M1 Korean War

[Orlando]

I would say he was mistaken, original finish HRA's can be a dark parkerizing. Thats the problem, everytime someone who sees a dark parkerizing its automatically Greek Black, not so.
Again the Greek black is very easy to identify once you see it, more of a slightly shiney black enamel paint. Not a parkerizing at all. Chamber face will also be black

[bacarnal]

Thanks, Orlando. These rifles had been refinished at one time or another, since they were both Springfield 6 digit. Both had been re-barreled with SA 52 targeted barrels. Somewhere along the line they were black parked, maybe when they were re-barreled since the overall finish of all parts is the same black. Cheers, Bruce

[Seaspriter]

Why bother? The new finish is part of the military history of "The greatest battle instrument ever devised". If it were mine I would do three things. 1. Document her history (including CMP papers), shoot her, and make sure she eventually is passed on to a child or other person who will take care of her.

This is good advice. Generally doing less is best (except for safety issues). Whenever I see the words "REFINISH" my heart cries and my head screams. 99% of the "refinishing" work turns a grungy gun into a fake: over-finished by a Bignorant who thinks a wartime gun's wood is supposed to look "light and bright," and its metal must be "polished shiny black."

On the other hand, I've seen many "purists" slather coats of raw linseed oil over a gun thinking that because this was done in the battlefield, it is therefore proper restoration. A decade later the sticky finish has gathered dirt and dust, the oil turned yellow then brown, and the gun lacks any spark of energy except when shot at the firing range.

If interested in a few ideas about how to "restore" a wartime gun (versus "refinish"), take a look at a piece I wrote for Enfields (98% applies to M-1's).

Dropbox - Laws Principles of Restoration V1.0.pdf

Of course, any other expert opinions are always appreciated and healthy debate is enlightening.

Best, Robert

[TDH]

He told you they were Greek returns or were "Greek Black" ?
The Greek Black looks absolutly nothing like parkerizing and is very easy to identify once you really know what it looks like. Looks like a black enamel paint
USGI parkerizing ranges in color and can be black

I picked up a Walther P 38 with a finish like that. Impossible to get off without bead blasting. Ugly as sin. Thought it was a Russian capture.

[Neal Myers]

The thing that makes refinished rifles stand out is that all the parts are the exact same Parkerizing color shade. Original rifles were always assembled from parts that had been batch finished, so we expect an original rifle to look slightly mismatched.

Gas cylinders are stainless steel, & they do not take Parkerizing. (At least, they didn't during WW2 & Korean) There's a guy (IIRC, advertises in the GCA Journal) who repaints them, & does excellent work.

Neal

[browningautorifle]

Gas cylinders are stainless steel

Maybe not quite stainless steel but it works out the same. They can be refinished and it's not even close to magic, you need Brownell's Oxynate 84 and the finish will be perfect. Nice military looking finish...