I guess it's nice, but for some reason I've never liked color case hardening on firearms that don't have a history of ever being finished that way. Seems sacrilegious, somehow.
For example, the pawn shop down the street has a .357 Magnum chambered Winchester Model 92 reproduction (made in South America, I think) that I would have been very interested in, except for the fact that it has a color case hardened receiver. The Model 92 doesn't have a history of ever having been offered with the receiver color case hardened, so it rubbed me the wrong way, and I left it there. Just doesn't seem right.
Now, a Model 1873 Winchester (or clone), or a Colt SAA (or clone), with color case hardened frames/receivers, that's a different matter. Those are quite appealing in my book.
