I saw these photos on the internet and thought they would be informative for some of our younger readers. I am of two minds when it comes to refinishing guns.
The first thought is I like a well worn gun that has some miles on it.
The second thought is I prefer that wear be mine. Carrying a firearm with someone else’s wear on it is akin to wearing a stranger’s dirty underwear.
Yeah, yeah. Here come the milsurp guys who want to drop in photos of their WWII M1 Garand’s. I agree. I get it. “If these guns could talk”.
But the pistol pictured here was sold through Bud’s. Is mechanically fine, but seems pretty assed up. It’s not a historical firearm in my eyes so is a prime candidate for refinishing if the owner chooses to do so.
If I was just keeping this CZ as a reference gun in the library, I probably wouldn’t refinish it. It gets pulled out as needed if someone wants or needs to play with a CZ pattern of pistol. But speaking from my personal preference, if I was “ordered” to make this my 24/7 carry gun? I would probably give the gun a complete work over.
I would have it detail stripped looking for damage and have a CZ armorer check parts to make sure they are in spec and by how much? I would have it re-sprung. And then I would look into having it refinished.
Because if it was my 24/7 carry gun, brand new finishes help keep it from rusting. And I can use new wear as an indicator of how things are progressing. The only caveat is….maybe…I would look into having something applied that was as thin as possible. Especially if it’s going inside the working parts.
I have seen more than one gun that ran fine, turn into a jam-o-matic after having it’s interior dimensions goofed up by shake-n-bake finishes. If I had to use one of those finishes? I would keep the frame and slide assembled, tape off everything I don’t want coated, and just apply it externally.
Marky
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