I think Olle is right on the mark....the surface finish has a lot to do with the final hue of the metal. And Terry, dont give up, it's a learning curve....frustrating yes, but worthwhile in the long run. If you are at 9 cycles now, its not going to get any better or worse. Better to start again from bare metal with a new approach.
Also, dont get tunnel vision and think anything thats doesnt scream BLUE isn't close or correct. Guns often photograph bluer than they actually are, and the original finishes were only subtleley shaded that way. I have an original rust blued 1917 Artillery Luger with lots of the original finish left....it only appears to have a blue tint if you lay it next to a modern, blacker hot blued gun.
If you have the stomach for trying from scratch again and want to chase down the ingredients, I suggest you use the search feature to look at some old posts by "chuckc" and read up... I used his formula slightly modified and after adding a small amount of sodium nitrate am very pleased with what I now have to work with...I am by no means an expert, but I became fascinated with this process and spent a LOT of time experimenting. Nobody is holding a gun to your head ( ha ha)... and I can tell you're really passionate about refinishing this gun the best you can....take a deep breath and a break, and read, read read.
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