MkI Bipod - plum colored mounting ring

[hatrick]

I’ve never seen a Bren bipod with a plum colored mounting ring. Is this original or has it been refinished?

Information

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[browningautorifle]

That has been polished and blued. ANY parkerizing will form a crystalline structure on the surface and that is a salt that has gone into the pores of the metal. When the metal has a high nickel content and the blueing salts aren't strong enough it will turn purple. Winchester receivers and some barrels are classic. This is another example. To change it all you need is to glass bead blast and parkerize it.

[Brit plumber]

Check for markings as it looks like the plum colour that the CZ guns turn when blued at the factory.

[Gil Boyd]

Could have been left in severe sunlight for a long while!!

[hatrick]

There aren’t any markings on it. Thanks for all the replies. Just not sure what to make of it. My early MkI barrel has that same plum color. I guess it’s going to be really hard to tell if it’s the original finish, refinished or some sort of wear or weathering. An anomaly for sure at very least.

[Gil Boyd]

I had a couple of scopes I left unintentionally with direct access to sunlight, and thats the colour they went to. An all over tan you couldn't replicate it with a spray of any kind quite effective!

[Mk VII]

It usually means the bluing salts bath wasn't hot enough, or was contaminated.

[browningautorifle]

It usually means the bluing salts bath wasn't hot enough, or was contaminated.

They didn't seem to believe me...

[Warren]

Or a high degree of nickel in the steel and the item was not pickled correctly in acid before the bluing process

[browningautorifle]

When the metal has a high nickel content and the blueing salts aren't strong enough it will turn purple.

Or a high degree of nickel in the steel and the item was not pickled correctly in acid before the bluing process

I said that one too Wheaty, they didn't believe that one either... Lots of Winchesters went purple because of odd mixtures of Depression era steels...was our suspicion. Winchester had boys with pails gathering every metal object for his mill. The military stuff might have high nickel because the steel batches weren't so far from the stuff used for the armor plate. Need a real strong solution then. The OP's piece is highly polished and that ain't factory.