Article on Winchester Finishes Article on Winchester finishes, previously published in "Bullet N Press" magazine, Vol 1, No 4 and reproduced here by permission. The Winchester Blues Metal Finishes by Bill Adair Quickly, now! How many different processes (maximum) were used by Winchester on a single rifle? Excluding the multitude of blue colors and shades produced by color-case hardening, which is not a bluing process, the answer is four! It may seem incredible that four different types of bluing would be used on a single gun, and perhaps the first question that would come to mind is "why?". First, to recap the types of bluing methods: On barrels and tubes was a soft, definitely blue color, rust-blue. This color is fairly dark, but nowhere near black. It must be said here that, while this rust-blue was the normal method for barrels and tubes, there was another blue used on these parts. Collectors (who actually know what they're referring to) call this "Winchester Bright Blue", and this blue is absolutely not the same as the rust-blue. The "Bright Blue" can be found mostly on shorter, lighter .22 model barrels and tubes manufactured after the turn of the century. Many collectors will say "bright blue on barrel...", but they're actually saying that the rust-blue color is nice and bright and new-looking. They're not referring to the true "Bright Blue", which is very rare. I can't precisely date this process because I've seen the same models from the same years, most having rust-blue and some having "bright blue". I've probably seen this bright-blue on more Win 63's than anything else, I think. I suspect that the bright blue is a form of charcoal-bluing. One characteristic of it is that it appears to be a "thick" layer of blue, almost as if it were painted on. It is the one Winchester blue that I cannot duplicate, since my charcoal-bluing setup is limited to shorter pieces. An 1876 receiver is about my maximum size. But the bright-blue is not included in the question of "how many blues on a single Winchester. The 2nd type is the "heat blue", now mostly called "Nitre-blue". Up to WWI, the mild steels used in gunmaking were compatible with heat-bluing. During and after WWI, steelmaking changed, and different alloys were added. A different carbon content was used in the new steels. These steels did not take well to the earlier heat-bluing methods, so charcoal-bluing began to be used in the period of 1916-1918. So, on a pre-1916 Winchester, the receivers, levers, hammers, etc. ( and all the small parts) would have been heat-blued (nitre-blued). However, on a post-1916 gun, the large parts (receiver, hammer, lever, etc.) were charcoal-blued, but the small parts, which were still made of milder steels, were still heat-blued. So now we have (1) rust blue on barrel and tube, (2) charcoal-blue on receiver and larger parts, and (3) heat-blue on smaller parts (screws, trigger, etc). The fourth type, used only on the loading gate leaf of special guns (deluxe or engraved models), was "fire-blue". Now, on earlier (pre-1901) guns which had color-cased receivers plus other parts), fire-blued gates were the norm. After color-case was phased out between 1901 and 1905, fire-blue was not seen on Winchesters except in the special-gun category. So, on certain guns made after the steel change of WWI, you can find rust-blue, charcoal-blue, heat(nitre)blue and fire-blue. Charcoal-blue and nitre-blue are "kissin cousins", as they're virtually the same color, and both are almost a "transparent" blue. These 2 are, without doubt, the finest looking blues ever done, especially on an exceptionally high polished piece. Most of the other quality manufacturers of the period used more or less the same bluing techniques, with a mix of rust-bluing and heat-bluing. Back to the metalurgy side for a moment: The switch from brass-frame (Henry's and 66's) guns (which are not relly brass, but a special alloy of copper and tin called (what else) "Gunmetal", to iron-frame guns was a big step for Winchester in many ways. Though they had limited experience with iron-frame Henry's, going to forged iron receivers (and then to forged steel around 1881), would be a major evolutionary development: Now they could color-case those big receivers and jump into the Colt-developed market where color-case was eye-candy and sold nicely, thank you. Everybody wanted color-case then, and that's something that still has the same appeal today. Note that color-case was phased out between 1901 and 1905 due, I think, to cost considerations, not steel content. The earlier low-carbon steels "took" to the process. Later high-carbon, high-alloy steels do not. Early domestic irons and steels bought by Colt, Winchester and others were less than metalurgically ideal. Colt bought higher-quality steel, much of it German. Parts which were forged of these early irons and steels exhibit peculiar properties in a large percentage of cases: thin, wavy lines that are imperfections in the homogeneity of the metal are apparent, seemingly along the magnetic axis. Long ago I coined the term "striations" to describe these "lines", and the term has gained fairly wide acceptance. When a receiver with striations is polished fairly brightly, say to 600 grit and above, these start to show. Seen under the microscope, the striations appear to be a slightly different color than the surrounding steel, and appear less-polished than the non-striated areas or the areas between the striations. I believe these are lines of non-bluable alloys such as nickel and tin which congregated into these wavy-line patterns during the pouring of molten steel into ingots. When the ingots are then heated and used for forgings, particularly drop-forgings, the striations become incorporated into the finished product, never to leave. No amount of polishing can remove them, and they resist all forms of bluing. Usually they show up on a blued piece as wavy, whitish ribbons. After spending untold hours polishing and bluing to perfection, only to have these steel imperfections show up is like, well, how about Michaelangelo painting the Sistene Chapel ceiling and having the plaster crack after he's done. Well, ok... maybe not quite on a scale that grand, but still aggravating. I've seen even mint Winchester receivers with striations, so I'm convinced they came out of the factory that way. But striations are certainly not the only gun pieces that show striations. S&W early frames are the worst, by far. Colt backstraps and trigger guards on Single Actions and many other parts from all manufacturers of the time have the same problem. Next time you're at a gun show, just look at most any pre-WWI gun that has a large percentage of original blue (brown and rust can cover them up). You're almost sure to find striations on it somewhere. Why were barrels and tubes rust-blued instead of heat or charcoal- blued? This one is simple. Bores cannot be plugged with heat or charcoal bluing, so to keep the bores shiny-bright, only a rust-blue will do the trick. Just try heat-bluing a 28" #5 Hi-Wall barrel! (Article not quite complete... more to come when I'm in a typing mood)