[buckmark55]

I have read and searched this wonderful forum tirelessly and hate beat a dead horse on "how to clean a nickel plated", but I would like some of your opinions as to how you would handle handle my situation if you were me, as I haven't currently owned any nickel firearms in the past.

Long story short, I recently acquired a LNIB 1981 Nickel Python. It's perfect in every way possible except for some odd smudging on the side of the revolver where it was stored in on the same side all these years. I would really like to polish it out, but I don't know if the juice is worth the squeeze and I would hate to mess this up. By looking at the pictures, does anyone have any advice on how they would handle it? I can only assume this was the how the imperfections were caused, I hope the pictures tell the tale. Thanks in advance!

 

[mafd2]

Flitz polish with a microfiber cloth found in the automotive wax section. I polish all my nickel guns with Flitz.

 

[mafd2]

A few more.

 

[Colt-SL]

+1 on Flitz. A small tube will go a long way. It's a little abrasive so try not to be too overly aggressive in rubbing. And I also echo the use of a microfiber cloth. Not a bad idea to finish with Renaissance wax for a deep shine!

 

[buckmark55]

Mafd2 and Tony,

Thanks for the advice. I went with the Flitz today and wanted to share my "after photo". Looks GREAT!

 

[mafd2]

nice. Enjoy.

 

[Joel6180]

I want to do this to my gun. Should I get the tube or bottle of Flitz? Thanks, Joel

 

[mafd2]

I want to do this to my gun. Should I get the tube or bottle of Flitz? Thanks, Joel

Doesn't matter. Just so it's the Flitz polish. They are just different sizes. I keep a can of the polish and a bottle of Flitz wax on hand. I use the Flitz Gun Wax after the polish with great results. It's for use on blue, stainless and nickel. Some members here use Renaissance wax with great results also.

 

[asa]

+ 1 on the use of Flitz with one caveat: it really is an abrasive so be careful (as others have said) with its use; gentle and microfiber are the methods to use on nickel. Do not use it on pre war Colt blued guns; much too abrasive for that delicate finish. I am also an early Winchester .22 collector and employ Flitz in cleaning fouled and corroded bores; works better than any other bore compound I've ever used to shine 'em up. Terrific stuff if used judiciously. -Asa

 

[ColtStar]

There's another metal polish which has finer abrasive; Simichrome, and it's a German made formulation.
Kind of expensive, and not easy to find, so when polishing metal, I use Flitz first, and then the final polishing is done with Simichrome.
In the case of cleaning nickle finishes, I think I'd only use the Simichrome, IMO.