Nickle Plating

[mwmoore10261]

I was up at Gettysburg at the visitor center museum this past weekend and noticed they had a Gallager and a Mississippi both nickle plated. Was this done during the war for perhaps Naval use or post war for Cadet or GAR color guards? The nickle plating looked worn on both examples.
Michael Moore, 10261

[John Holland]

Michael,

It isn't possible, as nickle plating didn't come into use as a successful commercial application until about 1871. What you are most likely looking at are GAR plated arms. The GAR found nickle plating to be very useful for keeping their marching arms bright without the rigors of constant polishing.

JDH
SAC

[Gary Van Kauwenbergh, 101]

I shoot an original 1816 Harpers Ferry cone-in-barrel conversion that was nickle-plated sometime during it's lifetime before it met me. A local firm (since closed) told me they could remove the nickling through electrolysis, the same way it was put on.

I considered removing the plating until one day while I was sitting in the rain at the fort watching everyone elses guns rust. I may still remover the nickling someday, but not until I'm done using it!

[wormey]

I have a Burnside carbine that was nickle plated. Had a dickens of a time getting it all off. Tried a commercial firm, acids, a little bit of every thing. Finally got it stripped and refinished and she looks and shoots great. Have to agree with a pevious post. Plating was a relatively common post war treatment for parade purposes. :D

[Bruce Cobb 1723V]

How did you finally get ti off?

[williamslaybaugh]

I was always under the impression that most of the GAR arms were chrome plated as apposed to nickle plated. I also understood that the navy nickle plated some sidearms to protect agents the corrosion of damp sea air. Could someone shed some more insight onto these subjects or some good reference sources.

Thanks much
William

[John Holland]

Hello Wiliam,

As I remember it from my Apprenticeship days of schooling, chrome plating was invented in the 1920's. My Apprenticeship was served with Ford Motor Co., and we learned that Ford Nickle plated the parts on the Model T and switched to Chrome plating parts for the Model A. At that time the GAR Vet's would mostly be in their 80's and were not doing much marching any more, so I would think that all the things they plated were done long before that time period.

The Federal Gov't experimented with Nickle plating in the early 1870's on some .50-70 Trapdooor Muskets. They found that if you left them in salt water for 4 weeks they still rusted! If I remember it correctly they concluded that the process added too much cost to the arm.

Hope to see you at the Fort for the Nationals!

John

[Southron Sr.]

What about TIN plating? I had a collector at a gun show tell me that some muskets for naval use were TIN plated as the process was used before and during the Civil War.

Yeah, yeah, I know you can believe only .0000000001% of what gun collectors say at gun shows!

So, does anyone know when Tin Plating was first used on firearms?

THANKS

[wormey]

I used abrasives. Have to be careful and preserve all the markings. Rust blued the barrel; came out pretty nice. Bore was perfect.
Tin was indeed used on civil war naval small arms. Don`t know when it was first used. :D

[Mike w/ 34th]

What about TIN plating? I had a collector at a gun show tell me that some muskets for naval use were TIN plated as the process was used before and during the Civil War.

Yeah, yeah, I know you can believe only .0000000001% of what gun collectors say at gun shows!

So, does anyone know when Tin Plating was first used on firearms?

THANKS

Southron,

I've seen a couple tin-plated British Snider rifles made for India use, so that would have been done probably no later than the early 1870s, and no earlier than about 1866.

[wormey]

In the Time-Life book Arms and Equipment of the Union, page 50-51 there is a nice color picture of a full length Spencer rifle that is tin plated for navy use. Also shows a Sharps and Hankins carbine with the receiver tinned and the barrel covered by a leather jacket. Don`t recall ever having seen a pre civil war weapon with a tinned finnish, so I don`t know exactly when the practice began. :D

[RangerFrog]

A dealer from PA showed up with a tin plated Maynard a year or so ago... I think it was a 2nd Model and that he was assuming it was done for the Navy, but then again, who knows?? :?

Froggie