My first handgun, purchased as a 21st birthday present to myself in 1991, was a blued steel, 6" GP100.  I had many good times with that gun and put a lot of rounds through it.  As a dumb kid, I even managed to wear out the forcing cone with some ridiculously hot 158 grain loads with 2400 powder.

Anyway, the gun was looking as beat up and worn out as it's owner, so I figured I'd rehab it.  The 6" barrel seemed like a great idea when I bought it, but it's too long for practical belt carry or for use in competition, and I wore it out, so I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with it.  I was on the phone with Hamilton Bowen, asking some questions about his truly excellent iron sights, and he asked me about my project.  I told him what I was thinking about doing, and he said he had a barely used 4" stainless steel barrel laying around, he'd sell me for cheap, along with the sights.  Mr. Bowen is a fine gentlemen, by the way.  Putting a stainless steel barrel on a carbon steel gun isn't a big deal anymore, because there are so many modern finishes available that will go over both kinds of steel and look the same.

So, I turned the gun over to Andy Horvath and he started working on it.  Andy is a true master and artist of sixguns.  He's in his 70s now, and still working, but I'm sure that won't last forever.  If you want this old school master to work on your guns, I wouldn't dilly dally.

So here is the original gun, looking old and beat up:

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Here it is with the barrel and rear sight I bought from Bowen, plus a new tritium fiber optic front sight:

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And here it is, bead blasted and ready to get sent off to get black nitrided:

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When she's all done, I'll post more pics.

Looks like a good start.  The first center fire handgun I bought was a Ruger Security-Six in 1977.  It too is in sad shape.  Now that I have retired, I have considered rust bluing it.  It is still pretty tight and shoots well.  Might start on that this fall.

Are you going to polish it up before sending it off for rust blue?  If you don't need to make it look "fancy," you might consider this:

http://blacknitride.com/firearms/

It's very hard and durable.

Which front sight is that?  I've got an early GP161 that was my first handgun as well, a gift from my boss at the time.  It also has the push the button to change front sight too.  I've thought about changing it to a 4" but it's one of the most accurate guns I've owned and I've taken a few deer with it.  

I think I found it, the HiViz LiteWave H3?  https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1026208268?pid=176263

That's the one.

This is the rear sight:

Bowen Rear Sight

The front sight is on the thick side.  I might have Andy open up the rear sight slightly, to give a little more daylight on either side.

Cool, thanks.  Not a bad price on them either; I'm cheap and hate to pay a bunch for tritium on guns I don't shoot a lot.  

Apparently I can't type tonight.

The cool thing about rust blue is it is very easy and safe to do at home.  It is labor intensive however.  Just waiting for cooler weather to set in.  Black nitride does look very nice, and is very rugged and durable.  for a working gun it would be great.  My Security-Six will probably only see a few more range trips, and won't be carried on a regular basis.  Rust blue will work well for that.  I rust blued the slide of my Government model clone about 20 years ago, and it has seen a lot of carry since then.  Doesn't show very much wear though.

Oh, if you have the stuff to do a nice job of blueing yourself, that’s great!

Doesn't take much.  Most of the expense is various grits of sandpaper, which you would also incur if you polished it before sending it out.  Commercial rust blue solutions have increased in price, like everything else, but I have a half a bottle left, and it is possible to mix at home.  The best solutions contain a small amount of nitric acid which is difficult to procure in small quantities.  Other than that, you need some steel wool, one of those carding brushes is also nice.

I was thinking it was more complicated than that.   Parkerizing, I think is a lot more complicated.

Nah, even my dumb self has parkerized thing including handguns (I don't have a container I can heat that's long enough to do rifle barrels or barreled actions).  Tear it down, degrease thoroughly, blast in whatever media you choose for the finish you want and degrease thoroughly again, mix your solution depending on the color you want (you can buy solutions or make your own out of hardware store stuff, lots of formulas on-line), bring your solution to temp and keep it there (important part), preheat your parts in hot water to the same temp as your solution (seems to give a better, more consistent finish since the temp of the solution doesn't change), immerse your parts in the solution (longer for a darker finish), then rinse in your hot water solution then spray or submerge in light oil.  Wipe down and allow to dry.  That's pretty much it- oh, and don't stand over it and inhale.

I wouldn't do anything like a classic Garand or other valuable gun, but what I've done looked fine to me.  I used to buy Taurus and Rossi revolvers back when they could be found cheap, tear them down, clean them up, work on any scratches/gouges/etc. and polish the parts then parkerize them to give a working finish (if they needed a refinish).  Just fun and relatively inexpensive projects back when I was learning to work on my own guns.  I'd sell them for what I had in them to friends or co-workers who just wanted a nightstand gun and buy another to work on.  I've also done a couple of beat up S&Ws that were former police guns with a lot of wear and some pistols including a couple of Stars, cheap 1911s like Auto Ordinance, etc.  Basically just stuff I found cheap and interesting.  I haven't messed with any in years though.

Yes, parkerizing at home is fairly simple and also makes a good finish.  I parkerized several guns which I then either Gun-Koted or Duracoated.  Paint over park is a good finish but just park by itself works well.  Hot salt blue is possible for the home hobbyist, but I have avoided it.  Just personal preference.

Since I have a stainless steel barrel with a carbon steel frame and cylinder, I'm pretty much locked into a vapor deposition coating.  They aren't cheap for just one gun, but they are incredibly durable.

If you're careful, parkering on your stove (I'm single, so I can do that kinda shit )can come out pretty damned good. I did coat over it with Alumahyde II "dark parkerizing gray", just to make the exterior maintenance-free. Made for an excellent "one-off".

That looks fantastic.  Great work!

My wife gets pissed at me when I make a mess of the kitchen cooking chili.  She'd probably divorce me over stove top parkerizing.

Agreed, I really like the looks of that.  A friend of mine has a 30-30 he had parkerized after the original bluing got damaged (I'm brain farting and can't recall if it's a Winchester or Marlin at the moment; I really need to get a picture of it next time I'm at his place).  He stripped and refinished the wood with boiled linseed oil and it now has a very utilitarian look.  He uses it primarily as a hog gun in the swamps.