Plum

[DonVoigt]

Originally Posted by k98mike

The seller of the Krieghoff offered a lifetime guarantee, so there's that. He also sent a number of photo's of other Krieghoff's with varying amounts of plum. I think the color changed over 80+ years. Just my opinion. I don't have nearly the expertise as you all, but in my humble opinion if it's a fake then it was done by a master forger. I'm happy with my Krieghoff. (Also, if you are going to forge something, why would you make it an interesting color to arouse extra interest?) The frame, barrel, and toggle train are for sure Krieghoff according to Gibson's book, That's enough for me.

Mike,
the plum color is not something that one can "plan" for.

I spent several years of my youth bluing all types of firearms. The one thing we dreaded was the appearance of that undesired "plum" color.

But there is not much one can do about it. It results from the steel alloy, its heat history, and the chemical balance and temperature of the hot salt bath.

Rarely re-polishing and re- bluing(a second time) will give a different result. The color does not change over time.

Nickel steel, and especially Winchester lever action receivers, will turn all shades of plum every time- while the attached barrel is the pretty dark blue black one expects.

A plum color does not make your pistol a "fake", it may be original or refinished - as some one said in a previous post- one has to hold it in hand and in good light to decide.