doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Sunlight and case colors

Never known the sun to bleach a stone. A flint chip today looks about like it did 10,000 ago when someone used it for a knife. Minerals don't bleach easily or often.

Flint is grey photo degradation affect red purple blue first

Ever seen an agate fade? Petrified wood? I think there are lots of things on earth that don't fade. Lots of them are minerals and so are case colors.

Bakers have more "durable" colors because their owners would rather hunt with their Parkers and Elsies and Foxes instead. So the Bakers stay home and don't see the wear.

Acids and abrasion are the two things that "fade" case colors. I've never tested gun oils for pH, but I would wager than a few of them are on the acidic side slightly. If so, that would do the job over time, just like the oils and sweat on your hands may do the same thing. Grit is pretty obviously a factor since the high spots fade first.

I think there are more questions than answers for why case colors degrade. Ever notice that the levers on Savage 99’s often still have strong color, when the rest of the gun shows considerable wear? Base metal, hardening process, I really don’t know?

Does a 99 balance at the receiver?

The sun will cause anything to fade eventually

We will have to agree to disagree.

Are cyanide chemical case colors similar to bone charcoal colors at the microscopic level? It would be fascinating to see both types of colors at a microscopic level.

Never forget that the Sun is flat. (And also fairly thin. Forces unknown to us might be able to bend it so it acts as a parabolic hotdog-toasting reflector and fades the spines of our books around corners and whatnot. I've applied for an arts-council grant to study this.)

A 99 does balance at the receiver, which generally shows considerable bluing loss from carry. So, no doubt the lever gets handled far less. I own 3, one from the 30’s, one 40’s, and 60’s. These have all been well used in our wet climate in western Oregon, and still show good colors on the lever. If there are tough case colors, perhaps these have them?

Well holy crap I agree with you that it would be a fascinating comparison .