29-2 "Toning" Question

[rom141]

So I recently acquired a new to me 29-2 that is everything these great revolvers stand for (deadly accurate, a pleasure to shoot, etc.) but it keeps standing out to me that the barrel is significantly a different color than the rest of the machine. I own several pinned and recessed S&Ws (i.e. pre-1980) and none of them have this obvious of a difference in the toning of the blued barrel. Don't get me wrong, its a beautiful gun, and I have no regrets, but I am just curious about the collective knowledge base here about this color difference. I have included a couple of pictures, but of course they don't really convey the depth of the difference you can see under natural lighting. The barrel is significantly more "purple" than the rest of the gun. Wouldn't have thought too much about it on its own, but since I am comparing to serval other wheel guns from the same era, it stands out as different. Thoughts? Normal, or has the barrel been replaced etc...

 

[nate-dogg]

The barrel might have been swapped.

 

[Piwo]

I have a few S&W revolvers like that. I was told a long time ago that it had to do with the aging of the blueing being affected by the difference in heat
treating of the different parts. I don't know if that is true or not and have seen several explanations offered over the years. Matter of fact, I think I have at last one Ruger like that as well. I do know that it is not uncommon.

 

[Marshal Tom]

I have a pre 29 first year that has some of that on the barrel and in the cylinder fluts as well. There have been many past posts regarding this subject if you research them here.

 

[mchom]

I think it can be normal from what I have read here in the past. I used to have a 25-5 with the barrel noticeably plum in color. I just picked up a 10-10 that looks very similar to your 29-2.

 

[chief38]

I don't personally own any guns like that but I have seen purple tones on a few guns over the years - on different parts too. Could be a bunch of causes......

* Barrel might have been from a different bluing tank
* Barrel could have been swapped or re-finished
* Bluing solution could have been contaminated or at the incorrect
temperature

 

[stansdds]

Without knowing what length barrel this Model 29-2 left the factory, we can only speculate. It could be evidence of a barrel change. It could also be evidence of blueing inconsistencies at S&W.

 

[Hawg Rider]

I'm thinking that it's just a factory bluing process issue and not a barrel swap. You didn't list your revolver's s/n, but could it be a later Model 29-2 (1980-82) when S&W bluing processes weren't quite as well done? I believe that barrels, cylinders, and frames were blued separately prior to assembly, and perhaps were blued in different tanks or on different days. Whatever the reason, it's only a very minor cosmetic issue which I would ignore. Enjoy!

 

[GerSan69]

It's not a barrel swap. It's an artifact of the bluing process used years ago. I don't know the chemistry explanation, but the simple version is that it has something to do with the "age" of the bluing solution at the time the part was dunked.
As was mentioned, there are several threads on this topic. "Plum coloring" or similar key words will probably get more info than you want.
By the way, I don't think it looks bad at all.

 

[Rpg]

This sort of varying color on Smiths isn't rare. It appears across models and over years.

Explanations seem to focus on variations in the bluing: old-new bluing, surface preparation differences, it appears with less frequency on the high end guns such as M29, M25, M57 than on lower end guns such as the M28 or M10.

Given two guns of the same model, one with plumb coloring and one without, the gun without plumb coloring will bring more money at resale.

 

[hemiram]

If that bothers the OP, what would this do?

I have to admit, I like it.

 

[diecidecimi]

It is normal, and it depends or on the different salt bath, either in different heat treatment and/or composition of the carbon steel.
In some guns it is the rule: look at a Manurhin MR73. Cylinders is slightly plum, as all flush studs typically are.

 

[Swiftflyer]

The cylinder on my 29 is starting to turn plum, very obvious under the led light in the safe but not so much in the sun. The loading gate on all my pre-warning Ruger Blackhawks turned plum.

 

[jrm53]

I had always assumed that the plum colored parts were investment cast parts but S&W barrels are not cast, I noticed this on some Ruger models the above posts seem to be some blued on different days in different tanks makes sense to me if you blued the gun assembled you would have to boil it a long time in hot water to keep the bluing salts from leaching out of the barrel/frame from showing white salt every so often. Jeff

 

[oink]

I have a 17 with a plum barrel. I'm the original owner. 1982 vintage or thereabouts.

 

[captaint]

Think back to the '03 Springfield receivers. The early ones had bad heat treating and some of them broke. So, they then went to "nickle steel" recievers and away went the problem. Ever notice how later '03 recievers look "plum" color. I was always told it was the higher nickle content in the steel. So ???? who knows... I have an old Ruger flat gate 22 that has the plum look in the frame..

 

[mikepriwer]

When examining a blued surface, don't use LED light. It will distort the color, often bringing out a lot of brown that is not visible in daylight.

The purple coloring has a least three causes: the alloy content of the steel, the chemical composition of the bluing salt, and the temperature of the bluing tank. It typically shows up when a gun is reblued; the composition of the salt is almost always different from what was originally used.

Mike Priwer

 

[CLASSIC12]

Here's a 27-3 which looks normal most times but shows a very purple barrel under a certain light

 

[smithra_66]

So I recently acquired a new to me 29-2 that is everything these great revolvers stand for (deadly accurate, a pleasure to shoot, etc.) but it keeps standing out to me that the barrel is significantly a different color than the rest of the machine. I own several pinned and recessed S&Ws (i.e. pre-1980) and none of them have this obvious of a difference in the toning of the blued barrel. Don't get me wrong, its a beautiful gun, and I have no regrets, but I am just curious about the collective knowledge base here about this color difference. I have included a couple of pictures, but of course they don't really convey the depth of the difference you can see under natural lighting. The barrel is significantly more "purple" than the rest of the gun. Wouldn't have thought too much about it on its own, but since I am comparing to serval other wheel guns from the same era, it stands out as different. Thoughts? Normal, or has the barrel been replaced etc...

I have one or two from this era that exhibit the same thing.

Also Ruger single actions from the time period were notorious for developing a "purple" loading gate.

Certainly not uncommon. It may hurt the value if another one is sitting next to it without the plum colors, but I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

[stansdds]

Here's a 27-3 which looks normal most times but shows a very purple barrel under a certain light

That's really purple. Why, that's just plum crazy*!


*Chrysler paint code C7, Plum Crazy Purple.