I have worked in museums for over two decades. I handle artifacts on a daily basis. This is one of the most appalling things I have ever seen. Way to go FloriDUH man.
As someone who handles artifacts and would never forgive myself if I so much as scratched one, this was the worst thing I've watched in a long time. So upsetting to see him do his best to destroy this irreclaimable piece of history, it should be illegal to deface artifacts.
When he said, “I dropped it and cracked it,” I knew I was in for a good time... And the camera work... zeroing in on the back of the hand and the cloth on the table. Pure professionals!
Yeah, he's out in one of the western states now. It seems they found what appears to be a wooly-mammoth skeleton and he took his explosives out there to excavate it...............LOL.
That grinder is just painful to watch. Electrolysis or chemical rust removal like "Evapo Rust" would've removed all the surface rust while not damaging the metal. WTF...?
The problem is - he was using modern *criminal lab* scientific techniques and, unfortunately, historical value is (usually) irrelevant in those cases. Cops want Make, Model and Serial Number - ballistics if you can get it. He got some *terrible* advice. Not all that long ago, it wasn't uncommon at all for many police departments to have the seizing officers electro-pencil their initials and the date, on any "removeable part" - and I've also seen those department's pay out later when the court orders the return.
Baking soda and water and a battery charger removes rust and corrosion too. But for the times when I’m working on a National Treasure, I go straight to the acid and a grinder.
Taking a wire brush to Letting rust in water dropping Cracking soaking in acid and grinding with a dremel a rare battlefield relic that belongs in a museum.....sounds pretty legit
Same here. Except I can't watch the whole thing. This idiot is destroying something more valuable than he is. He should have turned it over to a museum, or at very least a professional to conserve it. And we won't even talk about him washing it in the kitchen sink and not even drying and oiling it afterwards....
@Boston My Home Town . You are right that it is his gun but only to a point. He bought a gun that was illegally removed from a highly protected site and he likely didn't know anything about the gun or where it came from at first. But, that doesn't excuse his idiotic behavior in his quest. He posted the video to impress viewers and since HE opened the box, HE let Pandora out and as such HE is the one that must suffer the consequences for his stupidity. Not to mention his total disrespect for the relic and his absolute disregard for the ultimate in stupidity of one Colonel Custer that lead the Trooper to his demise. Heck the gun could very well have belonged to Custer himself. What this dude not only did but he did so trying to impress all the while he was destroying the a piece of very important history of this great nation. And all this coming from a Native American...
And then out came the hammer: "Oh look. I knocked a little piece off". LOL They should let this guy loose in the Sistene Chappel helping to restore those paintings. "Where's my Sawzall?".
@Hunter Of Liars-I kept thinking of grinding away on an Anglo Saxon sword from a dig to see if the steel was pattern welded or crucible, or on an item from the Sutton Hoo burial.
WTF is this moron doing to that fine relic ? Really ? Isn't the 1 number enough ? They didn't swap cylinders back then, they were made by hand 1 at a time . He should be flogged .
Oh...my.....GOD! DUDE....! Why would you NOT relegate this work to a professional forensics unit of some kind? Who knows how valuable this piece is, esp. after being documented as a genuine 7th piece!!
In 2019 I watched this and thought the second i realized the number on the cylinder id be calling the Smithsonian or NRA gun museum for proper help. Then he mentioned acid I was triggered then wtf they use this method on crime guns that have no value not possible relics
And you know this how sickness ? ONCE you grind it away,it's gone TRY SOAKING rusty metal in white vinegar.IT works.. I have restored knives this way.. YOU have to be gentle,not mental. HAVE a rotten day.
I have redone some severely rusted tools with white vinegar. Its really a m azng. I bought an old sauerkraut cutter and it cleaned up good. Thanks for the input.
You really are hard trolling people here and your ..YOUR actual lack of a clue is rather childish and annoying. Yes I realise you are mad about your Hillary losing, YES we all realise you THINK you know what you are trying to talk about...and YES you are being a small minded simple minded snowflake. But, in the meantime, all the rest of us are trying to say is, for a relic this old, and this fragile, the best thing to do is NOT use a grind stone to remove rust. There are far better and actually simpler ways, even on a relic as old as this, to achieve better results. However, no matter what the correct method would be, nothing can compare to you being a little liberal asshole. A childish sniveling jerk. Another internet troll with a small mind and no wit. But thank you either way for your entertaining folley.
There is no shortage of very well qualified individuals in Florida who could have done this. Multiple universities and crime labs would have been thrilled to have performed this task
A good engraver could have chipped and cleaned the numbers without doing that much damage. This reminds Me of a person that was touring the battlefield and seen a reflection and left the assigned boardwalk and pried up a pair of binoculars, didn't turn them in at the information center. Took them home and tried to sell them on eBay. MISTAKE - He was caught before His auction was over, and was awarded a Federal Offence for His troubles. The binoculars were returned to the Bighorn battlefield museum. Yup.
At the very least if owned by 7th cavalry im glad the racist bastard got what he deserved scalped stripped and left for dead that battle was begin beginning of the end for my people
@@thefutureairmen8046 it's called manifest Destiny . You aren't complaining about all of the benefits you use from it . IE. Cars , cell phones , AC , electricity , TV , internet , etc .
Michael Conway if you find a Comanche arrow, do you ask yourself how many soldiers this probably killed? Or if you find a Sioux knife, do you ponder how many settlers it probably scalped... nope, I bet you don't lol
It is rare for me to give a thumbs down to a gun video, but every once in a while, I have no choice. LoL From collectable to scrap metal with only a grinding wheel and a hammer, aome dropping, and some acid. 😄 The proper way of removing rust from a gun is to boil the disassembled parts in distilled water for about 20 minutes which will convert the rust to ferric oxide, then with a fine, oil free steel wool gently hand buff the parts while still warm. Repeat as needed (heavy rust sometimes requires that)/ Afterwards immediately dry and oil the steel to prevent new rust. Noting also if this artifact or relic was recovered from a National Park after the area was designated a National Park, then it is the property of the US Government, specifically the National Park Service.
