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Unread 07-05-2002, 02:43 PM   #8
Marvin
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Location: Upstate S.C.
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Wes,

In some of my past work, I have dealt with commercial bluing, heat treating, and especially machining operations. I have seen the reddish hue on parts which were SUPPOSED to be very black. The plating company would have to rework these pieces for us by adjusting the time/temperature of the bluing solution to get the correct color.

Since the only problem with the pistol was the color, the funtion was not effected and the pistol was accepted.

Normally, the commercial pistols (Lugers & P.38s0 of the Third Reich period had a decent bluing job (there were exceptions), but that did deteriorate as the war progressed. The Lugers held their finish better than the P.38s as the war progressed, and I guess they were not real concerned about the finish, just get pistols to the soldiers. One of the worst cases of the reddish hue, is on a commercial Mod. P.38 commercial pistol of late 1944. The entire slide had a red hue to it. I bought this pistol from a dealer who thought it had been reblued, I knew it was correct, and bought it for half of what it was worth. Every once in a while, I get a deal.

Marvin
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