[Marvin]

Bill, The subject of the Plum Color has been a good subject for many years and I agree that the reason is quality control. BUT, the real reason this plum color happens is that the bluing solution is set to a certain temperature, with a certain concentration of bluing salts, and a certain type steel and steel hardness. If any of these variables change, there will be changes in the bluing color. What happened on Lugers nad P.38s that exhibit the Plum Color is due to the "work Hardening" of the steel during the manufacturing process. A piece of steel when machined should certain speed and feeds for the cutter which do not overheat the piece of steel being machined. During the war, the machine operators were rtying to produce the parts as fast as possible and still make sure they passed inspection. If you will look at a P.38 frame near the rails, the machinging marks noramlly are very evident, and you may see the plum color there and not on the lower half of the frame. When fast feed rates are used in cutting the metal, and you have a coolant flow on the steel, it will do what is called "work harden". This is the same as if it were heat treated. This change in hardness of the steel will not blue the same as the rest of the steel that is not as hard. In a manufacturing operation for wartime, thi9s would not be a reason to make changes in the time, temperature, and salt concentration for the bluing bath, so they set these parameters for a middle of the road approach to bluing. The protection to the steel is almost as good as a high quality blue, so the pistol passes all inspections. As with any waring country, even the US, the quality of finish deteriorated as the war progressed. The Germans were not dumb and did not maufacture any weapons that were not safe for their troops to use. The last few weeks of the war when there was no control, the quality did drop, but not until then.


Marvin