As a Montanan who lives fairly near to the Battlefield I found this very interesting. I knew some Northern Cheyenne in Lame Deer and some Crow in Hardin and Crow Agency who were young children when the battle took place. There was a range fire at the Battlefield in the 80s, a friend from Colstrip helped plot out the area after the fire. They discovered lots of bullets and brass so they could follow the progression of the battle more clearly. They also found a skeleton and by super-imposing pictures of the soldiers they actually identified the remains. It was in the Billings Gazette so you might be able to get more information from the paper.
25 years,ago,i talked to an old guy in a bar in Billings montana called the eagle's nest.he was 80 something at the time and he says he grew up among the people on that reservation and as a small kid,he says the natives had battle souvenirs hidden in their houses.george said he saw saddles,bridles,boots,pistols,rifles etc.they kept them hidden because they were afraid that the government would confiscate them.
If you use "browning" instead of "bluing", it is actually putting a protective rust coating back on the relic, which is different than bluing, which decreases the value to collectors.
I cant imagine the feeling after seeing that same number in the Colt book, but I definitely would have been too scared to do any type of removal to it to find out the serial number. I'm a coin collector and cleaning or removing material has always been a no-no in that field as far as collectability and worth. Pretty cool to see that piece of history either way!
That's not the case as a coin here. Proving that the serial number on the Colt frame matches the cylinder totally increases the value of the gun. Basically proven it was from the battle and in the 7th Calvary number range.
Omg if there is gun abuse hell this man should be condemned to it forever. I cried watching this and believe I will no be able to forget it. This gun is a national treasure and the “restorer” should be barred from buying guns ever again!
Dave -in-NJ pfff - is the old relic a religious artifact for you? Really? And old broken revolver? What’s wrong with doing a little cleaning up to try to read a serial number? It’s not like this hunk of rust has been attributed to someone famous like John Wilkes Booth or Al Capone. It’s a rust relic, a paperweight at this point and it’s his property let him do what he wants with it.
Very interesting. I speak as a restorer of old ag equipment. Would an initial process of electrolysis to remove the bulk of the rust, maybe eliminate as much actual loss of "good" steel that "may" have been incurred by a abrasive process as is shown? I believe the rust could have been almost totally removed through the electrolysis process leaving a sharper number image result. But again, this was very interesting.
Reminds me of that little Italian lady restoring an historic painting of Christ and turning him into a pumpkin-head. I hope this guy gets charged for not having a brain.
Could not believe what I was watching! The soap and water = rust was a huh? what was he thinking.... must know more than me. Then when he whipped out the grinder and started to have at it I just wanted to reach through the screen and smack it out of his hand! What a foolish, ham handed, irresponsible possessor of history.
Great job of uncovering this historic relic. Me personally, I would have taken a sawzall to it first. Cut in half and then you have two sides that match. Grind off rust with an table mounted electric stone wheel, sorta amaturist with his handheld wheel.
Well, the general consensus in these comments are exactly what I thought as soon as he mentioned he 'dropped it'! Then came the grindstone! Speechless from here...
The only thing more annoying than hearing the yelling and clomping around in the background is watching a ham handed amateur destroy a historical relic.
He should use electrolysis like museums uses to slowly get rid of rust. I have used it to remove rust from two antique shotguns. That method works so much better without damaging the metal.
I bought an old Michelangelo painting and I had to touch it up with some house paint I had laying around. Lucky I knew what I was doing. I cut the crappy parts off first.
The value has not been compromised in any way. Removing rust which is not original to the gun is hardly destructive. Now there is no doubt whatsoever that the gun was there. As far as it being a "national treasure", that doesn't translate into needing to be in a museum. I've dealt with museums in the past and if they need money, they don't hesitate to sell off relics of historical value.
all rust is part of the original metal, thats what rust is, decaying metal, you need to stabilize it and than go as little as possible just enough to get the desired info,
Damn another for the idiot brigade!! Yeah that's what professional preservation is all about, some acid, a grinder and a hammer! You always see the three in their tool kits... I must confess when I watched this and I thought how the hell can ANYONE be that stupid. Then you commented and I thought ah yeah, quite easily lol...
lol... my ex was professional restorer, used to work for the British Library in London, he'd have a heart attack if he had watched this video. It does beggar the question where the brains are with some people, let alone common sense. I know they use a lot of sonic cleaning tools, and they do it very very slowly haha.. Can't tell you how many times he has done private work and I've had my kitchen table strewn with small tools and that constant humming of the damn sonic thing cleaning items. They also use tiny tiny little water jet things, don't know the names lol... :D But I tell you Nick there are many of them around sadly. You only have to look at bad restoration of paintings for that truth!! Brakes my heart to see what he did to that gun...
@@oldnick4707 I know, it's very very sad that every day our history is simply being destroyed by have a go idiots, with no idea of what they are doing. :(
Was the camera guy trying to balance himself in a canoe while recording this? Not sure I ever saw the numbers but did knuckle hair, lots and lots of knuckle hair.
At first I thought hmmm interesting. But when he started grinding the colt I could not believe it, he has to be one of the top all time bad mistakes. What where you thinking?
Sold at auction for $33,000 in May 2016. I'm guessing he paid no more than a couple hundred for it. The dealer who sold it to him would probably choke if he knew what he let go for practically nothing.
