What does this stamp indicate please.

[Flying10uk]

Can't a weapon that's been in storage for years soaked in cosmoline, and under certain conditions, take on a greenish/grey colour to the blued surfaces which may look like Parkerizing on a picture???

[Ridolpho]

Flying10uk: Presumably some parkerized rifles take on the green tinge due to time in grease- not blued rifles, to my knowledge. My gut feeling is it has something to do with the original Parkerizing concoction as it seems somewhat brand specific. For example it seems common with Springfield 03-A3's and later Lithgow No. 1 rifles. The rifle in this post doesn't seem to have the normal greenish tint but it could be the photo.

Ridolpho

[newcastle]

Ok then I'll take some more pictures. What indications would I have that its been parkerized? What do i look for?

[Sentryduty]

The overall finish is what indicates it is parkerized, characterized by the slightly rough textured finish with a light grey to blackish colour that can vary depending on chemicals used in the process.

A blued finish would be very smooth to the touch, with a deep, in some cases almost glassy look, ranges in colour from rust brown, blue, to almost high gloss black. (speaking firearm blue in general not LE specific)

The other common finish is paint, it well, looks and feels like paint, with the exception of Suncorite, a hard black paint applied during FTR that has some low gloss and a nearly plastic texture at times.

Without a doubt this rifle has been parkerized as indicated by members before.

[Brian Dick]

It looks like a nice Parkerizing job. To be corrected; the best thing would be to degrease, paint and bake it as done in MoD workshops from 1944 onwards. I think stripping it and rebluing it would be foolish and even less original in the end.

[Surpmil]

What is the best way to remove parkerizing then?

Glass beading at as low a pressure as possible, with well broken up beads. New beads tend to stipple metal surfaces more and you don't want stippling.

[Flying10uk]

newcastle states that there are remains of cosmoline still on the rifle which would suggest to me that if it is Parkerized, as looks very likely, it was refurbished/refinished by a military organisation rather than a private person. I wouldn't have thought that a private individual would go to the trouble of having it Parkerized and then covering it in Cosmoline and putting it in storage. As has already been stated whoever did it made a nice job of it and if it was mine I would leave it as it is.

[Sentryduty]

Looking around at various used guns for sale, because of this thread I have noticed a few No 1 Mk III rifles that have a parkerized finish, some full length, and some are sporters. Is there/was there any known refurb shops that were applying this finish to guns as they went through?

Was there a pre-1944 FTR program that could account for these rifles? The finish work does seem to be nicely done, and most "home" gun smiths are more of a cheap cold blue or black paint school.

[Brian Dick]

There are many shops in the USA that do excellent Parkerizing including mine. However, the only SMLE rifles I've Parkerized were Australian as the Parkerized finish is correct on some WWII production rifles as factory original, (starting at some point in 1942?), and wartime and post war FTR at SAF Lithgow. Many SMLE's and No.4's went through FTR post WWII in England at the RSAF's and also at BSA where Parkerizing and Suncorite 259 paint was applied and baked. New production Canadian No.4 rifles were Parkerized starting in the 93L serial range in 1950 along with all rifles that went through Canadian workshops for FTR. I wouldn't remove the nice Parkerizing on Charlie's SMLE. I'd either leave it as is or degrease, paint and bake it as was done in England which would look much more "original".

[Flying10uk]

Does any-one know, please, how or where the dull/matt blueing often found on older military weaponry can be replicated today either at home or professionally. The modern high gloss/shiny blueing often seen today would in, my opinion, look totally wrong on an old weapon that should have matt blueing. Thanks