Jerry,
From recutting some of the numbers on the different parts of my pistol I can say that so far I have experienced three different hardnesses of steel. The frame is the softest and cuts very easy. The breech and first link of the toggle seem to be of the same hardness and harder than the frame. By far the hardest is the rear toggle and it has been the most difficult to cut.
As far as I know the hardness of the steel has nothing to do with its ability to take a finish, only its composition. As long as it is a ferrous steel it should take a blue or phosphate finish. The color of the final finish might vary from hardness to hardness.
Stainless alloys are of course, a different story.
G57
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