Ken,

The first and most obvious is the color is wrong. Most of the time the blue color will be too dark or more black. The next thing that gets the hair on the back of my neck standing up is blue that has no age to it. The other thing is irregularities in the surface from sanding by hand. You see that flat surfaces are not flat they look rippled. Rounded corners. When I see refinished wood I start looking at the metal since I don’t find original wood on refinished guns as a rule. The other thing is a bore that looks bad on a mint gun. I do see quite a few guns that are half restored. Someone will take a gun that has a nice receiver but the barrel had a problem and they have a replacement barrel made and they try to age it to match.

Bob

marty said
One very good method I always liked was the use of a strong light, like a mag-light, shin it on any blued surface while looking thru a magnifying glass to the surface of the metal. Winchester ‘Rust-blued" the metal so with this method you should see the "brownish" color of the metal UNDER the bluing. Another "tell’ would be on the recvr. there’s usually longitudinal lines or striations that can be seen. In both instances it may take a bit of experience and/or someone along side you to point it out, but once you see it and recognize what your looking at it becomes easier.

Best regards,
Marty

I’ve seen a 73 that someone faked the brownish color on the mag tube. The mag tube was a modern repo with no seam but they applied something that looked like rust and when you shined a bright light on it, it had that brown-red look like old blue had. The dealer himself showed me with his light and said "look thats old blue". When I took my fingernail and scraped it I saw solid blue under it.

Bob

George most certainly did know his stuff. He regularly made court appearances as an expert witness on guns. He knew all the kinds of the tricks of the trade for such misleading trickery. He also knew how to prove it in court through various methods.

People tend to forget that George’s father was a gun dealer for a living. George use to tell how when they were kids his father had up to something like 100 Henry Rifles in stock. And that when his father got 44 Henry ammo, if it was a full box he would keep it and re-sell it, but if it was only a partial box. He would give it to George and his siblings and they would run around shooting it up :shock:.

Usually the wood gives away all the secrets for me. Either the wood itself is not as it should be. Or the condition of the metal behind the wood is a give away. There shouldn’t be bluing inside of pitting underneath the wood.

Maverick