What kind of blue do you guys suggest? I know someone who had a lot of luck with Brownell's Rust Blue products and the price is certainly right. There is also a gunsmith locally who would probably do it for me but at what cost I don't know.

I currently have it field stripped again on my work bench, I found a video with detailed tear down instructions to follow as well. The mag release has some rust and corrosion so I went ahead and hit it with a touch of oil to help getting it out easier. Interestingly the grip on the right hand side does not appear to be plastic like the one on the left, it's like it is some kind of wood with fiberglass on the back or some alternative plastic. There was also another number on the left hand grip, not sure what it is for. The grips will be replaced with repros for the purposes of shooting it, the left one is cracked and the right is rough.

They struck the waffenamt on the on the left hand side rail so hard it actually dented the interior of it! I've seen a few examples online like this too. Also fascinating to me is a machining mistake on the barrel bushing/cutout on the slide... it's not concentric, it appears they actually milled it out and then had to go back and fix it when it didn't line up. In addition the top of the slide is virtually unfinished machining wise. It's amazing though that despite all this rough work that was probably due to horrible working conditions and desperation due to the coming end to the war, the action seems to run really smooth on it. I'm also impressed how well it fits my hand, it may dethrone my CZ75 as the best "fitting" hand gun I own.