Thank you Frank. I am only it's temporary caretaker. The entire barrel on 18330 is original finish and is obviously blue. Newscotlander was instrumental in determining that during Inland's finishing process, that the barrel, barrel band, front sight, receiver, and flip sight were all finished together as a unit and this one is no exception. At some point, Inland began to dull the finish just ahead of the gas cylinder as well as the receiver. It's always good to see other early (1942) Inlands and compare the differences.