That is a dead sexy picture! I don't care if it's black or gray! It's all chrome on the inside! (of the later barrels.)

i've got demilled receiver sections of GM and H&R rifles that show the black finish worn down to the bronze anodizing. i also have trigger guards/mag buttons/charging handles with the same black over bronze.

This. Good question but NDS also asked retroland before mfg I believe. Think the milspec refers to hardness and thickness of coating / treatment. also believe they are sealed. I know the new parts are advertised as teflon coated in many instances. Milspec wasn't for a specific dye color that I'm aware of anyway. We do call it RBRD and not RGRD!

Very interesting thoughts. In browsing through various photos, I think it was more than just a GM / H&R thing. Here is a picture of a transfer-able xm16e1 that looks black to my eyes. Maybe the anodizing pigment mix theory is the answer. Dunno. Get an eye full of this one, too bad the engravings aren't sharp:

Ah, rebuild. Good catch 44Echo10.
I am not sure what to make of that rifle. Full fence xm16e1 with a triangle charging handle. Hmmmm.

I'm thinking the milspec article posted by M1sniper a while back about dipping arsenal re-finish black was dated 1967 but I've been known to be wrong. I know I have a couple rebated lug 604 receivers that are definately black and came from a Defense Supply Center. I'll say arsenal re-finished but pretty smooth finish on them and I'm not stripping them to fins out.

Here's a question for you fellas. I'm scraping together parts for a late 70's early 80's A1 for my USMC displays. Going for that Lebanon look. Would it have been uncommon to see a mixture of Gray and Black A1's during this time? My gut says no...BUT...I just want to check with the hive first and get your takes.

Edit: Question is in relation to gray vs black ratio given the time period.

Right. That is why my gut told me yes. However, again given that late in the game for the A1 I wasn't sure just how many were refinished..etc..I would've assumed more black than gray.

I have GM demils that are black, and some other pieces that I got from boywonder777 that are worn to gold. GM and H&R were typically black, although I have seen some that were dark grey, not sure if refinished or not tho. As said above, DoD likely weren't too concerned with matching colors, as we are. The pic in the OP looks like a GM A1.

Here's a black GM mag well with my original GM upper. Upper has a greenish tint to it, and shows a touch of gold on a few wear markes. The lower does not show any gold though.



Here is my other GM upper and the rest of the demils, all of these parts were black at one point and have since worn to gold hues.


And here's my baby goldie all built up around the gold upper and parts above.

Here are some pictures of the dark parts of my rear forging flash upper, I'm assuming this is what is left of original finish. The dye color is black, it is not a dark gray. It would be nice to see a higher resolution scan of the picture OP linked to. What else is interesting about it is the slip ring looks very gold like some of the (gold tint) rear forging flash uppers have.









Could we see some pictures please?