Veterans and other folk who bought them for $15 dollars out of catalogues post war threw them into tackle boxes, campers, glove boxes, tool boxes and bottom drawers as "cheap insurance". They were viewed much as we would view a Bersa, Lorcin or Makarov today.
They got beat up and sometimes rusty. When they were passed on or when the owner decided they would look better with a reblue, they were taken to the local gunsmith, (which back then, virtually every town had) and cleaned up. Aside from imports, which went through a factory redo, this is why so many home grown bring-backs have been refinished.
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