As one evaluates a best British gun and encounters unpolished (blacked) barrel flats, is it safe to assume the barrels have been reblacked, or it that too gross of a generalization?

Owen,
The English guns that I have looked at and have been reblued haven't had the barrel flats polished. My Churchill wasn't after it had been reblued. I've had guns reblued in the U.S. and they were polished as a matter of normal practice. My guess is that it must be an English practice, since it doesn't show when the gun is closed. Now if the lump protrudes through the action, then I would assume it would be made to match it.
Hope this helps,
Karl

This is consistent with my own experience... I have never had a Brit gun that was a recent re-black that had the barrel flats polished. They have always been blacked.

Afew years ago at a side by side event. I was trolling my Purdey through the tent. I stopped by a well known English gunmaker table and they took a look. They noticed that the flats were blued and commented that they had been re-blacked.
I told them "No" and said that was common on Purdey's.
I imediatley emailed Purdey and asked that question and they quickly responded that it was common on Purdey's to have the barrel flats blacked.

Thanks Mike that was very helpful. I was in fact sizing up a Purdey pair from the 70's exhibiting blacked flats when the question arose. The guns had barely been used and so it did not make sense that the barrels needed a re-black.

Some makers did others didn't. W & S polished the barrel flats on the 701 but not the 700 & 702 .
There is of course the simple fact that when cleaning off the lumps after black the flats got marked , quite easy to do no matter how careful you are ,then they get polished .

I polish off the flats as a matter of course when 'top & tailing' freshly blacked or browned barrels. I know it may not be correct for some Makers' guns while it is obligatory for others. I don't much care, I just think it looks nicer. I can't remember the last set of barrels that I sold with original black! I obviously don't ever handle guns that are that crisp!

For barrels that are getting reblued (reblacked), that polishing is the equivalent of wear. It can be done carefully, but you are still not getting back 100% of your barrels. Sometimes the process is a little aggressive and the gun comes back with all the symptoms of a lifetime of hard wear. I know this because a recognized hotshot smith gave one of my guns that treatment.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "wear" on the barrel flats. Actually, I'm not aware that any wear can take place there. On a properly fitted gun the barrel flats do not even touch the action flat, with an ever increasing "gap" to the rear. This is to allow for the barrels to settle in over time, and with use. There is no wear action taking place there, that I can understand.

Please elaborate on that, Ithace5E.

Thanks, SRH

It is true that polishing the flats, locking lug sides, etc, etc, amounts to wear; but if carefully done is not significant. When wiping on the rust bluing solution, I avoid these areas anyway. To insure complete coverage of adjacent areas, some color can't be avoided, but carefully removing it with worn 320 grit abrasive is pretty easy and significant metal is not removed. This operation is necessary for quality work, where it was done originally.
Mike

The entire polishing and re-blue process amounts to 'wear'. I think that any wear that occurs when cleaning off the blue on the barrel flats is so minimal as to be totally insignificant... unless the gun is re-blacked a hundred times or so - by which time the barrels are likely to be so thin that they would not pass proof.