Degreased, 2 coats of cold blue scrubbed in with a 3M pad, heated with a heat gun. Scrubbed back to gray after. Holds up well to 3 years of use.
Don
There was a time period when the US arsenals went through a brown, bright, blued phase. Some years certain parts were required to be bright, then browned and lacquered, then case hardened blue (not color cased). Then they would decide everything was to be bright, then every part was colored in some fashion. It can be hard to track at times.I have read that the 1803 Harper's Ferry rifle was required to have a browned barrel and all the other steel parts were to be blued.
Most new rifles would have been blued or left in the white to develop the gray patina and eventually a brown finish.
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