Holster wear?
 

O.K........I know it's a fact of life, esp. for 1.) blued steel and 2.) leather holsters. There is going to be some wear on the finish. However, I was quite surprised to see how quickly the bluing has worn on the muzzle of my Detective special, esp. since I don't carry it that much...I would have expected more wear on my M39, as I tend to carry that gun more frequently.
Guns are tools to me, so a scratch or ding here or there doesn't bother me too much. However, I HATE rust!!! And I plan on carrying these guns while fishing, hunting in inclement weather, ect. Does nickle or chrome plating decrease the amount of holster wear? I am thinking about having my Colt detective special 'metalifed' (its a form of chrome plating) to decrease holster wear and make it more impervious to rust. The gun has already been reblued (it was a wreck when I bought it, so I had a gunsmith tune it up and reblue it for a carry gun).
Any thoughts would be appreciated......thanks in advance.

Mr. 16 gauge, I have a S&W Model 25 in .45 Colt that I had finished with brushed chrome. It doesn't have the glare of regular chrome finish but is very hard. Haven't noticed any holster wear as yet. But I still like blue color on my handguns. If I was to do it again I would ask for brushed black chrome.

LOL, I've always kinda looked as 'saddle wear' on a blue pistol as to kin with grey hair....it's been earned!
Dan

Mr. 16 gauge,

Holster wear is honest wear. Leather hosters cause more of it than nylon holsters on blued guns. I have holster wear on several blued guns and occasionally I put a Q-Tip of Cold Blue on the shiny finish and have a nice even blue again. I wipe my guns down with an oily cloth at the end of each day's carry and never had rust.

Adam

I carry a S&W Model 60 revolver
 

It is stainless steel and seems impervious to holster wear. All the best...
Gil

Guess I have to agree with Dan, it's honest wear and goes with my white hair. Just so the don't develope all the physical problems with age.

I have looked into this extensively and have only found one finish that will hold up to constant holster wear, weather and the wear of extensive use and that is hard chrome.

I also use only one applicator, Bob Cogan of Accurate Plating, because Bob builds and has built for decades IPSC/USPSA & IDPA competition guns. So he knows what is required and has built two race guns for me. His plating process is how my competition guns could stand up to 60,000 rounds per year. He also plates my custom rifle actions, all chrome molly done in satin hard chrome with stainless barrels.

I will tell you how hard Bob's plating is as I have seen this actually done. Cut off 3" of a plated 870 12 ga barrel, put it into a vise, squeeze it flat, hammer the jaws closed and the folds do not flake!! That is one tough finish.

Take a look here:

http://www.apwcogan.com/