Need help with finishes on C96

[Olle]

Originally Posted by luger.parabellum

Olle,

FWIK I can't recall having seen a C96 firing pin strawed, I think all C96 had their firing pin blued.
I could be wrong.


Regards


Sergio

This is quite possible (I guess it would be a fire blue?), so I might better correct myself: The ones I have seen that still had any finish on them were strawed. The problem is that I just haven't seen many Broomhandles with a good, all original finish, so I don't have a good reference. Most of them just have an even, grey and brown patina all over, and it's almost impossible to tell what kind of finish they had to begin with.

I know there's several knowledgeable collectors here, so I'm hoping that this will be easy to figure out. If not, I'll just wing it. It will be a refinished shooter anyway, so the main objective is to make it look good.

[Olle]

Originally Posted by sheepherder

I would be interested in reading your plans to reline it.

I only have two Mausers, one a C96 but pretty much all patina, the other an M30 which is all 'blued' (black actually) so no help there.

I'm sure Alvin has your information.

Yeah, I'm sure all the secrets will be revealed once Alvin finds this thread.

I'm actually planning to take the coward's way out and let somebody else do the liner. I was thinking about doing it myself, but I won't be doing many .30 cal barrels (this might be the only one) so buying materials and the tools to do it would be cost prohibitive. The rest of the restoration will be enough work anyway. The grip frame is the worst part, it's pretty darn rough. I'm having it welded up right now and there will be many hours of filing, sanding and cussing just to do that part of the restoration.