I am in the middle of having a mid-grade British BLE SxS redone. Right now the gun is being re-stocked and the engraving being re-cut. After talking with the engraver at length about what needed to be done, we started talking about metal finishes. I was going to have the newly made heel and toe clips, trigger guard, the screws and pins, and triggers Nitre blued and have the action floor plate, forend iron, top lever, and barrels rust blued. The gentleman engraving the gun suggested having most all of these parts "Carbona" or Charcoal blued and only possibly having the triggers, screws and pins Nitre blued. What do you think? I love the looks of Nitre bluing but I know that the colors usually dont hold up all that well and I'm not sure that the Nitre bluing is even appropriate on a British sxs. I'm not too familiar with Carbona and I think rust bluing the parts might be too "plain". Please give me your suggestions and or opinions. Thanks in advance.

Best,
Dustin

Carbonia blue is usually applied to a highly polished surface in the USA such as Colt and S&W pistols, Early 20th Century Winchesters, etc. Some nice pictures and info can be found at http://www.ronsgunshop.com/carbonia.html

Did the British gun trade ever use Carbonia bluing? Do you care ?

OB

It's a pandoras box: 'Old English Blue', Browne of Royal Small Arms Factory, Birmingham browne for twist barrels,..... big English secret.

Charcoal blueing is more appropriate for English guns for small parts. Case coloring was often used on forearm latches and iron. Carbonia is a proprietary US process that was used mainly on Winchesters and Colts. It gives a very high gloss black finish. It's not that different from Charcoal if you polish the part. Nitre blue is achieved by dipping in hot salts and this is a brighter blue than Carbonia, and you are right, it's not that durable.

Thanks for the help/suggestions.

I decided to have the top lever, trigger guard, heel & toe clips, bottom action plate, forend iron & screws rust blued and the action screws & pins , triggers, top lever screw, and the heel & toe plate screws Nitre blued. Heck with traditional, I just think this color/finish combo will be extremely pleasing to the eye. Thanks again.

Best,
Dustin