What do you guys use to protect the case colors? I've seen some old L.C.Smith's with what looks like varnish on the receivers. I thought one of the previous owners had just coated it all, but somewhere I saw that was done at the factory. Thanks for any thoughts or help.

Hello DB,

This from the Mster himself:

"Posted by Oscar Gaddy (Member # 38) on November 16, 2003, 12:58 PM:

For some time, I have been using a clear-coat aerosol spray-on lacquer made and sold by Behlens. It is a true cellulose lacquer that you can spray on and have a very uiform coat without bubbles and running with just a little care in application. When you need to redo it, it can easily be removed by merely soaking the parts in acetone. I have been very pleasedd with it's performance and I use it on all Damascus barrels that I refinish and on some guns that I color caseharden if the owner wants a protective coating.

Whatever you use, I recommend that you completely strip the internal parts and degrease carefully before applying the protective coating. You will then need to lubricate the appropriate parts and places when you reassemble.

Oscar Gaddy "

JC(AL)

If I may add to JayCee's post, according to my notes the Behlen's product number referred to by Dr. Gaddy is B101-0800.

Thanks guys. Is the Behlen product special for case colors? And why not coat the whole gun, barrels and all? Thanks again.

The Behlen product is sold mostly by woodworking shops and is readily available from on-line stores. It's a wood finish product that Dr. Gaddy found to work well on case colors. It forms a protective film or coating that works to protect the colors from being worn off. Advantages are that it's easy to apply, dries quickly, doesn't impart any color of it's own, and is easily removed by lacquer thinner so a new coat can be applied later. Biggest issue is NOT to get it on the wood; it will damage just about any finish. As for the barrels, I guess you could apply it but bluing doesn't come off nearly as easily as cc. The lacquer wouldn't hurt anything, but it's probably not necessary. Not sure how it might affect the color/sheen/depth of the bluing.

A good clear acrylic lacquer aerosol is sold in many auto parts stores under the Dupli-Color line of touch up paints. See http://www.duplicolor.com/products/pro_aerosols.html
DPL-106

Acrylic lacquer is water clear and tougher than nitro-cellulose lacquer, yet offers all the easy handling properties of the traditional material.

OB