Question: selecting first gun

[tdelewis]

I am looking to begin engraving my first gun. I want some recommendations. I have been considering stainless thinking it would need little preperation, but I know some stainless can be hard and difficult to cut. Is it easier to prep a gun with a blued surface and then send it out to be finished? Should it be something small like a PPK or would a single action be OK. What I have been considering is a Ruger Vaquero.

 

[Ed Westerly]

Your choices are quite good, but be aware that a stainless Ppk's slide is quite hard. It is not unengravable, but it will be a challange. The Ruger can have quite tough steel in the barrel and cylinder, but is overall not a bad gun to work on. With any gun over about five inchs in length, you will find it easier to engrave if you remove the barrel, so if you can't do that, I would suggest that you choose a shorter gun. Getting a gun reblued is not difficult, but prices range from about $45.00 (you polish and send disassembled) to over $300.00, depending on type of bluing and who you send it to. Have fun!

 

[Dulltool]

Hello and welcome,
I would consider engraving a quality Pietta Cap&Ball revolver as your first gun. They are inexpensive and easy to engrave. I would also think about using French grey as the finish as you can do this yourself and looks great. I would also suggest that you engrave it to keep for yourself. I kept my first as there will be only one first.

Just my thoughts... have fun,

 

[Andrew Biggs]

I would also endorse a cap and ball gun from someone like Uberti, Pietta etc. They are easy and nice to cut and work on.

A word about prep work. Take your time with this. Just about every gun needs some prep work done on it to bring it to an engravable state. You can start engraving straight off the shelf but if you are about to spend a lot of time engraving it then you may as well prep it and make it the best it can be...........You will learn a lot about the process by doing this and it is excellent background knowledge to have even if you only ever do it the once and job it out after that.

With finishing you have so many options over stainless. Things like blueing, browning, selective grey, French grey, and everything else. Again, all of these things will build up your knowledge base.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Doc Mark]

I second (or maybe 3rd) the suggestions to do a Pietta cap and ball pistol. I think Cabellas still has them on sale. They are great to cut and a lot of fun to shoot. Although you can prep the gun with good quality sandpaper and a hard block of wood to back it up, I would consider buying a good draw-file. They are particularly useful if you get a cap and ball pistol with an octagonal barrel. If you have access to a small lathe it is great for finishing the cylinder.

 

[DKanger]

Ditto on the cap n' ball pistol, but be aware that many of them are already roll engraved. Be sure to pick a plain one.

 

[SamW]

I join the C and B choir. Dennis is right about the first one...my first couple are tucked away, out of sight where they belong.

 

[Roger Bleile]

Cap & ball with a brass frame.

 

[Beathard]

Just be careful with your depth on the c&b mentioned. Some of the brass might get soft in spots. If you are heavy handed (like me) it will really dig in.

My first was a Heritage Arms Rough Rider. It cut pretty easily as well.

 

[Eugene Carkoski]

A I recommend starting out with a cap and ball also. That way if things go south you have enough left over to pay your bar tab.

 

[John P. Anderson]

When I started 5-6 years ago I couldn't wait to start carving on one of my guns. I took the good advice of the experienced engravers and waited. I'm ready now but I'm having to much fun carving silver and copper to work on my Pietta which is setting off to the side half prepped an un-shot for over a year. It's the silver's fault.

It took me at least 3-4 years before my skills grew to the point I could carve a consistent style.

John

 

[Mike Fennell]

I chose a beat-up, heavily-used Pietta as my first engraving of a pistol. Spent many hours draw-filing, sanding and polishing before I could start cutting.

Also, I had the opposite of the problem from what Beathard experienced.

On mine, the steel cut very nicely, but the brass was hard, brittle and contained some sub-surface bubbles, which interfered with the line of my borders and the backbones of scrolls on one side, where the bottom fell out of the cut and my graver dived into the pit. Also, when bead-punching the background, an occasional bead would separate from the frame - simply fall off.

I learned a lot about hiding such problems. Each pistol is an individual, and you won't know what you are up against until you start cutting. You will learn a lot from Pietta et.al. -- the hard way -- which you would not want to learn on a more expensive gun.

I must give credit to Mike Dubber for finding a photo of an 1851 and improving upon Colt's pattern.
Here is a photo of the result, which was the best I could do at the time, so I won't hide from it. It has since been blued and just returned to me today, so I will have to take more photos. This one, of course, is pre-blue.

Go for it. You will have fun with it.

 

[Red Green]

Thanks for the advice, I just purchased the long barreled brass frame 1851 from Cabela's, it looks like it will be a fun project.

Bob

 

[billrice@charter.net]

Andrew and others have talked about prepping a gun for engraving could someone please be more detailed in what it takes to prep a gun
to engrave. Also Thanks Mike for showing a picture of one of your guns engraved will be looking forward to seeing the finished pictures.

Bill

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Hi Bill

It means taking the gun apart and then examining for small scratches, dents and dings and then going about making the surface perfect, or as perfect as possible. You achieve this with files, stones and emery cloth. But be aware that emery cloth can round edges. It's important that all sharp edges remain so and none of the contours of the gun are altered.

You also have to be very careful around working parts so you don't make them loose and sloppy.

More than anything it requires patience, attention to detail and being a bit fastidious about the finish. These are the things that make the difference between professionals and amateurs. It's not overly hard to do but it is time consuming.

After you have done it once you will learn one of two things. How to do it better and faster the next time..........or to job it out to someone that can do it cheaper and better.


Cheers
Andrew

 

[Ed Westerly]

Amen, Andrew! The least fun part of the job is prep. It is made easier if the gun is brand new, never fired, just as it came from the manufacturer, but how often does that happen on a paying job??? I would like to add that I agree with those that have said to start with a cheaper gun than those first listed. I was focused on the ease of cutting, rather than the level of expertise needed. I think cap and ball is probably best bang for smaller bucks, easier to get over when you make a mistake, etc. I would stay away frpm the brass framed ones, though, because getting good with steel requires cutting steel, and brass is really for the expert, as it gives even very good engravers fits. IMHO

 

[Mike Fennell]

Also, when draw-filing, especially on octagon barrels and thin sideplates, measure from time to time to make sure that the side plates don't become too thin and that the flats of the octaon barrel remain of equal dimensions. If you file too much on one flat, you will have to file the others to the same dimension. If you measure often, you will minimise the filing chore.

Of course, my next one is new, in the box, never fired and was made by Colt.

 

[billrice@charter.net]

Andrew, Ed and Mike

Thank you very much for the detailed explanation. I am interested in this thread because I was invited by the Cowboy Quick draw club here in my area To setup a table to show off my engraving at their next year annual shoot out show. I was originally interested in just showing some knives engraved but now you guys have pricked my interest in engraving a Cap and Ball gun just like the ones they use in their their competition. I am looking forward to more info on this discussion.

Bill

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Hi Bill

The only way to really find out is to get your feet wet and jump in. You will pretty quickly find out what works and what doesn't. The cap n balls are generally nice to engrave/prep and cheap to buy.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Give it a go

Cheers
Andrew

 

[JJ Roberts]

Bill,I've set up at few SASS events and found that the only engraving they wanted was there names on the back straps of there six shooter,but like Andrew said get your feet wet.I refuse to do just names without other engraving.Good luck. J.J.