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Message started by Century2 on Oct 13th, 2009 at 12:44pm

Title: Re: Original Krag Receiver Finish? Prove it!
Post by Dick Hosmer on Oct 16th, 2009 at 2:14pm
Am very glad to hear that you are/were working on rifles which had seen better days - did not mean to preach. And, the Wikipedia explanation of case-hardening certainly seems correct to me. But, as to Krag receivers, AFAIK, when the original black-oil "finish" (which was basically the result of a manufacturing process, as opposed to an applied finish per se) wore off, that part was re-blued along with the barrel, as a unit, when needed.

To the best of my knowledge, NO other coating was ever applied by the government - NO "silvery plating", NO "additonal black oxide". What we see today (unless some civilian work was performed) are the remains of either the original case-hardening, or one or more trips through the re-blue process.

To further confound things, I will tell you that 70210, which clearly has the "silvery" & brown appearance WAS "officially" refinished at least once (St. Louis Ordnance Depot in 1900) and probably again at Benicia Arsenal when it came back from Peking.

Another point, especially on carbines - the balance point comes right at the receiver/magazine. Surely perspiration affected the finish of some specimens as well.

You have raised an interesting point, and arms with a high percentage of original hardening are not often seen - but, there was no application of "silvery plating" or black oxide.


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