I had a Browning Hi-Power, on which the frame needed a refinish. The baked on finish of the browning was lifting up in many places.
I sent it off to Mac's Shooting Iron
www.shootiniron.com/If I comepletely stripped the frame, he only charged me $30 to refinish it. What a DEAL!
He basically has a process called "Tuff-Gun" which I think deals with parkerizing the frame, then applying a top finish coat.
I asked for standard black finish.
Initial results... I am very pleased. The gun is a nice matte finish... and a little light for black, but close. Serial numbers still stand out nicely... it does not "fill" them at all, thankfully.
Here are before and after pics of the frame.... BIG improvement.
Before: Note the large areas of no finish at all, where it had "lifted" up:
After: Note the nice matte finish, very even and smooth.
Here is how it looks assembled now. The frame looks lighter than it really is, because of the matte finish. It definitely is lighter than the original BHP finish... but it looks very good.
Some of the pins were a little tough to get in, simply because the frame gets finshed in every hole. In actuality, I am happy with this, because the trigger pin was getting loose due to age. It fits very snug now.
I dont know how it will wear... but seems to be pretty tough. Upon installing the slide, it "chips" away some of the finish on the rails (of course) and the fit is a little tight. He provides instructions on how to hand lap the frame to slide fit.
Also, his work was very prompt, and he keeps in constant touch with emails, giving updates. Excellent customer service!!!
I would not hesitate to have work done there again.