Wow.i got a friend who's father in law was a collector of fine colts he has a blued Colt that according to serial numbers was from same battle.he thinks a Indian picked it up.its in pretty nice condition! I didn't know they was this valuable I figured he may get ten thousand for it.he also has an amazing highly engraved pre 1900 Colt 45 that was owned by a famous tv cowboy never been shot. I had the pleasure of holding both these.
Say what you will about Chuck's means and methods, however, what he did was necessary to fully authenticate this pistol. The key components have serial #'s, backstrap, cylinder, frame, barrel, etc and these numbers ALL MATCH thanks to Chuck's expertise. So, it wasn't pieced together as was done on previously submitted Custer/Battle field relics/pistols. This 'relic' will now be making its rounds - NRA headquarters, etc, so if you're not familiar with the back story on this - you will be! Good Luck Chuck! Laugh all the way to the bank!!!!!!!!!!
Did the same thing with King Tut's mummy mask, never found the numbers. Just some crazy gibberish marks, man who knew gold would dissolve in acid. Might be able to melt down what’s left to get some value out of it, if I can get this glass stuff out of the smelt. This darn exploration stuff is more work than they let on. Oh well better luck next time. The shroud of Turin, I’ve got some plans on dry cleaning to see what gives. There’s a rumor there’s a treasure map behind the paint on the Mona Lisa,, now where did I leave that Zip Strip,,,
Bill Bright .. Gound it all the way to a pile of dust and no numbers? ..then you sneezed, and now, nothing but a cloud of dust! Dangit. Reconstruction may be alittle more time consuming, no?
A non-evasive X-Ray may have revealed the serial number before the oxidized iron was ground away forever. Archaeologists do this to reveal the identity of iron objects that from the outside just look like lumps of rust. I have a U.S. marked "Custer Period" Army issue Smith and Wesson .45 revolver, SN 88 which was being tested around the same time period.
Similar case: I had an 1873 Winchester rifle that one number was unreadable because of rust. A forensics lab used acid to remove rust and make the number readable. Totally amazing.
I thought it was a amazing video. He did nothing to hurt the gun but thru his work he has now a very pricey gun that can be tracked back to the battle field and wouldnt it be some thing if he could find out who carried it.
The idiot childish remarks that abound on here make me wonder at the character of the individuals blasting this fella who authenticated the weapon and what the fuck is wrong with you people. He did a fine job of it, and you poses? It STILL is what it is knucklheads. If it was a big hunk of rust you would leave it as is??? Fuck off.
My dad, when he was a kid back in the 50's, found a german officer's pistol in a bunker in le Touquet, northern France.. He never touched it, just left it rusted as he found it...
Just watched this 7/20/18. This old disabled vet thanks you for sharing this. Lovely relic with an amazing history. Thank you for making my morning. A cup of coffee with your video made this old vet smile.
My mining partner has an original 45-70 rolling block from the battle of the little Big Horn battle. You can clearly see the serial no. and it has been checked out by historians. They know the name of the trooper who carried it and found his skull about 20 feet away. The wood butt stock was badly broken looking as if it had been used to fight indians. The last one of these that sold at Christy's auction went for one and a half million. My mining partner is a Blackfoot Indian and he lives in Spokane,Wash. He's in his mid 80's and very hard of hearing.
@@craigmignone2863 Yep, and the serial no. was very clear but other parts rusty. You could tell the way the gun had lain in the mud. Stock was broken and you could tell it had been used to strike something.. Leo had the serial no. looked up and they know the name of the trooper that carried it and the skull of a white man was found along the creek bed not 20 from the rifle. His daughters have the gun now. And because they were not too nice to Leo before he passed in 2017 I'll give you his last name, Bruce. (Leo Bruce) He was my mining partner for the last 5 years of his life. He was a Blackfoot Indian.
This is actually the correct forensic technique for retrieving a serial number that has been removed or obscured on a firearm. One small patch of rust removed uncovered the history. Otherwise you just have a rusty relic instead of an artifact.
Some exceptional resources: ACHP - Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Turnbull Firearm Restoration TRSA Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies Colonial Williamsburg Institute Pennfoster Gunsmith Restoration Accredidation CCAHA - Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts School of Historic Preservation George Washington University - Historic Preservation Program Getty Conservation Institute The list goes on should this not uncover an effective path.@@ir8d8rads
@@b.randal5404 I said forensic. This method was long used by police to determine the serial numbers of guns which had been removed or damaged. Still is as far as I know. It isn't perhaps proper treatment of an historic artifact. Note that this firearm's history or status as an historic piece was unknown prior to the discovery of the serial number... Unless any rusty Colt SAA should receive proper museum level treatment. I am not sure that in this condition the money would be justified to conserve the piece if it were just an old military issue. By the time of the Little Bighorn more than 30,000 Colt Army pistols had been produced. Over 300,000 by 1940. Just because someone said it was at Custer's last stand doesn't justify the type of treatment you are suggesting. Yes it could have been determined via Xray or electron-beam scanning. I just doubt that anyone would spend the money doing that on a completely ruined piece out of speculation.
"Bubba" the gunsmith strikes again, i was already upset at the wire brush, then dropped it & cracked it, and when he broke out the grinder & hammer i had to turn it off.....damn damn damn
You have to get the metal really shiny before using acid to raise the number. But law enforcement is usually dealing with a ground off number, not always a rusted one. Getting the rust off and down to shiny is necessary. I would have done that to verify that Colt. Why not? If provenance is not established, it's just a rusted hunk worth nothing.
Cops use any method they can to identify evidence. They don't really care about the effect of their work on the item. Their methods are not the best for museum quality restoration.
Montana Custer Battlefield Relic Serial No. 7047 Colt Cavalry Single Action Army Revolver, with its date of discovery in 1933, is a particularly significant Custer and Frontier Indian Wars artifact, well worthy of the most distinguished private or museum collection related to the American West and the legendary George Armstrong Custer and his fearless and victorious Indian adversaries. This gun was sold at auction in May of 2016 for $33,000!
