Experience of re-plating an old air rifle

[CapitalBee]

Gents, I was hoping to tap into your collective knowledge. I recently purchased a project rifle from the site. It originally had a plated finish, sadly most of which had gone west.. However, having cleaned off the rust, I'm tempted to have it re-plated. I'd like your previous experiences with re-plating, as in what finish you went for (tin plate, nickel, chrome, zinc plate etc) and your findings with regards to function (the rifle once re-assembled) and durability.

Thanks in advance.

[CapitalBee]

A quick bump for this query. Anyone??

[ccdjg]

Traditionally nickel plating would be the way to go, and if done properly (copper plated first, then nickelled) it it will last forever (well, certainly a lot longer than bluing). It will look a lot more appropriate on a vintage gun than chrome plating. The gun would have to be well cleaned off first of course, and although you can't plate on top of rust, you can on top of any residual bits of old nickel plate.
There is a way of doing your own nickel plating without electricity ("electroless nickel plating") but that's another story.

[daveh]

Dont forget that platingwill increase external diameters and reduce internal diameters so careful protection of these surfaces is required to prevent plating and subsequent reassembly problems. Regards Daveh