When someone in the gun industry refers to something finished in the white, it means it is a steel which is prepped and ready to be finished. I believe the l691 was sold as an action "in the white" in which you could finish however you wanted. How you do it is up to you, bluing, parkerizing, cerakoting, etc. My guess is you have a stainless barrel on a chrome moly action which needs to be protected so it will not rust.