Chrome:(
 

I am new here, and will probably beat a dead horse with this question,but...:)
I just acquired a byf 42 luger, it has been rebarreled with a 6in bohler stahl barrel, and the sideplate does not match, nor does the magazine. Everything else does match. It has been chromed, so my big question is it worth getting the chrome removed and reblueing it, so it would at least be a decent looking shooter? Has checkered wood grips that seem original to the gun. I tried to post a few pics with it as well.. TIA!

Considering it is a mismatched, rebarreled shooter, the cost of de chroming and rebluing is not really worth it.
Also, when a gun has been this heavily buffed, they actually tend to look better chromed than blued!

I concur with alanint's assessment. Don't spend the money to dechrome. This gun has been heavily buffed before chroming... Enjoy it as a shooter. I bet it will be a dandy on the range.

Thanks for the feedback! I think I will leave it as is then. I thought I'd take a chance on it, at $300 I figured it'd be worth it.

If you got it for $300, and if it functions well, you did O.K.

You can count on it being an eyecatcher at the range. Enjoy shooting it and have fun.

Charlie

$300 !
 

You only paid $300 for your chromed Luger? You did WAY better than just Okay...

Agreed, looks pretty sweet to me, especially for that price!

Is this really chrome as opposed to nickel?

Well, I guess it may be nickel. I'm not sure. I would rather it be blued, but the idea of keeping it like this to show what the vets did to them after the war is catching on. If nothing else, it's quite the dramatic effect to have a blued one next to it. Any way to tell chrome vs nickled?

Usually chrome is brighter and nickle is more faded, but sometimes its very hard to tell the difference for me ;)

FN was using chrome right after WW2 and found that chrome was much thicker than Nickle. To approximate the look of nickle they used a satin chrome. Nickle is much less durable than chrome perhaps partly because it is thinner.It is certainly made up of softer metals. Chrome is VERY hard and will be found in the bore of SKS rifles and many rifles now employ it for durability.
A nickle coating on guns is copper, nickel and zinc. As it ages it achieves a yellowish patina and a nickle magazine left in a holster will eventually turn green with verdegris.

I once found a 1908 Luger and had it stripped of the chrome that was on it. I think it would only be worth it if the pistol was rare & worthy of extensive restoration and not heavily buffed as John says.

Jerry Burney

I have a plated Luger. Now you have me wondering if it's nickle or chrome. Up to this point I'd assumed almost all plated guns, Lugers or not, were nickle plated and chrome was relatively rare.

If you see a Colt Python in nickle plate or stainless you will have a very difficult time telling them apart. They put a polish on the stainless that makes it look very like plating.

Now you have me wondering if it's nickle or chrome. Up to this point I'd assumed almost all plated guns, Lugers or not, were nickle plated and chrome was relatively rare.

I believe the opposite is true. These Wartime prizes arrived in the USA after WW2 just at the height of automobile chrome. Chrome shops could be found accross America in most towns of any size. It was easy to find people to do this. Nowdays it might be very difficult to find someone to do this work as it is prohibited or tightly regulated.

Jerry Burney

It's definately harder to find people to do decent chroming imho, around my neck anyways. The fact that these pieces can be done over 60+years ago and still have relatively decent finishes, is an achievement and testament to the operator in it's own right :)
How to tell chrome from nickle, as Ed said, chrome usually has a very dark, deep, shiny bright lustre, where as nickle, is notably much more subtle and faded out in comparison.
Not forgetting also, triple plated chrome is a mixture of nickle, copper, and chromium together, but i doubt that's used on firearms period because of tolerance/thickness issues.

Went, correct.

In the 70s, Mauser actually prepped the parts for their matte chrome finish separately from those which were blued because of the altered tolerances. They had a good chrome shop next door, their Mauser Messwerkzeug GmbH sister company.