Help with restoration.
 

In the process of stripping the Russian hot bluing and prepping the surfaces of my Luger for a slow rust blue refinish.

It is a DWM number 5291. I believe the date and number suffix were removed by the Russians.

Would like to know if the main spring guide, coupling link, recoil spring lever should be left in the white or should be blued?

What about the inside of the side plate, trigger lever and pin?

Thank you for the help.

G57

I can't help you with your questions, but I'm curious as to what you mean/intend by "prepping the surfaces of my Luger for a slow rust blue refinish."... :)

blue....
 

spring guide and recoil lever blue... coupling link, light gray phosphate... til...lat'r....GT
also...trigger plate, all blue, all the time, (I think, not positive!) , trigger lever, in the white, or light gray phosphate, retaining pin, blue....til...lat'r...GT

postino,

It means that I have stripped off all the old Russian hot blueing inside and out, sanded out all the small pitting and refreshed any numbers or letters affected by the sanding. Sharpened the edges rounded by the Russian buffing. Its all really quite simple.

I was hoping that someone who has an original DWM could give me some guidance as to what the finish is on the parts I have listed in my post.

All the small parts on my pistol were blued, in fact it was all blued execpt the safety bar.

Just trying to figure out what type of finish goes on what part.

G.T. Thank you for the input. I was thinking the inside of the side plate would be left in the white like the frame, but I don't know thus the post asking for help.

Anyone with a original DWM, sure would be great if you could have a look inside and let me know. Also is the muzzle in the white?

Thanks for any additional help.

G57

So it is. Thanks for the clarification! :thumbup:

Yes..the muzzle should be white. The inside of the sideplate blue but the lever white, pin blue.

Jerry,

Good to know. Thank you for the information.

Joseph, As GT indicates several parts were a phosphate..The toggle mainspring hook for instance. The hardness may have prevented any other finish?

Jerry,

From recutting some of the numbers on the different parts of my pistol I can say that so far I have experienced three different hardnesses of steel. The frame is the softest and cuts very easy. The breech and first link of the toggle seem to be of the same hardness and harder than the frame. By far the hardest is the rear toggle and it has been the most difficult to cut.

As far as I know the hardness of the steel has nothing to do with its ability to take a finish, only its composition. As long as it is a ferrous steel it should take a blue or phosphate finish. The color of the final finish might vary from hardness to hardness.

Stainless alloys are of course, a different story.

G57