.....will it turn the finish to silver instead of this ugly grey? I posted this on the Hunting Rifles forum, but got no answers. If this will work, my next question is "who?"

I have a couple of rifles bead blasted and while bead blasting does dull the shiny stainless finish it leaves a rather silver look to stainless. Because the gun's surface metal is textured, if the rifle barrel, as an example, slides across another piece of metal it will leave a bright stripe on the bead blasted silver looking finish where the two metals rubbed against each other.

This ugly grey, is bead blasted stainless....

No, the finish on the Hawkeye AW's I've seen really isn't the same as a typical bead blast. I believe the OP talking about Ruger's Target gray finish, which is darker gray colored than the bead blasted rifles I've seen. I've been told Ruger uses some kind of acidizing process to achieve this finish.

A bead blast finish can vary from grayish to pretty silvery depending on size and type of the beads used, my smith's blasting job on my M77 MKII all weather ended up pretty silvery. I later had it cerakoted black, which I like better, But if silver is what you're going for, a bead blast could do it.

Ruger's _older_ 'Target Gray' MkII Target models had an almost titanium-like color to them, but the steel was smooth, whereas today's are extremely rough (very much like sandpaper, actually). I love my Rugers, but I HATE the current 'target gray' finish on the stainless rifles. I'd very much like to have the MkII's 'Target Gray' finish again!

https://youtu.be/fIk7WnSCf00