Richard, I've damaged two guns playing around with the defarbing of the Pieta marks, and won't be doing it anymore (I'll just buy Ubertis). The roll engraving on the cylinders offends my eye more, and is easier to eradicate. I handled my first Colt as a kid in 1958, followed by a Remington in 1960, there's just something in me that appreciates cap and ball pistols with most of their original finish gone and replaced with the handsome patina that bare steel develops over time. On the other hand, I used to color my cap pistols with magic marker to give them the look of bluing!
As a purely practical matter, I prefer a taller front sight on a Pieta, and have found that it's easiest for me to dovetail a replacement. Unfortunately, I always manage to damage the factory bluing during the surgery, with the bottled bluing never working out too well for me; it seems to wear away rather quickly. Stripping the barrel, giving it a good polish with carbide paper on a sheet of glass, and then nitre bluing works for me, but then I've never tried anything else.