Anyone saying about him grinding on it . He is proving that it was the relic that he thought it was . Getting the serial number up isn't hurting the historical value of it
I have no experience restoring old weapons, but I am indeed a history buff. I was cringing as I watched all that grinding, as I am sure the authors of that book were.
I have worked in museums for over two decades. I handle artifacts on a daily basis. This is one of the most appalling things I have ever seen. Way to go FloriDUH man.
I don't work in a museum, and the whole time I was like WTF is he doing.
As someone who handles artifacts and would never forgive myself if I so much as scratched one, this was the worst thing I've watched in a long time. So upsetting to see him do his best to destroy this irreclaimable piece of history, it should be illegal to deface artifacts.
If it is from that famous battle, he did a great job of ruining that gun. Unbelievable!
Should have got out the museum and hit the gun show scrap box, then you could have handled it properly!
I know that's was brutal to watch
My heart sank when you introduced the grinding wheel! If anything I'd have tried electrolysis on a small portion first.
Early he used the “W” word.
When he said, “I dropped it and cracked it,” I knew I was in for a good time... And the camera work... zeroing in on the back of the hand and the cloth on the table. Pure professionals!
These comments are hilarious 😂🤣😂😂
When he started grinding I stopped watching and started reading the comments.
I knew it was going to be golden. 🤣🤣
Yeah, he's out in one of the western states now. It seems they found what appears to be a wooly-mammoth skeleton and he took his explosives out there to excavate it...............LOL.
When appraisers on Antique Roadshow screw up, they're tied to a chair and forced to watch this video.
Next project for him is finding Davinci's signature on the Mona Lisa.
LMAO 😂😂😂😂
One time, I took King Tut's burial mask and turned it into a fine hood ornament for my '72 Gremlin using a belt grinder and a blow torch.
That's good.
Dang! You sir are obviously a professional.
Hahahaha…..funniest thing I’ve read
all day…..how this ended up in my suggested I’ll never know but I enjoyed all the comments.
This is a quaility comment
I did the same thing, but just skipped the blow torch part.
The Smithsonian has some dishes from the pilgrims they need your help with. I suggest you bring your sledgehammer.
haha
LMAO 😂😂😂
stay tuned for the next episode when we polish and re chrome the thing
That grinder is just painful to watch. Electrolysis or chemical rust removal like "Evapo Rust" would've removed all the surface rust while not damaging the metal. WTF...?
The problem is - he was using modern *criminal lab* scientific techniques and, unfortunately, historical value is (usually) irrelevant in those cases. Cops want Make, Model and Serial Number - ballistics if you can get it.
He got some *terrible* advice.
Not all that long ago, it wasn't uncommon at all for many police departments to have the seizing officers electro-pencil their initials and the date, on any "removeable part" - and I've also seen those department's pay out later when the court orders the return.
Hay I would let this guy wash my dog.
@@barbarasteed3966 that's funny! 🤣
Baking soda and water and a battery charger removes rust and corrosion too. But for the times when I’m working on a National Treasure, I go straight to the acid and a grinder.
And a hammer.
Can't believe he didn't use rust remover, sandblasting before destroying this artifact
Powder blast
Unbelievable brutality nobody is really that dumb. I don’t understand why he didn’t just grind the rust off
well first let me drop it. then i'll follow up with a grinder...
I almost stopped the video when he said he had dropped it that left a crack and then he began "tapping" on it. I was sick at watching him
roy stump (electric wire wheel and a file should do the trick)
Someone drop this dumbass on crack him . Wtf is wrong with this guy
10 - 4.!
Taking a wire brush to Letting rust in water dropping Cracking soaking in acid and grinding with a dremel a rare battlefield relic that belongs in a museum.....sounds pretty legit
Give the gun to the historians, it belongs in a musium not some old man's hands who destroys it.
Easy now. He was wrong in his "cleaning" efforts but come on..."old man's hands"?
This guy is doing more damage than being buried in the dirt for over a hundred years
I'm watching this in utter horror in 2019.
Same here.
Except I can't watch the whole thing. This idiot is destroying something more valuable than he is.
He should have turned it over to a museum, or at very least a professional to conserve it.
And we won't even talk about him washing it in the kitchen sink and not even drying and oiling it afterwards....
Guard Dog
I agree, that relic should be returned to the battlefield museum at little big horn.
Right..I was thinking they have lasers that can remove rust without destroying
I stopped watching when he pulled out a grinding Stone. What an idiot
@Boston My Home Town . You are right that it is his gun but only to a point. He bought a gun that was illegally removed from a highly protected site and he likely didn't know anything about the gun or where it came from at first. But, that doesn't excuse his idiotic behavior in his quest. He posted the video to impress viewers and since HE opened the box, HE let Pandora out and as such HE is the one that must suffer the consequences for his stupidity. Not to mention his total disrespect for the relic and his absolute disregard for the ultimate in stupidity of one Colonel Custer that lead the Trooper to his demise. Heck the gun could very well have belonged to Custer himself. What this dude not only did but he did so trying to impress all the while he was destroying the a piece of very important history of this great nation. And all this coming from a Native American...
And then out came the hammer: "Oh look. I knocked a little piece off". LOL
They should let this guy loose in the Sistene Chappel helping to restore those paintings. "Where's my Sawzall?".
Brings the whole family, and the cameraman.
Who the hell runs a grinder on a historically significant artifact?!?!
the one who owns it
Robert Lohr its butchery.
@@robertlohr1860 I agree, it's HIS gun!
@@sugarnads go get your own old beat-up gun and sit around and look at it.
he should store this gun in a bucket of water.....
