doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Case Coloring an RBL Grey

Mr. Ken, when I wrote "true French gray" thats what I meant-that is how I have seen it done, in France. By playing with the concentration of the final quench chemistry, they are able to predictably tone the final color, from almost a green gold out to what would pass for silver plating, or anything in between, say, a matte pewter. There is no elbow grease involved in the final tone, or color.
When I say " fairly delicate" in terms of rust resistance, I am comparing it to a mil spec type 120 degree salt water spray test @ 48 hours. Epoxy and Robar finishes demonstrate superior performance to traditional, blue and hardened surface treatments in a "real", repeatable test.
Best,
Ted

Thanks for that bit of info Mr. Ted. I would enjoy speaking to you further if you'd be kind enough to forward me your ph number. kenhurst@suddenlink.net

My recollection from Mr Galazan's tour was that the receiver is made of 4140 (.40% carbon) and is martensitically hardened (thru hardened) prior to machining.

In a correspondence with Oscar Gaddy, he alluded to generating the case colors while still acheiving proper core hardness for a martensitic steel. He didn't provide details but suggested that if I had such a project, he'd recommend Doug Turnbull for the job. I don't recall him saying that the case colored martensitic steel gun would be actually case hardened or just properly thru hardened when done.

Thanks for the info. I'll keep it as is and try some rust inhibitors.

Chuck,

I had spoken with Dr. Gaddy a number of times on this subject. Some of his tests showed that good colors can be achieved at very low temperatures. The low temps must not affect the hardness of the already heat treated steel. I would guess that is how Turnbull colors any modern actions or cast actions such as Rugers, but who knows. Either way, I say buy one that is colored, much easier and safer. I also dont know how they would "paint" those colors on, but hey who knows nowadays. They sure look like authentic case colors in the pictures.

Channing,
I was thinking maybe that the casehardening coloring is done at the normal 1425F, quenched as normal for casehardening, then the parts would be tempered down to the desire hardness by heating to the normal tempering range of between about 400-650F depending on desired hardness. But I'm just guessing.

Perhaps the simplest solution would be to coat the action with a thin film of TruOil, applied with Q-tip and finger tip. No need to strip the metal from the wood, just work carefully. Easy to refresh when it wears on the edges. Oscar Gaddy used Behlen's spray lacquer and/or TruOil to protect case colors from wear, so this should protect the French Grey from rust.

I know I am somewhat of an old Fuddy-Duddy, but I would never put a properly heat-treated alloy steel frame back in the furnace just for "Color". I am also somewhat hesitant to even do it to plain carbon steel. "Any" time you take a piece of steel above it's critical temp some "Risk" is involved, regardless of what anyone may tell you. Maybe they've done a thousand with no problem, "But" #1,001 may just be the one that warps badly or even cracks.

Miller,
I'm of the same thinking on the heat treating for just color. Tony Galazan machined those RBLs in a fully heat treated state for several reasons. One was because it yields a more precisely fitted gun. That was the reason I ordered my RBL without the case color.

I believe one of our members here has a horror story about a good Parker that ended up pretty messed up after re-casehardening.