Rebluing a shotgun

Question
I took in my 1187 Remington to be reblued and the store clerk told me it was illegal for them or anyone else to do it because of the chemical process or the chemicals used. Do you have any knowledge of this? I live in western New York and it was the Buffalo Gun Center that refused me. I was wondering if this was just a new state reg. or is it national? The gun was my dads and hardly ever shot, but before handing it down to my grandson I wanted to get it into "brand new" codition. Thank you for any help on this matter.    Jack  

Answer
I do not know NY laws, but I can't imagine that it is illegal to blue a gun in NY. There are probably regulations regarding the use and disposal of the chemicals, and this fellow may have been so angry at it that he told you "it can't be done," but that's hardly the case.

You can go on line and find places that refinish guns. You should be able to send them directly without going through an FFL (though I do not know NY laws). UPS sometimes has indigestion over it, so when I ship a gun to have it worked on, I simply list the contents as "machined parts" and correctly identify the value of the piece for insurance purposes (though I would recommend overnighting it).

Bluing is one possibility, and if you want to preserve the authenticity, it may be the way to go, but there are better options out there now that will not only make the gun more attractive, but will give it better protection that bluing will. One of those finishes is a ceramic coating. Another is "Black T" done by Birdsong in Louisiana.

A company called Corsica coatings in my neck of the woods does good ceramic coatings. You can find them on the web.

Good luck with your project.