The easiest way to tell the difference is the trigger and safety lever are a golden/brown color, aka "Straw", on the earlier guns, and blued on the later guns. Hard to describe the differences in blue, experience helps there. Try going to Simpson, Ltd, and visually compare pre-1937 vs. post 1937 guns. If I had to try and describe the differences, I'd say that the rust blue is slightly lighter, more "gray" than salt blued guns.
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