I am glad I am not the only one who thought this guy is crazy. Grinding a relic ????
@Hunter Of Liars-I kept thinking of grinding away on an Anglo Saxon sword from a dig to see if the steel was pattern welded or crucible, or on an item from the Sutton Hoo burial.
Who else needs counselling after watching this madman?
Omar Dumbrell , makes me cringe...
I must concur......
obama...but then he needed it in 2008
Dumbbell good name.
WTF is this moron doing to that fine relic ? Really ? Isn't the 1 number enough ? They didn't swap cylinders back then, they were made by hand 1 at a time . He should be flogged .
Oh...my.....GOD! DUDE....! Why would you NOT relegate this work to a professional forensics unit of some kind? Who knows how valuable this piece is, esp. after being documented as a genuine 7th piece!!
I’m hoping this is a joke and he is the professional restorer that the real owner brought this relic to work on. Omg…
He's only thinking about the money he's not thinking about the history for some money means more then who had it when they died sick just plain sick
In 2019 I watched this and thought the second i realized the number on the cylinder id be calling the Smithsonian or NRA gun museum for proper help. Then he mentioned acid I was triggered then wtf they use this method on crime guns that have no value not possible relics
I can't believe anyone would be crazy enough to grind on something like this.
I THINK.A SOAK in white vinegar would gently remove the rust. GRINDING AWAY IS kinda stupid.
And you know this how sickness
?
ONCE you grind it away,it's gone
TRY SOAKING rusty metal in white vinegar.IT works.. I have restored knives this way..
YOU have to be gentle,not mental. HAVE a rotten day.
old school toolmaker here. but walter is correct.
I have redone some severely rusted tools with white vinegar. Its really a m azng. I bought an old sauerkraut cutter and it cleaned up good. Thanks for the input.
You really are hard trolling people here and your ..YOUR actual lack of a clue is rather childish and annoying. Yes I realise you are mad about your Hillary losing, YES we all realise you THINK you know what you are trying to talk about...and YES you are being a small minded simple minded snowflake. But, in the meantime, all the rest of us are trying to say is, for a relic this old, and this fragile, the best thing to do is NOT use a grind stone to remove rust. There are far better and actually simpler ways, even on a relic as old as this, to achieve better results. However, no matter what the correct method would be, nothing can compare to you being a little liberal asshole. A childish sniveling jerk. Another internet troll with a small mind and no wit. But thank you either way for your entertaining folley.
walter chiappini c
He could document the relic then glue that big piece of rust back on and everyone will be happy. HE DIDN’T DESTROY ANYTHING!!!!!
OMG i think this guy would search for dinosaur bones using sticks of TNT...
This is like stopping on a railroad crossing
and then looking to see if any trains are coming!
More like handing your two year old an original Michaelangelo sketch and telling her to draw a masterpiece.
In a school bus with kids
I cannot believe he did that.
There is no shortage of very well qualified individuals in Florida who could have done this. Multiple universities and crime labs would have been thrilled to have performed this task
Don't be like this guy. From historical piece to paperweight. Wow.
"Get down to where we can use some acid." I think this guy's already done some. Amazing.
Best comment !
literally hurts to watch this.... :-(
A good engraver could have chipped and cleaned the numbers without doing that much damage. This reminds Me of a person that was touring the battlefield and seen a reflection and left the assigned boardwalk and pried up a pair of binoculars, didn't turn them in at the information center. Took them home and tried to sell them on eBay. MISTAKE - He was caught before His auction was over, and was awarded a Federal Offence for His troubles. The binoculars were returned to the Bighorn battlefield museum. Yup.
@@GottliebGoltz needless to say how he said he cracked it when he dropped it.
the entire video was one big body cringe for me.
MultIplay3r 0
@@GottliebGoltz , Wow, you are so correct!! He "looted" this from the LBH and then destroyed it by using a wire brush! He screwed himself both ways!
Dropped, grind, hammered and acrid, you have respect for history
i wonder how many native americans this gun murdered
At the very least if owned by 7th cavalry im glad the racist bastard got what he deserved scalped stripped and left for dead that battle was begin beginning of the end for my people
@@thefutureairmen8046 it's called manifest Destiny . You aren't complaining about all of the benefits you use from it . IE. Cars , cell phones , AC , electricity , TV , internet , etc .
Diminished the value .
Michael Conway if you find a Comanche arrow, do you ask yourself how many soldiers this probably killed? Or if you find a Sioux knife, do you ponder how many settlers it probably scalped... nope, I bet you don't lol
It is rare for me to give a thumbs down to a gun video, but every once in a while, I have no choice. LoL From collectable to scrap metal with only a grinding wheel and a hammer, aome dropping, and some acid. 😄
The proper way of removing rust from a gun is to boil the disassembled parts in distilled water for about 20 minutes which will convert the rust to ferric oxide, then with a fine, oil free steel wool gently hand buff the parts while still warm. Repeat as needed (heavy rust sometimes requires that)/ Afterwards immediately dry and oil the steel to prevent new rust. Noting also if this artifact or relic was recovered from a National Park after the area was designated a National Park, then it is the property of the US Government, specifically the National Park Service.
As a Montanan who lives fairly near to the Battlefield I found this very interesting. I knew some Northern Cheyenne in Lame Deer and some Crow in Hardin and Crow Agency who were young children when the battle took place. There was a range fire at the Battlefield in the 80s, a friend from Colstrip helped plot out the area after the fire. They discovered lots of bullets and brass so they could follow the progression of the battle more clearly. They also found a skeleton and by super-imposing pictures of the soldiers they actually identified the remains. It was in the Billings Gazette so you might be able to get more information from the paper.
You tube has a video
@@terrillrausch3006 link?
