Hard Chroming

[rd62]

In 1973 while working as a uniform officer in Miami (Dade County PSD) I had my S&W model 19 armoloyed. Shortly thereafter I contacted Guy Hogue who was with LAPD & sent him an outline of my hand. Mr. Hogue made a set of grips out of goncalo alves that fit my hand perfectly. The grips had what he called a recoil shoulder which he felt helped redirect the recoil of the revolver. I still have the armoloyed Model 19 & it is still wearing Mr. Hogues grips & both are still in excellent shape. A testimony to quality workmanship.

What? No pictures?

[Super77]

In 1973 while working as a uniform officer in Miami (Dade County PSD) I had my S&W model 19 armoloyed. Shortly thereafter I contacted Guy Hogue who was with LAPD & sent him an outline of my hand. Mr. Hogue made a set of grips out of goncalo alves that fit my hand perfectly. The grips had what he called a recoil shoulder which he felt helped redirect the recoil of the revolver. I still have the armoloyed Model 19 & it is still wearing Mr. Hogues grips & both are still in excellent shape. A testimony to quality workmanship.

I’d love to see a picture of that!

[Stephanie B]

I guess I'm seriously considering this. I ain't getting any younger.

The timing on the gun is good. My one concern is the sights; I've shot guns with bright nickel sights and, frankly, they suck.

[dsa]

In 1973 while working as a uniform officer in Miami (Dade County PSD) I had my S&W model 19 armoloyed. Shortly thereafter I contacted Guy Hogue who was with LAPD & sent him an outline of my hand. Mr. Hogue made a set of grips out of goncalo alves that fit my hand perfectly. The grips had what he called a recoil shoulder which he felt helped redirect the recoil of the revolver. I still have the armoloyed Model 19 & it is still wearing Mr. Hogues grips & both are still in excellent shape. A testimony to quality workmanship.

How about a pic, please? I am curious about the custom grip.

[awp_101]

My one concern is the sights; I've shot guns with bright nickel sights and, frankly, they suck.

True but nail polish works on chrome as well...

[JAH 3rd]

I've sent in one revolver, S&W model 49 (blue) and one pistol, Sig P220 (blue). Sent the 49 in for the Metalife plating. This gave a matte stainless steel appearance. I was pleased with the workmanship and appearance. Still have the revolver. Later, I sent in the P220 for the same plating. It looked like stainless steel as well. Again, was pleased with workmanship and appearance. The 220 eventually left the fold.

I used Mahovsky's Metalife for the plating.

[DoubleD]

I live in a very rural, wooded part of the state. Between my abysmal internet service & my archaic internet skills posting photo’s seems like a task that is beyond my means. The only photo’s I’ve been able to send go from the Google & Apple photo App to my email or text messages. Thinking about hard Chroming though I also have a Hi-Power from the run that the FBI did after the shootout in Miami. I was on the Atlanta APD SWAT team then & a few friends & I used to shoot with some of the GBI Fugitive teams members. The FBI had a member on the GBI Team. One of the GBI guys had acquired the Hi-Power from another member who had added to the purchase when made through Novak. I traded him a P-226 for it. (He had been a long time Smith & Wesson revolver shooter - weren’t we all back then - & he was worried about remembering to flick the safety off in a high pressure situation). The Browning is a sweet shooting gun & the hard chrome though not armoloy is still holding up fine. If memory serves Armoloy used to be located on East Dagget in Fort Worth. That was a long time ago though & I could be wrong about that.

[DoubleD]

I forgot to add that when I received the Hi-Power it was blued. I had the hard chrome done through a gunsmith I used in Atlanta.

[41magfan]

My one concern is the sights; I've shot guns with bright nickel sights and, frankly, they suck.

Suck might be an understatement!

If my DS was going to be used for anything serious, I'd tape off the front sight and rear sight notch and apply some flat black Cerakote to the rear and perhaps a hi-viz color to the front. This isn't a perfect solution, but at least it would make the sights usable.

[jtcarm]

Speaking of cheap revolvers and fancy finishes:

Jim Supica, of Standard Catalog (and other collecting) fame collects SN 1 guns.

Among them is SN 1 of the Charter Undercover, which he had engraved by the Colt Custom Shop.