession in about 3 weeks. Cogan qouted the job as taking about 4 weeks, so within 2 months I should have the gun back from the shop. The extra barrels will take longer because I still have to order them. I hope to have the whole project wrapped up by fall. I'll post more pictures once I get the gun.
I also put a used 8 inch 357 supermag on layaway that I found collecting dust in a local gun shop. This one has damage to shrowd by the previous owner and some deep scratches on the muzzle where the barrel wrench slipped. The rest of the gun is in excellent shape. It's got one of those futuristic vented shrouds so I'm going to try and salvage it. I'm going to send this gun out to Cogan for a matte chrome finish and a trigger job. It's the cheaper project of the two so it will be the first one completed.
March 10, 2010
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Charger Fan said:
Sounds like a cool project, definitely let us know how it turns out!
I'm also interested in hearing how fast that gold plating starts to wear off, that's been a question that's intrigued me for a long time. I imagine it will start showing almost immediately on the cylinder.
I was told that it could start at around 300 rounds. I'm going to have the gun for a few weeks before I send it off so there might be a chance that I take it out and fire 100 rounds through it. I can't get 445 brass right now, so I'm not in a big rush to shoot it. I paid Starline for 1000 445 brass but that could take till the end of the year before they fill my order because they need a 30,000 piece pre order before they will do another run of them.
March 10, 2010
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zoommb said:
Welcome Nathan.
Looking forward to those pics of the finished product. As far as the scope goes, the body is probably made of aluminum so any shop that does anodizing should be able to handle it. Of course, you will have to remove all the glass and the adjustment mechanisms. That might not be too difficult, but the reassembly, collimating, and sealing could be something of a challenge.
-Mike
Duracoat is the only option that I can find so far but I don't know if the colors will match. Matte black does look great with gold titanium nitride so I'm leaning in that direction.
March 10, 2010
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If anyone is wondering, Cogan charges a minimum of $400 to vapor plate a handgun in gold titanium nitride. They offer a shiny finish and a brushed finish. They also do individual parts like hammers and triggers, etc. Cogan basically does alll the stripping, restoration, and finishing work, while another shop does the actual plating for this particular coating. I looked long and hard to find these guys because most shops who advertise this service have since given it up because of the work involved in plating with TIN. Cogan used to do titanium plating and finishing for the Desert Eagle auto pistols, so I'm confident that this gun will look very impressive when its finished.
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Range Officers
May 2, 2009
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Well, sounds like you are on your way to a really cool DW 
. I've said it before, everybody needs that one "special" DW... Steve has his Nickel passion, I've got my Custom 14-2, Charger has his Chop collection, etc...
SHOOT
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March 2, 2008
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SHOOTIST357 said:
Steve has his Nickel passion
SHOOT
I deeply resent the implication here, it's more of an obsession
Steve
I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman "Were is the Self Help Section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
George Carlin
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January 24, 2009
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I remember seeing that gun on Cabela's site, that's cool that it will be sending some hot lead down range sometime in it's life.
Looking forward to seeing how your two special projects turn out, they both sound promising.
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