Nice reminder. My Mother & I both followed through the Gazette very closely ourselves. Thank You so much.
@@DS-gg2dp - th-cam.com/video/VKDkM_z3ZH8/w-d-xo.html - this deals with Fox's survey of 1984 - nearly 40 years ago now, but remarkably comprehensive.
25 years,ago,i talked to an old guy in a bar in Billings montana called the eagle's nest.he was 80 something at the time and he says he grew up among the people on that reservation and as a small kid,he says the natives had battle souvenirs hidden in their houses.george said he saw saddles,bridles,boots,pistols,rifles etc.they kept them hidden because they were afraid that the government would confiscate them.
Pro tip: Always make sure you dunk it in cold blue afterward to keep it from rusting again and to preserve value.
If you use "browning" instead of "bluing", it is actually putting a protective rust coating back on the relic, which is different than bluing, which decreases the value to collectors.
Don’t think this guy bothered about the preserving part
I cant imagine the feeling after seeing that same number in the Colt book, but I definitely would have been too scared to do any type of removal to it to find out the serial number. I'm a coin collector and cleaning or removing material has always been a no-no in that field as far as collectability and worth. Pretty cool to see that piece of history either way!
That's not the case as a coin here. Proving that the serial number on the Colt frame matches the cylinder totally increases the value of the gun. Basically proven it was from the battle and in the 7th Calvary number range.
Omg if there is gun abuse hell this man should be condemned to it forever. I cried watching this and believe I will no be able to forget it. This gun is a national treasure and the “restorer” should be barred from buying guns ever again!
I almost want to report this to TH-cam for abuse. This man must be stopped!😟
I watched this in absolute horror and wondered if I was the only one, then I read the comments and found that I was in good company.
yep, you're all triggered. its none of your business.
Well, we found Bubba . He has aged a bit, moved to Florida , and is now carving up historical Colts with his nursing home light saber.
grinding on a historic relic seems sac-religiousness.
He can get a job in the museum cleaning & polishing their stuff?
no
I was waiting for him to tie it to the rear bumper of his car and drag it down the street.
Dave -in-NJ pfff - is the old relic a religious artifact for you? Really? And old broken revolver? What’s wrong with doing a little cleaning up to try to read a serial number? It’s not like this hunk of rust has been attributed to someone famous like John Wilkes Booth or Al Capone. It’s a rust relic, a paperweight at this point and it’s his property let him do what he wants with it.
@@tango-bravo the battle of little big horn, Custer's last stand???? Yeah it is important you dumb shit.
There’s 547 hairs on the back of his hand.
REVERSE ELECTROLYSIS WOULD WORK MUCH BETTER ! JUST HAVE TO BE PATIENT !
Dumb ass
Very interesting. I speak as a restorer of old ag equipment. Would an initial process of electrolysis to remove the bulk of the rust, maybe eliminate as much actual loss of "good" steel that "may" have been incurred by a abrasive process as is shown? I believe the rust could have been almost totally removed through the electrolysis process leaving a sharper number image result. But again, this was very interesting.
You are 100% Correct !!
He states that he cant see part of the first 7!! "Thats becouse hes already ground it off" lol
It is certain further grinding is not going to reveal more of that first digit.
Reminds me of that little Italian lady restoring an historic painting of Christ and turning him into a pumpkin-head. I hope this guy gets charged for not having a brain.
she was Cecilia Giménez, a Spanish lady.
😂
The question is though, could Hickok45 hit the gong with it?
No question about it of course he always hits the gong. Are you from Kentucky?😅😅
Only if he threw it!!
Still painful to watch in 2019. Shame on you sir.
The fool is senile...….
Yeah and we don’t know anything more at the end that we knew in the beginning except how not to handle a relic. What an idiot.smh
Could not believe what I was watching! The soap and water = rust was a huh? what was he thinking.... must know more than me. Then when he whipped out the grinder and started to have at it I just wanted to reach through the screen and smack it out of his hand! What a foolish, ham handed, irresponsible possessor of history.
Great job of uncovering this historic relic. Me personally, I would have taken a sawzall to it first. Cut in half and then you have two sides that match. Grind off rust with an table mounted electric stone wheel, sorta amaturist with his handheld wheel.
This is a prank....right? Someone tell me this is a prank....
yes, the letter makes no mention of the number 7047 he stated...
Well, the general consensus in these comments are exactly what I thought as soon as he mentioned he 'dropped it'! Then came the grindstone! Speechless from here...
A documented Custers Last Stand revolver... if only it could tell it’s history first hand
If only this wasn't entirely bullshit.
Man that colt should be in a museum, not under a grinder!
I was about ready to holler at him to answer his damn phone at the beginning of the video! lol
The only thing more annoying than hearing the yelling and clomping around in the background is watching a ham handed amateur destroy a historical relic.
I just screamed!!!!!!!!!
TG somebody else reacted!!!!.....
Feel the urge to punch an old man.
He's never heard of electrolysis?
Spaghetti Bolinnase. Thank you.
He should use electrolysis like museums uses to slowly get rid of rust. I have used it to remove rust from two antique shotguns. That method works so much better without damaging the metal.
Watching this mad man with a grinder has made me feel sick .can not understand why someone would do this to history 😣😰😢
You could probably free-up the cylinder with two big pairs of vise grips.
Just bang on it with a hammer first XD
That’s next week or two.
This guy is NOT the brightest flower in the meadow.
Absolutely one of the dumbest things I have ever seen. Selfish and destroyed a piece of history.
correct....this guy is a dumb asshat!
it is fucking painful to watch
The thing I can't figure out is, after reading all these negative comments...well deserved...that this guy didn't delete this video...lol.
Ego I think .
Because he was so stupid, that's why you don't take any thing to jewelers to be restored, they have no fking idea.
