My 43' LB - First (ever?) Teardown

[Brian Dick]

I'm glad you brought up the metal finish Roger. My guess is it was dip blued in Greek service. I had several wartime dated LB rifles in the load from CO that had the dark blue dip finish. I've also seen 1903 Springfields out of Greek service from the CMP with the same finish. It's not the original Dulite blue which wasn't too durable in wartime service. I think the Greek Armourers who were trained by the British and Commonwealth just stripped them, cleaned and degreased the metal and dropped them in the bath. Long Branch started Parkerizing in 1950 in the 93L serial range and rifles that saw post Korea FTR at CAL were Parkerized. You'll find a mixture of blue and Parkerized small parts on them. One of my favorite shooters is a 1942 with 2 groove barrel and CAL Parkerized finish. It's marked with the "C- Broad Arrow" ownership mark on the right side of the butt only and was imported from Canada by Century Arms.