clarence said

mrcvs said  Back when I started out in Winchesters and had little money, but wanted ANY early Winchester, condition was secondary to just having one, a receiver that had browned (patina) was okay, but I shied away from the grey receivers because I thought they had been cleaned. 

Some may have been (though if so, it should be fairly easy to detect), but otherwise it’s the natural result of wear & handling.  I suspect the reason some turn brown has to do with lack of oiling combined with storage in a high humidity environment.  Greying is esp likely to occur on CC rcvrs such as your HW.  

Come to think of it, case coloured receivers tend to silver, which is DIFFERENT from grey, which I associate with cleaning, and browning is the patination of a blued finish.

clarence said

steve004 said In fact, one of the very first vintage Winchesters I bought was a M1894 .32-40.  It had been fully reblued and the barrel/mag cut down to about 22 inches.  Wood refinished too. I was pleased with it at the time.  As I suggested, I was very young, naïve and no where close to the gun snob I am now.    

Ignorance can be bliss, until someone better informed disillusions you.  First I bought with my own money (previously, my father gave me two VERY brown ’73s) was a reblued ’86 rebored from some odd-ball .40 to .45-70; I was happy as a clam with it until my rotten sister’s rotten boyfriend stole it during my first yr away in college.  Shot it a few times in my backyard, until my mother made me stop due to the noise; don’t think I enjoyed the recoil either.  Bought it at a pawn shop while I was still in HS with no paperwork other than the receipt I was given.

  

Clarence – I assume this M1886 does not find itself on the list of those, “I wish I had back’?

BROWNING:

“The formula for the solution used for the Brown Bess musket (taken from General Regulations and Orders for the Army, 1811) is as follows:

• Nitric acid – 1/2 ounce • Sweet spirits of wine – 1/2 ounce • Spirits of wine – 1 ounce • Blue vitriol (a.k.a.copper sulphate) – 2 ounces • Tincture of Steel-1 ounce

Water is used to dissolve the copper sulphate first and the rest of the ingredients are added to the solution and more water added to make up 1 quart of solution. Other solutions may also be used depending on the type of iron or steel alloys used in the weapon

The browning process starts as follows: The barrel is first removed of all greasy impurities by washing with soap or detergent. Then a plug of wood is placed on both ends of the barrel to make sure that the insides are sealed and only the outsides are rusted. The barrel is hung in the air and then the browning solution is thoroughly applied to the outside with a clean cloth or sponge. The barrel is left exposed in the air for about 24 hours, after which a thin layer of reddish brown rust is formed on the surface. After this, the barrel is “carded” by rubbing it with a hard brush or steel wool, which removes the acid from the surface. The whole process is repeated for two or three times to get the desired shade of reddish-brown finish on the barrel. The barrel is then cleaned and oiled. The same process may also be carried out on the other iron or steel parts of the gun as well.”

RUST BLUING PROCESS DIFFERS ONLY SLIGHTLY: BEFORE CARDING, PLACE PART IN BOILING WATER. THEN CARD.

“It was later discovered that before carding, if the part is immersed in boiling hot water first, this stops the rusting process. Additionally, the part turns a deep blue or black color instead of reddish brown. This is due to the black oxide of iron (Fe3O4) being formed instead of the red oxide of iron (Fe2O3). This process is called “cold bluing” [we call it rust bluing] instead of “browning” and is the only real difference. “

https://firearmshistory.blogspot.com/2010/08/metal-treatments-browning-and-bluing.html

clarence said
Guessing “spirits” of wine means brandy–a readily available form of alcohol.  What oil was available in 1811, besides whale oil?  Don’t think vegetable oils would have been suitable.  

  

I’ve wondered myself.  Paraffin wasn’t invented until 1830. But in 1694 the British Crown granted a patent for making mineral oil, tar, etc out of shale. I suspect the oil used was a form of mineral oil.   Whale oil was expensive by 1811. 

I like the sounds of this method. I think sharp edges of the lands spin a bullet. I have a rifle with strong flats on the lands but it will not spin a bullet as well as a rifle with a bit rougher bore and apparently sharper edges. I also put a lot of value on slugging a barrel. Examining the slug and paying close attention to the resistance are almost as important as measuring the end result, IMHO. 

As posted before, even a bore that looks rough will often shoot better than expected. All it takes is a section with decent rifling somewhere along the way to produce “shooter” groups.

M8ke