Who knew that a classic English .375 H&H Mag. take down rifle could be so much improved by a two tone finish and a lot of buffing?







Only $11,000.00 at Cabela's!

Maybe a color blind Giraffe will be interested in it.

Very innovative. Was it done with nail polish?

An extra low scope mount....

hey, Bubba allowed me to buy a builder on this Holland.....will make a sweet gun when put back to sporter config and I love building these things....

One of two things is going on here.

The metal under the purple finish is a different make up than the metal under the blue. I have seena lot of scopes change to purple as they go older. My old Leupold did it.

quote:

Originally posted by D99:
One of two things is going on here.

What's the second?

I had an early, S prefix, 6" .41 Magnum S & W. That too had a very slightly "plum" coloured barrel and cylinder.

I understand it is to do with the composition of the steel.

W W Greener also made some GP Guns with this "plum" colour to the receiver. These are relatively quite common in Great Britain.

I understand because they were made up with .41 Magnum barrels and cylinders on .44 Magnum production frames.

It is long gone, it would not have survived the British handgun ban. But boy, was it accurate!

quote:

Originally posted by enfieldspares:
I understand it is to do with the composition of the steel.

Unfortunately, that's exactly what it is.

quote:

Originally posted by D99:
One of two things is going on here.

The metal under the purple finish is a different make up than the metal under the blue. I have seena lot of scopes change to purple as they go older. My old Leupold did it.

Anodizing colors are subject to damage by UV rays. Sealing with nickel acetate helps protect the color. It is possible that Leupold's material suppliers send them the wrong alloy or the anodizing process has some variation that permits the UV damage to the anodizing. Missing the sealing step might cause it.

I had the same exact thing happen to the bolt handle on a M70 300 H&H, had it happen on Ruger Blackhawk pistols, also.

Winchester 30-30 frames can also end up red-purple after a dip in the hot blue tank.

Will rust blue work better?

quote:

Originally posted by yeti:
Winchester 30-30 frames can also end up red-purple after a dip in the hot blue tank.

I forget which year they changed the metalurgical make up of the receiver, but if you looked close, inside, you would see that the receivers were plated with some type of crap. "Crap" is a gunsmithing term for shit.

Guys, You are not dissing the great H&H here, are you? Cause that is not allowed here, ya know? It is a Holland and Holland fer crissake, and 11000 dollars is really, really, cheep!
Just LOOK at what you get!
It even has a slotted front ring and a see-through mount!

quote:

Originally posted by onefunzr2:

quote:

Originally posted by D99:
One of two things is going on here.

What's the second?

Dammit, sometimes you get distracted by your own brilliance!

The second is that the work of the express sights was done at a different time than the first, and a different kind of blue was used.

I disagree. As originally made they should actually pretty much all look the same blue colour.

I think that the colour difference has come about when the thing has been re-blued.

It's been a while but IIRC the purple is from nickel in the alloy and if you use a higher temperature in the salt bath it comes out blue .

quote:

Originally posted by onefunzr2:

quote:

Originally posted by D99:
One of two things is going on here.

What's the second?

The owner's a poofter.

Will this sort of two tone occur if the rifle is rust blued?

It is my understanding that a higher nickel content will cause the purple color to appear over time. Old Rugers are notorious for this.

quote:

Originally posted by mstarling:
Will this sort of two tone occur if the rifle is rust blued?

A gunsmith that has blued a couple guns for me say's one of the big advantages to rust bluing is all the parts stay the same color for the most part.

The worst thing I've ever had happen was a replaced bolt handle on a M98. You can see the difference in the steel where the handle is welded when tank blued.

When I looked at the above rifle I thought it was done that way on purpose

Terry

quote:

Originally posted by Toomany Tools:
It is my understanding that a higher nickel content will cause the purple color to appear over time. Old Rugers are notorious for this.

I have also heard the above as well as the temp of the bluing solution was too hot.

I have seen some older S&W revolvers that were a "little purple" as well.

you can blue those black, with salts, if you are willing to "kill" you salt bath.. or do it with the FIRST run, right after setting up the bluing.. - run the bath HOT - pushing 300-305, and long -- this will also blue not purple ruger actions .. which are notorious for plum finish.

Mig welding bolt handles, or filling in with mig, that the cladding has been left on, will leave a mark, EVERY time.. I just tig em, for what its worth -- looks better in the long run.

Not to mention the front scope base dovetailed thru the receiver ring!!

The purple/winered is ether a product of metal composition or casehardening.
In both cases it is easily cured by raising the saltbath temp by apx 10deg centigrades or apx 20 deg farenheit. and also increase the dippingtime. Raising the temp by changing concentration of the bath don't ruin the bath.

When saltbluing for some years, you realize that diferent steels or diferent surfacetreatments requires diferent temp's.

Actualy it is werry easy.
If it doesnt color within 2min, raise the temp before diping.
If it bites imediately, and comes out with powder red on (or worse powder green) you are way to hot

From memory, purpling of steel was explained in Larry Wilson's book "Ruger and His Guns" as being the result of too much silicon in the steel, I think used to make better castings. Perhaps this sight is cast? Early Kimber .22's had this on their trigger guards IIRC. Maybe not a problem with rust blue? Cheers, Chris