Old Colt Patina

[Skyjay]

Howdy folks, hopefully I'm not in the wrong place here, but I figured a gun made in 1921 would fit in this place.

So I recently came home with this beauty

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53801192/2014-05-01%2017.28.58-1.jpg

I'm sure most of you savvy folks recognize a Colt 1908 Vest Pocket (.25 ACP). She's really shiny, most of the original blueing is intact and in really good shape. There's some coloration on the hardened bits (trigger, grip safety, safety) to show the hand-made qualities of the gun.
There's some patina on the slide and it's something that really stands out against the near-mirror finish of the gun. So my questions is, with a firearm this old is there a non-abrasive way to get rid of this patina, or am I stuck with the blemishes? Also, is the colt style of blueing to this mirror shine any different than an old military blue? Any considerations I should have to keep this baby pretty?

Thanks guys!

[sealocan]

the coloration that you talked about on the safety trigger and grip safety or something called color case hardening.
you might have known that but if if not check it out online. I personally think it's a beautiful addition to any classic firearm.

the patina on the slide does not look that bad to me in the photo.
in fact it looks like you have a collectible Colt in nice condition.

and although I'm not a purist.
and I believe you can do whatever you want with your personal items.
I think you should know that you're probably bring down the value if you do anything to the original Colt finish, other than just care for it.

and here is a little useless information.
at one point Colt was actually having the Spanish company Astra make their small 25 caliber pocket pistols.
but I believe yours pre- dates that event.

wait on second thought, its terrible.. send it to me.

[esp1]

it looks like an ok gun to me. just keep like it is and clean then oil it very lightly and keep it in a nice dry safe maybe with a silicone rug around it.

[Mike A]

Beautiful little gun; lube it and leave it.

BTW the Spanish .25 "Colt Junior" was MUCH later and had a "rowel-style" hammer like an early Browning Hi-Power. It was an entirely different gun from the original Colt and it's Belgian clone, the Browning "Baby". (The original "Baby" was just like this Colt; bigger and different from the later "Baby Browning" sold post-WWII).

[VegasND]

Nice little pistol. Make sure it gets range time because they are a lot of fun to shoot.

['ol shooter]

I inherited a 1907 Savage .32acp made in 1921, and it had a light coat of rust and very slight pitting. What I did was to lightly go over the blue with 0000 steel wool saturated with Rem-Oil, wiping with a soft cloth, and watching my progress. Don't touch the case hardening with anything but an oily soft cloth. It will definitely improve the overall look of your prize, just avoid overworking any edges. My barrel is pitted badly on the inside, having rarely been cleaned, plus the corrosive primers in that era. Good luck.

[Father Ted]

I'd leave it as is. That's on my want list. I have a Colt 1903 in 32 acp. Fun little pistols.
Cheers

[bsg]

congrats. maintain the integrity of the pistol as it is meant to be.

[Tonymin]

1983? I have underwear older than that...

[mosinnagantm9130]

Looks good.

[SVT-40]

From the H&R 922 preservation thread.....

Read below and follow those instructions... The only additional advice I would add is use a nickle instead of a penny, as penny's today are zinc.

And as below NEVER use steel wool of any sort on any blued firearm. It will scratch the surface.

Use Bronze or copper wool guys, not steel!
Bronze will remove rust without removing the blue.
Odilatinam, the objective here is to remove active rust. The first thing is to get the rust soaked with a penetrating oil. Use Kroil if available. If not, I've used ATF and Hoppes mixed, with good results.
Use the edge of a copper penny, or copper tubing to get the heavy stuff off, then go over it with the wool. Soak the wool in the oil as you work.
Rinse it off with Brake Kleen (non chlorinated) and wipe dry. If there is any active rust left, it will light up neon orange, Repeat as needed.
When all the orange is gone, wipe down everything with a silicon based gun oil like CLP BreakFree. Cold blue is a metal dye, and does not protect the gun from rust. Rust bluing, or hot salts bluing do. You can cold blue the cleaned spots to match, then use CLP over that to prevent further rust there.

[6mmintl]

Patina is rust, Trapp55 has the right answer.

[Skyjay]

Wow guys thanks for the responses! I didn't think she was that much of a looker, but I suppose it's worth showing off the goods. I'll have to try some of the stuff SVT-40 kindly brought over for me and keep updated, hopefully I'll be able to make it prettier. I do plan on taking this out to the range, considering it as possible CCW candidate, could be fun.

Also thanks for the PMs guys, I totally missed those bits of info! (pic has been removed for now)