i have an old 32-20 and was wondering what finish is on these old guns. cold blue? hot blue? case hardened?thanks.

It should be a carbona blue, which is a hot oven packed-in-charcoal process.
Its somewhat fragile, and afer decades, can look like its peeling away.
Or, it can turn a plumish-brown color. This is for the early 1900's.

Later, Mike Priwer

Howdy

Mike knows far more about this than I do. Let me only add that as far as I know S&W did not case harden their frames, they were blued, the way he describes. Hammers and triggers were usually case hardened.

Driftwood

That is right.

Interestingly, the factory has been offering a so-called heritage series,
featuring case-hardened frames. Roy Jinks notes that they never offered
such a frame in the past, so he finds the name somewhat curious !

Regards, Mike Priwer

im so glad i knew where to ask. great info everyone. i have a post in the armory about removing rust from this gun hopefully without hurting the blueing. the gun shoots great and locks up tight. its cylinder has less movement than my new 329pd. keep shooting!