The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Is there a way to successfully replicate plum bluing with cold blue?

Forte S+W · June 5, 2020, 04:28 PM

I've always really liked the look of the plum-colored bluing you sometimes see on older firearms, namely Rugers and various Eastern European firearms.

I've heard all manner of speculation regarding how such a phenomenon occurs. Some say it's the result of treating firearms with WD-40 then placing them in storage for extended periods of time, others say it's caused by overheated bluing salts, some say that it has to do with cooling freshly blued firearms in the presence of silicate dust. However, none of these claims have ever really been substantiated.

I'm curious if anyone has ever experienced the phenomenon personally, and whether they have any hypothesis on how it may have occured or how it may be replicated, particularly with cold bluing.

June 5, 2020, 04:28 PM	#1
Forte S+W Senior Member Join Date: October 12, 2019 Posts: 822	Is there a way to successfully replicate plum bluing with cold blue? I've always really liked the look of the plum-colored bluing you sometimes see on older firearms, namely Rugers and various Eastern European firearms. I've heard all manner of speculation regarding how such a phenomenon occurs. Some say it's the result of treating firearms with WD-40 then placing them in storage for extended periods of time, others say it's caused by overheated bluing salts, some say that it has to do with cooling freshly blued firearms in the presence of silicate dust. However, none of these claims have ever really been substantiated. I'm curious if anyone has ever experienced the phenomenon personally, and whether they have any hypothesis on how it may have occured or how it may be replicated, particularly with cold bluing. __________________ Conspiracy theorists are the greatest political spin-doctors of all time. Only they can make the absolute worst political blunders sound like spectacular feats of ingenuity.