He didn't know how to delete it, he tried grinding it off TH-cam now his phone is fked..smh
Don't do anything to it!!!! Oh My goodness, He knows it's a Historical artifact, and his brain still doesn't stop him
I bought an old Michelangelo painting and I had to touch it up with some house paint I had laying around.
Lucky I knew what I was doing. I cut the crappy parts off first.
I don’t know how to restore firearms, I don’t know about protocol but I do know a butcher when I see one.
Lol
The value has not been compromised in any way. Removing rust which is not original to the gun is hardly destructive. Now there is no doubt whatsoever that the gun was there. As far as it being a "national treasure", that doesn't translate into needing to be in a museum. I've dealt with museums in the past and if they need money, they don't hesitate to sell off relics of historical value.
all rust is part of the original metal, thats what rust is, decaying metal, you need to stabilize it and than go as little as possible just enough to get the desired info,
Damn another for the idiot brigade!! Yeah that's what professional preservation is all about, some acid, a grinder and a hammer! You always see the three in their tool kits... I must confess when I watched this and I thought how the hell can ANYONE be that stupid. Then you commented and I thought ah yeah, quite easily lol...
lol... my ex was professional restorer, used to work for the British Library in London, he'd have a heart attack if he had watched this video. It does beggar the question where the brains are with some people, let alone common sense. I know they use a lot of sonic cleaning tools, and they do it very very slowly haha.. Can't tell you how many times he has done private work and I've had my kitchen table strewn with small tools and that constant humming of the damn sonic thing cleaning items. They also use tiny tiny little water jet things, don't know the names lol... :D
But I tell you Nick there are many of them around sadly. You only have to look at bad restoration of paintings for that truth!! Brakes my heart to see what he did to that gun...
@@oldnick4707 I know, it's very very sad that every day our history is simply being destroyed by have a go idiots, with no idea of what they are doing. :(
Didn't you have any schooling at all? where do you think rust comes from - the Metal Fairy? It is part of the item.
He just drained all the stupid from his entire neighborhood. Saved lives!!
Was the camera guy trying to balance himself in a canoe while recording this? Not sure I ever saw the numbers but did knuckle hair, lots and lots of knuckle hair.
At first I thought hmmm interesting. But when he started grinding the colt I could not believe it, he has to be one of the top all time bad mistakes. What where you thinking?
AND he called himself a jeweler and collector, I would hate to take a ring to get resized by this idiot before I saw the vid
Sold at auction for $33,000 in May 2016. I'm guessing he paid no more than a couple hundred for it. The dealer who sold it to him would probably choke if he knew what he let go for practically nothing.
too bad
He probably would have got $100,000 if he hadn't hit it with the grinder and wire brush
nobody cares. just a piece of scrap iron.
What a dumb ass
Wow.i got a friend who's father in law was a collector of fine colts he has a blued Colt that according to serial numbers was from same battle.he thinks a Indian picked it up.its in pretty nice condition! I didn't know they was this valuable I figured he may get ten thousand for it.he also has an amazing highly engraved pre 1900 Colt 45 that was owned by a famous tv cowboy never been shot. I had the pleasure of holding both these.
I was hoping he told us how much he paid for it. That way we could know how much he wasted on it when the grinder came out!
Unbelievable he owns a business apraising gold. And destroying a rare colt. CRAZY.
When he gets a toothache, he probably says “never mind the dentist, i got me some tools…i can do it myself”😂
What an idiot.
Say what you will about Chuck's means and methods, however, what he did was necessary to fully authenticate this pistol. The key components have serial #'s, backstrap, cylinder, frame, barrel, etc and these numbers ALL MATCH thanks to Chuck's expertise. So, it wasn't pieced together as was done on previously submitted Custer/Battle field relics/pistols. This 'relic' will now be making its rounds - NRA headquarters, etc, so if you're not familiar with the back story on this - you will be! Good Luck Chuck! Laugh all the way to the bank!!!!!!!!!!
you are as stupid as he is!
No. he did it to self-gratify...... not to authenticate..........
Did the same thing with King Tut's mummy mask, never found the numbers. Just some crazy gibberish marks, man who knew gold would dissolve in acid. Might be able to melt down what’s left to get some value out of it, if I can get this glass stuff out of the smelt. This darn exploration stuff is more work than they let on.
Oh well better luck next time.
The shroud of Turin, I’ve got some plans on dry cleaning to see what gives.
There’s a rumor there’s a treasure map behind the paint on the Mona Lisa,, now where did I leave that Zip Strip,,,
Bill Bright .. Gound it all the way to a pile of dust and no numbers? ..then you sneezed, and now, nothing but a cloud of dust! Dangit. Reconstruction may be alittle more time consuming, no?
A non-evasive X-Ray may have revealed the serial number before the oxidized iron was ground away forever. Archaeologists do this to reveal the identity of iron objects that from the outside just look like lumps of rust. I have a U.S. marked "Custer Period" Army issue Smith and Wesson .45 revolver, SN 88 which was being tested around the same time period.
Radiography (non Invasive) would not reveal the numbers
I'm a archaeologist who specialises in artefact conservation. Watching this is like bloody water torture mixed with have your teeth drilled.
wonder if it had all empty chambers , when it was first found in 1933.
Removing rust by soaking in vinegar would be a safer method in preserving this historic relic. I can't believe you took a grinder to this!
TRUE
no it would not it ruins any leftover finish underneath as well, it would be in the white
😳 this is what happens to historic artifacts that are illegally dug up
Similar case: I had an 1873 Winchester rifle that one number was unreadable because of rust. A forensics lab used acid to remove rust and make the number readable. Totally amazing.
I'm no expert but I can't imagine grinding that thing was a good idea.
