Alchemy does the nicest bluing I’ve ever seen. I keep a picture of one of their 1911s on my phone because it’s my dream gun.

I have two, of your blued 1911's, the Prodigy, and the Prime Elite, no issues, but then again, I learned getting the fingerprint oils off a steel gun in the 80's. I guess I listened when someone knew better than me told me so, but then again, it was a different time...we learned from our elders. Appreciate your content, and your knowledge.

I own some old colt revolvers, 1911’s, as well as some older s&w revolvers from the 60’s and 70’s with the exception of some muzzle wear from the leather holsters they ride in, they look fantastic. Grew up with blue and walnut guns and I guess I’m just old and set in my ways. But I take the extra step to keep them nice and when I order my new prime which will be soon I hope , it too will be a blue 5’ govt model.

I always enjoy the content. Keep up the great work!

As someone who carried a blued, steel 1911 for 19.5 years professionally; ya’ll don’t know how good you’ve got it today with these fancy finishes. But you know what, a worn blue finish from a gun career well lived is a beautiful thing. Dudes crying about their blue finish aren’t shooters of any note. Or at all probably.

Oiled up, then put into an individual soft Bore Store for safe keeping. That’s my system.

Hot salt bluing is a fantastic option and adds some corrosion protection to the surface, especially if the surface is smooth. The surface of the steel is converted to FE3O4 which is basically rust, so in combination with some oil, the rust protection is sufficient, especially if the firearm is stored dry, it will never rust. I keep my complete storage below 45% humidity and never had any issues with rust, even with parts I didn't even blue and oil. Some people sweat more, so adding some oil on the surface after using the firearm makes sense. If somebody doesn't want to take any care of rust protection, hard chrome is a great option, i have never seen a properly hard chromed gun rust. I personally love to micro blast my steel parts with a hard 0,02mm diameter compound, that makes a very shiny surface without any visible tooling marks or to do a mirror polish and then hot salt blue the parts, temperature of the salts has to be exactly 130-132°C to get the darkest black, salts/water mixture has to be about 50/50, i usually add slightly more water, wait till it boils, and add salt till i reach exactly the 130°C. Adding water is extremely dangerous because that dangerous stuff starts splashing around then, because water becomes gas at 100°C. At 128°C I didn't get the darkest possible black on some parts, so having the exact temperature is critical. Different types of steel make for a difference colour, that's why you find very different colours on some Colt 1911 frames and slides, and why Norinco has nearly the identical colour, because they are using the identical steel for the frame and the slide. Construction steel is the easiest to blue because of the lack of chrome, nickel and so on. Too much Nickel can cause the steel to turn red from my experience, like some Colt 1991 slides. I blued one of them several times, it got a dark black at first, but turned slightly red within the next months, after doing XRF analysis the difference to other Colt steels, that never turned slightly red, was only Nickel. What I also figured out is, that not only the different steels vary in colour, the HRC hardness also makes a difference. You can see it on firearms like the Steyr GB, where the cutout of the slide catch seems to be induction hardened, colour is slightly different, it looks like an imperfection but it is actually a difference in HRC hardness. I also did some experiments with charcoal bluing and got pretty decent results but I don't like it, the main reason is that the steel is kept in temperature areas that may lower its impact resistance, dependent from the steel and it will never get as dark and shiny as a proper hot salt bluing.

I think he does some of the best bluing.

I'm one of those acidic handed guys, that's why your building hi cap #2 in hard chrome.

I would be interested in seeing a video on Robs thoughts on a flat firing pin stop and why he doesn’t use them in his guns. I know Wilson is pretty much the only one who sticks to the original design. Just curious as to why or why not it’s a good idea. Love all your guys’ content!

I’ve been using rem oil wipes or Hoppe’s to wipe down my Quantico. I figure if it starts to show signs of rusting I’ll send it in for a DLC finish.

I will never accept the sound of my recorded voice. Throw some preservative type product suggestions here in the comments.

I daily appendix carry a 1911, so, although I like a blued gun, DLC, stainless steel and hard chrome are what I choose.

I have one of your pistols. Unfortunetly I wasn't aware how easy blued guns can rust I suppose. I have a blued FN1910 that's 110 years old with bluing still intact. your grip lasted about 6 months before it got surface rust. Perhaps I should send it in, get the grip area reblued and oil the heck out of it from now on?

A PICTURE IS WORTH 1000 WORDS!

WD-40!? There's a first for everything 😮

So does that mean that bead blast blue is the way to go if you want your 1911 be more resistant to wear? Or does it come down to mantainance? Love the polished blueing but I will use my gun regularly. Should I opt for bead blast now? And no, I don't want DLC.

Boeshield is your friend. (not as a lube, don't listen to them on that.)

IMHO ALL guns should come blued as their "standard finish"...with all other finishes as "options"....nothing like a blued gun :)

The master what?

Where the guns?

Honestly I love my 1911 but I’m not afraid of the holster wear it ads character.