Howdy all,
When the original '73 Winchesters came out they were color case hardened as part of the metallurgical process, IIRC. At some later point Winchesters were then available in a blued finish, which I presume meant the metallurgy process changed. Does anyone know about when this occurred? I also presume that after this process changed, what we now call original Winchesters were then no longer offered with the color case as I doubt Winchester ran two lines of production, the color case look for aesthetics only as we today love on our rifles.
Thanks!