Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles M70 safety blueing

I'm looking at a post-64 M70 FW in .270. Seems to be in very good shape, but the one thing that I noticed is that the safety is a shade of purple. Does this indicate anything like it has been replaced or something? In my limited experience I haven't come across this before. Thanks, John

Likely not replaced. IMO metal is either a different hardness or type that the receiver or barrel. I've seen this on older Ruger rifles where the receiver is plum colored.

The safety is casted, which will cause some discoloration at times in the blueing process. The same can happen with investement casted receivers, which will sometimes turn red.

My understanding on the subject was that it contained excessive amounts of silicone in the casting process, which brought out the red or purple color. Most times it's more red than anything else.

I've blued and had blued many guns and parts over the years and some parts just won't blue( turn purple). I think it has to do with the carbon content in the part. I'd say the safety had been replaced.

Investment cast out of a high carbon alloy. (oops) AND high silicone (easy casting) alloy. Very typical of USRA.

Most likely not, considering there isn't anyone to my knowledge that makes a replacement safety lever that is sold seperately from a shroud, let alone one that would have been investment casted, causing the discoloration that he explained.

It's factory original.......just not a good one.

A nice touch to do to those is the nitre blue, which gives it that vivid electric blue look, normally seen on Mauser 98 ejector springs and extractors.

Is it the just the Safety Lever or Just the Shroud (housing) or both?

I am too damn old - to the best of my recollection, it is just the lever, but the rifle is currently 175 miles away and I can't just go check. Have patience with an old coot. Thanks.

The shroud is machined from solid barstock, so what you've described sounds like the lever itself.

Matt,
The reason for the question is while I too think that no one makes an after market lever stand alone, some do make complete shroud assemblies, with levers. Therefor, it could be an aftermarket safety shroud assembly, blued by the parts manufacturer at a different time and process and this could account for the difference in appearance.

To keep costs under control, many manufacturers resort to investment cast small parts. These can be produced in finished form and do not require expensive machining. When selecting the alloy for casting there is a premium put on a steel that will fill out the mold, avoiding high scrap rates with blow holes and other imperfections. Good bluing qualities are somewhere down the list behind ease of manufacture. Almost all of these castings give problems in the blue tank.