RE: Gun Refinishing
You can do it on your own and it will turn out fine. I have had to do a few aluminum bottom metals on rifles and it turns out just fine. However the spray on / bake on finishes that you can buy are not as high a quality as the ones that the gun manufacturers use and as a result not quite as durable.
You need to strip the gun down to the frame and bead blast it. If you don't have access to a blasting cabinet you can use consecutive grits of sand paper. Make sure that it is absoultely clean. Then just follow the directions on the can. You can get glossy to matt finish or teflon finish.
Make sure that nothing touches it until it is dry. Also do not touch anything to it until it has cooled. If you do you will be redoing it again.
Leaf, where do you live?