Fire arm plating

[kmac]

Will I have to remove the blue finish before any plating can be attempted?

[dedalus]

Yes, absolutely. That is a non-conductive oxide, and plating will not stick to it properly.

As for how to remove it, take a look in some firearms guides, I'm not familiar with firearms. My guess would be: alkaline clean, follow with sulfuric or hydrochloric pickle; but, as I say, check.

[crob241]

In regards to plating a firearm, I use Brownells blue and rust stripper but about any good stripper will work, you just want to be sure its not too strong. After chemical stripping I polish as required then degrease and clean per the book(Caswells)then plate. I have done many in EL nickle, gold and regular nickle.

[dagobert]

Crob, how's the durability with the gold over EL nickel on a firearm? Any problems with it rapidly wearing off if shot? I'm thinking about trying it on an old AK underfolder project I was given, instead of the usual bluing or duracoat.