Colt Army Cylinder question

[Don Ash]

I got an unfired with the box and Warranty Card 2nd Generation Colt Army .45LC as a gift..

The box had gotten wet and some of the frame and cylinder got rusted...the frame cleaned up very nice but the cylinder has some pitting....

I found one shop in Florida that is willing to grind down the rust and re-blue it but their turn around time is several months and over $ 300....any recommendations from other gun smiths ?

[Cholla]

The thickness of the cylinder walls is very slight on an authentic Colt 45 cylinder, so making it thinner sounds like a bad idea. You should be able to find another Second Gen cylinder easily enough. I recommend you ask on coltforum.com

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

From the photos it looks like some of that pitting is deep.  .45 Colt cylinder walls are pretty thin.  I would be reluctant to grined off enough material to eliminate those pits and still have a safe gun to shoot.

[Griff]

While your might only want it as a "wall-hanger", you can't know what its future caretakers might do with it.  As Cholla & Pettifogger say, find a replacement.   As soon as you modify it, either replacing or refinishing the cylinder, the value as a collector is diminished...  maybe slightly different, but replacing the cylinder will enlarge the potential buyer's pool.  Plus, replacing the original cylinder, doesn't mean you throw away the original... just treat it to stop the rusting, retain it with the gun, which allows you make the gun serviceable, and maintain its "originality" integrity.  

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

 

PLUS ONE for Chola and Pettifogger.  Making the Cylinder walls thinner is NOT a good idea.  Shop around.  finding a replacement cylinder may take a day or two but is much better than having a Cylinder explode in front of your face.

 

Incidentally, very very good chance a Pietta cylinder will work with some minor rubbin-n-buffin.

 

eBay may well be your friend.

[Cholla]

https://www.coltforum.com/threads/second-gen-45lc-cylinders.423926/?post_id=3833802#post-3833802

 

[Sedalia Dave]

Do as suggested, buy a replacement cylinder. 
 

 I wouldn’t ever fire any rounds from the corroded cylinder. No way to know how deep those pits are. They most likely have compromised the integrity of the cylinder. 
 Not worth having it blow up in your face. 
 

 To stop the corrosion get some Corrosion-X and soak the cylinder in it. Then lightly remove the surface rust with bronze wool that has been wet with more Corrosion-X. 
 

 You can get bronze wool at a hardware store. Do not use steel wool as it will remove the blueing.