First of all, welcome to the site. There's a lot of knowledge here.

Next, we need pictures. There's a thread somewhere that will tell you how to post them.

Finally, that "brown" you're thinking about taking off, to bring this gun back to "shiny gun"? That's called "patina". It's other name is "value". Do not take it off. Just hold off cleaning it until some of the very knowledgeable Lefever fans here can get a look at the gun.

fiery, dependable, occasionally transcendent