If it's nickel I would not remove it. Must guns that are nickel plated don't have very good metal under them from what I understand. The plating covers any imperfections on the surface of the metal. Bluing requires a better metal finish because it is more of a stain than a coating.

I could be completely wrong on that, but that is how it was explained to me. And I tried to re finish a plated pistol before and the metal underneath was indeed not very great after getting the plating off.

Paul