Finally got my Rock all done. Got it in 2009.

Before:



Decent looking pistol I always thought.

Problem started when I got Hoppes #9 on it. It stained the finish and started taking it off, esepcially under the finger groove section of the Hogue wrap grips. So......

First, I stripped it completely down and had the electroplate matte nickel removed. Also took the opportunity to re-contour the thumb safeties and do a light dehorn job on all the parts. Bead blasted all the parts and had them blued.

As for the frame and slide, I flat-topped it, did a French border with a 1/16" ball mill, did the ball cuts on the spring tunnel, and beveled the lower slide edge. The frame got a stippled front strap, and both got a general dehorn job.

Finally, the frame and slide were blasted and electroless nickel plated, and a EGW MSH/magwell as well as a set of Davidson Horned Lizards were added.

This is how she looks now:

WOW!  Very nice!

Looks great  nice gun

Very nice! Can you tell me how you stippled the front strap?
Did the Hoppes damage the previous nickle plating? If so, aren't you worried about the new plating?
Do you mind telling how much the plating cost?
Thanks!

That looks great!

Looks great!!!

Very nice so when can you do mine... lol

What size ball mill bit did you use on the front of the side?
 

By hand with a couple sizes of punches and a ball peen hammer. Yes it was tedious, and took a while. I used a round point, and a triangle point. The pics don't really show the shapes of the punch marks, but the end result is like a strip of permanent skateboard tape. It is important to keep the punches sharp. I laid out the general dimension of area I wantred to texture, then outlined it in punch marks, then filled it in. It is NOT easy to get the edges straight on a rounded surface with a punch.

The old plating was electroplate nickel, which has a base layer of copper, then the nickel. From what I was able to learn from researching, that was the problem. The Hoppes, being a copper solvent, leached through the pores of the nickel, and attacked the copper. Electroless has no copper undercoat.

Either way, there will be nothing but CLP and lubes getting anywhere near the frame and slide from now on.

The plating was done as a side job at a plating shop that does a large volume of parts that we make at the machine shop I work at. Cost was $0.

That said, CCR refinishing and Robar do it for what seems fairly reasonable, depending on what you want done. I'm sure there are others as well.

1/2" ball nose end mill.