[Clyde]

hey all, i got a buddy with an old blued steel pistol than he wants to have parkerized. parkerizing is easy but we'd have to have a guy in a local shop do the bead blasting. i was just curious, do i need to COMPELTELY take down the pistol, so there is absolutely nothing in the slide or frame, or can i simply remove the slide, take out the barrel and do the frame and slide like that? thanks!

Ned to take it down completely, springs, pins, whatever parts there are, all out, at least for the Parkerizing, and I'd suggest for the bead-blasting as well. My first active duty assignment newarly 45 years ago now was to an Army Maintenance Plant in Germany. It had a small arms shop that did complete refurbishment and refinishing on small arms, and the lads who ran the Parkerizing line were pretty intent on getting all guns completely disassembled and degreased before they went into their tanks.

 

[Clyde]

Depends on what you want to do in terms of appearance, and probably what gun you are working on. US-spec arms with exposed hammers normally Parked them by the time I was in, and most other parts as well. NOT springs. Need to be careful bead-blasting (depending to a degree on the media selected for the degree of care required) surfaces that engage others (sears, hammer notches, things like that). Common sense and thought will pretty well tell you what you need to blast, and what you don't.

 

[Clyde]

Do NOT reassemble until AFTER it has been Parked. Do NOT Parkerize (or bead-blast) springs. Listen to dfariswheel on that and things like sears, hammer notches, and such.