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Found a reasonable deal on a used Springfield with the Parkerized finish. You folks like it? I do like the look and feel, but worry it will rust. I hope to make this thing a carry piece and always carry IWB.

I am familiar with the excess oil they need, but will it be to much of a pain?

Sales men did not seem to like it, said I needed a stainless. I had a hard time reading him, if he honestly felt I need stainless, or if he needed to sell a stainless. . .

Springfiled GI, Parkerized, 4� barrel, 100 rounds through it, nothing special $4 and some change.

I've never disliked the finish...Its subdued, I'm not afraid of screwing it up...

I just take care of it like any other finish...Sure it'll have its issues, develop blemishes, but that half the fun of the firearm developing that "personality" we like...

You already know half the battle...

I have one similar to this with a 5" barrel. I like it, and it seems to wear well, showing character marks only whereit comes in contact with the holster or my poor handling. Like stevie_d_64 said, they all develop character along the way. I expect that someday I'll decide it needs to be "refreshed" and I'll put some thought into what to do with it, but my Dad has a similar one that he bought >40 years ago & it still looks pretty good. All in all, I'd say it has shown itself to be reasonably durable.

Let oil/grease seep into the parkerizing, and I can guarantee that it won't rust.

XavierBreath (at http://xavierthoughts.blogspot.com/ Xavier Thoughts) has a post detailing what he does with his parkerized guns. Long story short, he slathers them in grease and bakes them in the oven. I forget exactly which post it is, though, that he describes his "rust-proofing" method.

Kept completely dry, a parkerized gun WILL rust, and sometimes quite easily. Let oil/grease stay on and in the parkerizing, and it's as good as or better than stainless (yes, I've rusted stainless steel before ).

My own carry piece is a Springfield GI Milspec, also parkerized (and rather tweaked and customized by myself). My sweat will rust stainless steel over time, but this gun hasn't had a lick of rust yet, except for the grip screws. I simply don't let solvent ever touch the parkerizing (which would leach any oils out), but I've oiled the entire gun a few times (in fact, I typically don't even use solvent on the barrel, only gun oil and a stiff brass cleaning brush).

Phosphate ("parkerized") fnish is durable and rustproof if oiled at all. Oil it and wipe it down well, so it does not feel oily, and it will not rust.

If you were to look at the finish at high magnification you would see that it is very porous. Oil gets in the pores and is held there, so even if the finish looks and feels dry, the steel is still oiled and protected.

You can also re-phosphate the pistol on the stove in your kitchen if you ever wish to. Brownells sells the solution - it is about $4 for a little bottle you mix with a gallon of distilled water. Comes with good written instructions. A cheap porcelain-enameled pot and a candy thermometer complete the setup. Detail strip the weapon and do one piece at a time. For a really nice finish you need to sandblast the steel to clean it an make the surface uniform; then rinse in hot distilled water, put in the hot (about 200ºF) phosphate solution for 5-10 minutes, rinse in hot water, blow dry, and oil. I have a Browning Highpower I refinished this way and it looks "professionally" done.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Andrew