Of the common bluing methods, rust bluing, hot bluing, and charcoal

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Rust

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>>34474659
I like plum brown the best, Ideally the color weathered manhole covers get but I think it has more to do with the iron content becasue I've yet to see it replicated in any gun.

Colt used charcoal bluing and nothing quite compares to it.

The main thing that set them apart however was the quality of the polishers, to achive a true deep blue they needed hours per gun with specially trained smiths who knew exactly how to get that high polish without ruining the lines.

I think it really depends on the weapon we're talking about. I don't think rust bluing would look good on say a 1911 but on a "trade pattern" musket I think it looks beautiful. I don't know what method Colt used but I know at my job we use hot bluing. We use it on aerospace components; transmission parts, various hydraulic fittings, etc. When done on a properly prepped metal surface it can by IMO the most aesthetically pleasing. Such as the 1911 pictured or a nice Hi-power or CZ75.

>>34474659
that 1911 makes me so hard

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>>34474659
Lot of the older antique guns used a combination, they'd nitric acid rust it and then put a hot blue over the top of that. Case hardening blue's also look pretty sweet

>>34474659
Royal blue was done with a somewhat standard caustic salt bath bluing.
90% of the effect is from care and attention to detail from the polisher and others involved.

>>34475501
Wrong, they used bone char and a retort to acheive the effect. Nitre bluing can never achieve that effect as it etches the metal.

>>34475556
Nitre bluing is a completly different process.
Bone char and retort is simply the process used for color case hardening, which does not produce the uniform peacock blues.

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>>34474659

Charcoal, by far.

>>34475896
Case hardening and charcoal bluing are two completely different things.

>>34474659
Rust gives it a satin black to gun metal finish.

Hotbluing makes it glossy black.

Charcoal bluing makes it slightly more blue color than hot bluing.

The original pre 1930s commercial colts actually used whale sperm oil in their process to get the classic royal blue.

Today, they dont even do their royal blue in house, they outsource it. And it looks black glossy. That carbonia bluing was a fluke because the shop they outsourced to used non colt standard methods.

My favorite is the pre 30s royal blue hands down.

But for a work gun, i would get it rust blued, idk the science behind it, but my guns ive rust blued myself do not surface rust at all, compared to my other guns.

>>34474659
parkerizing best finish

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>>34474659
Royal blue, so charcoal.

>>34474659
what kind of 1911 is that?

I dislike slide serration that make up almost every other 1911.

>>34476572
>actually used whale sperm oil
So I've heard. But then this guy seems to have done a good job replicating the look, with normal methods and a hell of a lot of polishing.

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.ca/2015/09/the-phoenix-project-resurrection-of.html?m=1

Black chrome is A E S T H E T I C.

Slightly off topic but what type of blueing do the bulgarian makarovs have? Shit is so cash, and since mine has some slight wear id like to get it touched up, but dont want to ruin it.

>>34477296
It'll show. If it's that bad, strip the finish and plate it or something.

>>34477213

Model of 1911 US Army as the slide says. Standard USGI. It's just received the high polish that colt has perfected.

I'm pretty good at polishing shit but I can't pull that off.

>>34477262

Original colt bluing (1840's onward for a while) was throwing them in a charcoal fire, removing and wiping with rags soaked in fish oil, then throwing back in fire, repeating process.

If you've ever seen a mint early Colt, you'll know what I'm talking about. It's beautiful.

>>34475203
The old Detonic Combat Masters will weather to that color. Mark V. Saw on at the florida gun exchange. Obviously it was a gun that was exposed to some high humidity, and then polished. I didnt get to look at the internals due to that oldschool guide rod screw.

http://lengendarydetonicscombatmaster45.blogspot.com/

>tfw American craftsmanship is a byword
>tfw American guns are shit nowadays
>tfw no company will ever make high quality revolvers like they used to back in th day
Fuccccck. I was born in the wrong era.

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>>34478320
>Tfw I'm looking for investors in my revolver manufacturing company
Soon anon

>>34478371
Good luck. If it has shit bluing and shit parts it wont be worth it.

>>34474659
Red bluing

>>34478320
A lot are shit now and many were shit in the past. The old shitty guns are just forgotten. Not everyone in the old west carried a colt 1873.

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