Chrome plated parade rifle

[gnoahhh]

I was offered a truly nice parade rifle (M96 w/ a very nice bore- go figure), for a truly bargain basement price. The only thing holding me back is the beautiful shiny chrome finish. :( Has anyone gone the route of reverse plating to remove said chrome? I'm game to try it if it doesn't mean tons of equipment, too much alchemy and/or backyard voodoo, and a license from the EPA.

[reincarnated]

If it was offered to me at a bargain basement price, I would grab it and worry about the problems later. But that is just me. Bands, buttplate, trigger guard could be replaced if you cannot find out how to remove the chrome plating.

I know zero about chrome plating, but some questions come to mind.

Was the action polished before plating? How much lettering remains?

How was the plating done? And how much was done? Action only? Barreled action? Barreled action plated inside and out?

Perhaps the bore looks good because it was plated. I would slug the bore carefully and then look closely at the chamber. My concern would be that a really complete plating job, one that plated the bore and chamber, might have reduced bore, groove & chamber diameters.

[gnoahhh]

Every square inch of steel on the gun is plated. Bore is not- as far as I can tell (must have been plugged during the plating process). Probably polished beforehand, but edges sharp and lettering deep and not smeared.

This isn't a gun I want to restore to "originality". Just want to restore some dignity to the old girl if it's do-able with a minimum of fuss. The stock is pristine with sharp cartouche. The gun looks like it rested in an armory for 70 years and then made a trip to the platers, followed by 30 trips up Main Street in Memorial day parades.

[Top Dean]

where is it at and what do they want for it as I would love to have it!!!

[reincarnated]

My bet is that the plating was done in the 1950s. After that, in the 1960s, Memorial & Independence Day parades were not as popular, dwindling down to near-zero today.

Is the bolt plated? Does it work smoothly?

I just did some Google research on chrome plating. It is an electrolytic process and ought to be reversible, but just how was not explained. Some of the sites I visited indicated that submerging the item in some sort of electrolytically-active liquid (sulfuric acid?) was necessary.

Some of what I read indicated that chrome plating in years past made use of hexavalent chrome, highly toxic, an EPA priority pollutant or some such. Even discussing this probably puts us on somebody's watch list. If you are successful in unplating, the liquid medium will be both contaminated & probably hazardous to your health. Any gas bubbles coming out of the liquid during electrolysis are probably carcinogenic.

Maybe you can cover the chrome with some sort of dark finish. IIRC, there is a black spray-on & bake-on finish that looks a bit like bluing.

[psteinmayer]

I've heard of others removing the chrome from Krags. I believe it leaves the metal "In the white," so some re-bluing would be necessary. For what it's worth, I have also heard that normally, breaches and muzzles were plugged during the plating processes to preserve the integrity of the bore... although most parade weapons are normally rendered inoperable. I believe that any firm that could remove the chrome would also have the necessary EPA compliancy, so the chrome would not pose a risk to anyone.

[DocCasualty]

Sounds like a rifle to jump on regardless for a bargain basement price. If reverse electroplating and re-blueing is economical, then you have a restored Krag. I'm sure that blows a hole in collectability but others can address than better than I but nonetheless, a fine example otherwise. As a parade rifle that sounds like it still could be a shooter at the range, it still has a history and worth it for its own history if truly a bargain price. Too bad the history is unknown, as that possibly could make it a collectible in its own right.

[gnoahhh]

I went back over and grabbed it. Payment included a swap of a S&W 2206 .22 pistol and a smattering of cash. Considering I had $200 in the Smith, plus the $75 cash, I got it for $275 (although realistically I coulda gotten maybe $300 for the Smith in an outright sale). Contacting platers in the Baltimore area is commencing, as I realize that the reverse plating may be injurious to my health- not something a guy with cardio-pulmonary issues should get into I suppose. If the cost of doing it is prohibitive I'll look into "coloring" the plating. Rust bluing after de-plating is the goal though.

Thanks for all the input!

[butlersrangers]

post pictures (before & after) - please

[Top Dean]

any more left where you got that one from?