craig: wikipedia has an excellent narrative on the subject of case hardening. as you surmise, case coloring is cosmetic enhancement only and does not affect the original heat treatment and hardening of the metal, surface or otherwise.
Ed,
I have to disagree. You know not of what you stated at least twice in this thread. Possibly, you should read a bit on the case hardening process. Metallurgy textbooks are the best source of reliable information on this subject. Gun magazines and such can have annecdotal information from writers that often get technical information incorrect. I recall a completely erroneous statement in an article about carbon/graphite wrapped barrels where the redheaded Col. said this stuff aided in disippating heat from the metal because he could touch the outside of it and little heat was felt.