I thought it was a amazing video. He did nothing to hurt the gun but thru his work he has now a very pricey gun that can be tracked back to the battle field and wouldnt it be some thing if he could find out who carried it.
Not Custer he had a Webley Bulldog.Now that would be a find.
The idiot childish remarks that abound on here make me wonder at the character of the individuals blasting this fella who authenticated the weapon and what the fuck is wrong with you people. He did a fine job of it, and you poses? It STILL is what it is knucklheads. If it was a big hunk of rust you would leave it as is??? Fuck off.
I’m astonished why not send it to the Colt company and allow their experts do it properly
Legend has it Paaps is just as Gentle with the ladies as he is with Priceless relics 👌
Bad move grinding it.
Hank hankyourhankerin no
Shut up
@@dartarkana4279 that gun is a piece of history dumbass , you need to learn history
I agree bad move grinding it you never grind on a gun thus old you let it sit in CLR rust and dirt remover
That is awesome as hell...what a find...
I would not have used a tool like that for this piece. Fascinating piece and history behind the video.
It has no value now.
My dad, when he was a kid back in the 50's, found a german officer's pistol in a bunker in le Touquet, northern France.. He never touched it, just left it rusted as he found it...
Just watched this 7/20/18. This old disabled vet thanks you for sharing this. Lovely relic with an amazing history. Thank you for making my morning. A cup of coffee with your video made this old vet smile.
Papa Frank, you're a US veteran?
"I washed it and woke up the next morning and the rust rusted." So I reckon it's made of some kind of metal. LOL!
Rust actually preserves the metal underneath it. Remove the rust and the exposed metal rusts more.
`This is a sickening example of someone who has no idea of what he's doing. How did he acquire a gun with historic value only to destroy it ??
$$$$
Join him next week where does a full restoration of Bonnie and Clyde's death car
With Isopon Body Filler?
My mining partner has an original 45-70 rolling block from the battle of the little Big Horn battle. You can clearly see the serial no. and it has been checked out by historians. They know the name of the trooper who carried it and found his skull about 20 feet away. The wood butt stock was badly broken looking as if it had been used to fight indians. The last one of these that sold at Christy's auction went for one and a half million. My mining partner is a Blackfoot Indian and he lives in Spokane,Wash. He's in his mid 80's and very hard of hearing.
Trap door....
@@craigmignone2863 Yep, and the serial no. was very clear but other parts rusty. You could tell the way the gun had lain in the mud. Stock was broken and you could tell it had been used to strike something.. Leo had the serial no. looked up and they know the name of the trooper that carried it and the skull of a white man was found along the creek bed not 20 from the rifle. His daughters have the gun now. And because they were not too nice to Leo before he passed in 2017 I'll give you his last name, Bruce. (Leo Bruce) He was my mining partner for the last 5 years of his life. He was a Blackfoot Indian.
You are braver than I! I would have let a professional conservator do this.
seattwa braver? Sounds like you got more common sense than this idiot. Nothing brave about stupidity
This is actually the correct forensic technique for retrieving a serial number that has been removed or obscured on a firearm. One small patch of rust removed uncovered the history. Otherwise you just have a rusty relic instead of an artifact.
Are you joking? Not even close.
@@b.randal5404 OK then please educate us on the current forensic technique.
Some exceptional resources:
ACHP - Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
Turnbull Firearm Restoration TRSA
Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies
Colonial Williamsburg Institute
Pennfoster Gunsmith Restoration Accredidation
CCAHA - Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts
School of Historic Preservation
George Washington University - Historic Preservation Program
Getty Conservation Institute
The list goes on should this not uncover an effective path.@@ir8d8rads
@@b.randal5404 I said forensic. This method was long used by police to determine the serial numbers of guns which had been removed or damaged. Still is as far as I know. It isn't perhaps proper treatment of an historic artifact. Note that this firearm's history or status as an historic piece was unknown prior to the discovery of the serial number... Unless any rusty Colt SAA should receive proper museum level treatment. I am not sure that in this condition the money would be justified to conserve the piece if it were just an old military issue. By the time of the Little Bighorn more than 30,000 Colt Army pistols had been produced. Over 300,000 by 1940. Just because someone said it was at Custer's last stand doesn't justify the type of treatment you are suggesting. Yes it could have been determined via Xray or electron-beam scanning. I just doubt that anyone would spend the money doing that on a completely ruined piece out of speculation.
"Bubba" the gunsmith strikes again, i was already upset at the wire brush, then dropped it & cracked it, and when he broke out the grinder & hammer i had to turn it off.....damn damn damn
You have to get the metal really shiny before using acid to raise the number. But law enforcement is usually dealing with a ground off number, not always a rusted one. Getting the rust off and down to shiny is necessary. I would have done that to verify that Colt. Why not? If provenance is not established, it's just a rusted hunk worth nothing.
Cops use any method they can to identify evidence. They don't really care about the effect of their work on the item. Their methods are not the best for museum quality restoration.
He already knows the serial number so I don't understand why he's doing this.
non directement de l'acide special arme, mais vous devez commander au USA
Montana Custer Battlefield Relic Serial No. 7047 Colt Cavalry Single Action Army Revolver, with its date of discovery in 1933, is a particularly significant Custer and Frontier Indian Wars artifact, well worthy of the most distinguished private or museum collection related to the American West and the legendary George Armstrong Custer and his fearless and victorious Indian adversaries. This gun was sold at auction in May of 2016 for $33,000!
facinating news about the auction and well written commentary.
Anyone saying about him grinding on it . He is proving that it was the relic that he thought it was . Getting the serial number up isn't hurting the historical value of it
I have no experience restoring old weapons, but I am indeed a history buff. I was cringing as I watched all that grinding, as I am sure the authors of that book were.