Fowlers in the white

It seems to me they just look right in the white. I don,t polish them but let them gray on there own. After a few years they look nice and a dull gray with mottled tarished finish. I did one cold blue and let it wear off to gray and it looked good allso. Brown just don,t look right to me.

 

[musketman]

I too like the natural gray look on a barrel, then brown and lastly blue...

 

[Musketeer]

I too like the natural gray look on a barrel, then brown and lastly blue...

:RO:Musketman! You are a man of class and taste. My 20 ga. fowler's barrel was left in the white and now wears a fine mottled gray patina.
Wipe it down with some oil or #9 after each session and that's it. :thumbsup:

 

[Rat]

Yes, natural aging does rule...but it takes some patience to wait that long. Bloody Bess is in her third year, and she's just now getting "right". First two years I hunted mostly from blinds, and the weather was good, and it seemed like the patina was really taking it's time to set in. But this year I had some rainey days, plus walk-n-stalk hunted much more, (more handling with sweaty hands) and it really made a difference. She's really looking good.

The 1861 I just picked up was bright...VERY bright, people not very knowedgeable about ML's kept asking if it was stainless...!!! So I did lightly cold blue it, (VERY un-PC for a '61...I can hear the groans from the re-enactors right now!!) and am letting that fade to grey...as I will probably take it out in the field a few times this year, and really don't want to try and sneak up on a black bear with a chrome-looking gun...it was certainly as reflective as chrome!

When I got Bess as a kit, the barrel was not that highly polished like the 1861, so it was not as much as a problem.

So the cold-blue trick will work, but the natural process works better, looks better in the shorter long run. (?!?!?!) In the long-long run it's probably the same difference.

Rat

 

[Musketeer]

Out here in AZ, it could take FOREVER for a gun to patina naturally! Fortunately, I bought my fowler from a buddy who moved out here from WV. The gun was already a few years old too. I'll be interested to see how my new .66 cal. Dragoon pistol does. Right now I'm just wiping her barrel down (on the outside) with a soft rag with no oil. Only time will tell. By the by, cold bluing is a perfectly acceptable "cheat" for expediting the patina process. SCREW PC! :crackup: :thumbsup:

 

[tg]

Aging barrels a bit is a common thing with many folks as for PC I don't think evrryone had a new gun back when, the biggest PC foopaw is the many browned barrels from a time when browning was not used as a finish....pre-rev or there abouts.