Francis.... Very interesting gun. I have 2786w (1939 E/L) and the muzzel kind of looks like yours although the saftey bar is in the white. I checked 4 Banners from 1939 and 2 have polished muzzels and 2 do not.
If in fact it is a Russian dip gun they I would think it was done in Russia rather than here. My understanding is that the dipping was done soon after WW2 ended as the guns were put in storage for future use. Do not have documentation to back that up but it sure makes sense to me......
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dave
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