Is it a steel or aluminum alloy frame ?
The process used will be different for each.

Aluminum frames are anodized - hardened pretty much only on the outside. You want to be careful not to remove that when you refinish.
If steel, stainless or blued ? If it's stainless, it could have a blackened finish. Stainless steel is hard to blue.

You need to know exactly what you have before you can decide on how to refinish it.

It might be better to have it done professionally.

It is stainless steel. I had a feeling it would be tough to do. I have used both a magic marker and a blueing pen in attempts to fix some of the finish damage the gun has recieved (don't laugh at the magic marker, I was in a pinch. My gun actually had to have no finish damage to pass as a useable gun when I worked armored and when I heard, right before it went in for inspection, I pulled out a Sharpie). Neither actually works. Last time I cleaned it I filled in some spots with the blueing pen and it was gone the next day.

IF I were U, I'd look at either NP3, hard chrome, or refinishing thru CCR (the guy who does it is on several other gun sites - I can get his info for U if U wish).

I have had several slides hard chromed by Tripp Research, but will admit that he did a crappy job on a 1911 - so, I wouldn't send him an entire gun. But, there are other companies who hard chrome. And, Robar does NP3 and Roguard - have heard great things about them too.

I would get something more durable than rebluing. And, some of these places take off the original finish and redo the new one for a set price...

Here's my only catch. I need something that looks good and is durable, but it has to be done on a budget. I'm not really raking in any money at the moment (I'm making something, I've seen it, but I never hold it!). This is really the only reason I considered doing it myself. I want to do something I've already seen done, and the person who did it did it himself. So I figure, hey! LOL!

CCR would be the cheapest... He does duracoat I believe. I have seen pics of his work on Sigs before on the www.sigforum.com - Try going there and search for "CCR."

Brad at CCR does nice work and his prices are reasonable.

To do it yourself, and do it correctly, you really need a blast cabinet. Most spray finishes require aluminum oxide abrasive blasting prior to coating. As was said, you have to be careful with this step if you have an alloy frame because of the anodizing, but it sounds like you have an ST frame, but be sure. There are quite a few slides that say stainless steel and are mated to alloy frames. The bonus is that you want a silver slide. A fine glass bead on the stainless and you will have a very nice natural stainless finish. You will also need to detail strip the frame and slide and remove the sights. Here is a P229 slide that I just bead blasted.

Lauer Custom Weaponry makes (and Brownells sells) Duracoat for guns.
It won't look as good as a professional job, but if you frame is dinged up bad, it may look better.
It's not cheap, but it is probably less than sending it out.

Here's the description from Brownells site:

"All-in-one paint kit finishes small parts or entire guns with a rustproof, weatherproof, protective paint that won’t chip, crack, or flake off; works great on any material. Hardener and paint form a chemical bond that is hard for durability with elasticity to prevent brittleness. Airbrush application gives a smooth finish; thickness variations aren’t visible so you can give high-wear areas more coating than low-wear areas. Dries in ten minutes and fully cures overnight; can also be speed cured in the oven at 110° F for 1 hour."

And here is the link:

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/sto...spx?p=17640&s=

I've never used it, so I don't know how good it is.

I think short of NP3 and/or hard chrome, Brad's work at CCR is the best. I have seen his work posted on both The Beretta Forum and on the Sig Forum...

He's got a sale going on right now too...

Here is a thread about his work:

http://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc...2626#296102626

As Shipwreck has mentioned, Brad at CCR does some great work, however I haven't been impressed with the customer service I've received from them. There have been numerous accounts of late that I believe to be caused by an abundance of workload with not enough man hours to please everyone. I sent my SiG P239 to him in April and was told it would be about a month before I got it back. 3 months later I'm still calling every week to get the same answer.."It should ship by the end of the week." I actually just talked with them today and it is supposedly on its way, but actually receiving a tracking number in my email as I was promised is a different story. I can't wait to see the quality in person as I'm sure it will be outstanding work, however the poor customer service has turned me away from future custom work with CCR. Once I get my 239 back I will post pictures. After that, all I will need is my refund from where they double charged me and I will be good to go.

Sorry to hear that - I routinely see people complaining about his service on other sites, but then other people jump on the complainer for complaining.

Sorry to hear it.

As for double charging, I've had that happen to me 1x at Tripp research, but they fixed it as soon as I called and pointed it out.

I should have my hard chromed slide in my hand tomorrow evening for my fullsize P99 - so, I'll post some pics for that too

I'd like to see that. I've got a 226 Herndon on the way that I think I'm going to send his way after a stop at Bruce Gray's.

Dude, you've got a huge pair to go about this on your own. I'm in agreement with the others - have it professionally done. If you have to wait and save money, so be it.

You may also want to check out Cylinder & Slide. Top notch bunch.

https://shop.cylinder-slide.com/ccp5...35&catstr=HOME

I probably will have it done by a pro, but I would rather have it done locally if possible. I don't like the idea of sending my best gun away for a month or two. A customer was telling me about a guy that sets up at the gun shows and uses some hardcore stuff on his guns, so I may go check him out next month at the show and see what he charges. It will still take a number of weeks to complete, though. But I can handle it if it is still in state.

The damage does add character, and each scratch has some kind of story behind it, so I might not even do it. Just an idea I am tossing around. And it is sort of degrading to the gun that about an inch of the slide in the front is completely done with a Sharpie.

Well, depending on who ya go w/ U may get it back w/i a month or less. It just depends...

Spend the money on ammo and shoot the heck out of it!