I want to refinish an original 5.7 Winchester.

[Bubba-7]

It has had most of the original finish removed from all parts.
I looked at Dean's site but I am looking for the medium gray found on Winchesters. I am not looking for the near black found on M1 Garands. At least his pictures look that way. I also want to blue the parts that were originally blued. Is there a gunsmith that came do that?

Information

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[INLAND44]

You want Zinc Phosphate, or 'Parkerizing'. It's an involved process to refinish a carbine and have it look right - not the actual work, but the research to know what the finish is on each part. Generally, you can assume that the barreled receiver, trigger housing and slide would be Parkerized. On the barrel, the band and sight would be left on, with the band being pushed all the way back. The band and front sight should be slightly different in shade than the barrel because they are of different types of steel - don't expect them to exactly match the barrel because they shouldn't. most of the other parts should be blued including the bolt. Many parts may look Parkerized but darker than the receiver. This is easy to accomplish but you have to know what it was like originally. The bottom line is simple - don't send it off to be 'Parkerized' without exact instructions on what to blue.

[Neal Myers]

You might want to talk to "Chuck in Denver" at Warpath Vintage, molinenorski@msn.com . He is very experienced in duplicating USGI Parkerizing, plus he also does bluing.

Neal

[DaveHH]

Inlands AFTER assembly.

[INLAND44]

So, how did Winchester then get the barrel band clamp all the way down the barrel and the front sight over the muzzle without scratching the soft Parkerizing? How did they do that?

[imarangemaster]

Probably with a thick oil or grease.

[DaveHH]

where the sight was put on when assembled. Also, if they were finished after assembly you would find the shadow at the barrel/receiver junction like Inlands, and you don't see it at all. I would say that there were small assembly scratches when the band went on, but Winchester's finish is not at all fragile. My source for this finished before assembly information is BQ.

[DaveHH]

I own two carbines that are thought to be in original configuration, both have the original finish. The 5.6 Winchester has a much different finish than the 5.4 Inland. It is much more gray and much smoother. The band can be moved freely along the barrel without resistance and it leaves no scratches when this is done. The Inland which is about 6 months newer than the Winchester (9-44? vs 3-44) has a finish that scratches very easily. Every time the band slides along the barrel for disassembly, it leave scratches in the much darker finish. The band fits much tighter than the Winchester band, leading one to think that it has a smaller diameter or that the Inland barrel is fatter or the finish is thicker. I think that the two carbines are finished with a different process as they look completely different.

[deldriver]

I wouldn't refinish it if it were my Winchester M1 carbine. I mean an original 5.7 Winchester is pretty hard to come by and you are killing the value of it to some degree. There are some scarce parts on it like the barrel band and to some degree the trigger housing. What about bluing an original Winchester round bolt? I am sure it will look good when it's done, but think about it anyway.

[INLAND44]

Dave; most likely your barrel clamp is a little looser than it would have been new. That little clamp has everything to do with carbine accuracy. However, having one just right so it can move easily on the barrel but not let the barrel move around in it while firing is probably a good thing. The one on my Type II band on the Inland is tight too. I don't worry about the scratches when moving it to assemble/disassemble the carbine because you would certainly expect that kind of wear on a used G.I. carbine. No such wear could mean a looser clamp, a new carbine or a new refinish.
The Winchesters I've seen did have the best Parkerizing jobs on them - smooth as you said and not too thick and 'crystally' like many Inlands. The Winchester Park'ing also seems to get more green in it over time.