I won't attempt to get into technical debates over whether case color hardening or Mauser actions is a good thing or not, but I currently have two of them, and sold another one about 12 to 14 months ago. These are German built by small custom gunsmiths in Germany between the wars. All three were built I suppose on reworked surplus Mauser actions, they all appeared to be standard M98 models with the military markings polished away, and all had very good color case hardening on the reworked and engraved receivers. One of the two I curently have has now been stripped down in preparation for having the original half octogan badly rusted barrel bore relined so as to make the rifle usable again, the remaining one is intact and has perhaps 40 to 50% or the beautiful case colors remaining. I am not a particularly good photographer, all I have is a point and shoot little digital camera, and I am not sure how good I could reproduce those colors. It is in the classic German sporting rifle style, butter knife bolt handle, side paneled stock with small cheekpiece, sling swivel band soldered to the barrel in front, nice open sights and claw mounts for scope. In my opinion, these are a beautiful classic German style of sporting rifle, and there's nothing faddish about the style, as it obviously has been around for quite a long time. I can recall seeing a modern M98 rifle by Hartmann & Weiss given the same treatment, I wish I could remember where those photos were. The Germans, who built the Mauser actions, BTW, apparently think nothing of case color hardening these actions, and have since at least either just before or just after WWI. I would say the proof is in the pudding. These three I have owned or currently own are far from the total number I have seen, I would have to say it would appear this procedure has been pretty common on reworked custom Mauser rifles for at least 80 years now.
