[assistant802]

Hello.
I've never met such a mag.
Is two-tone coloring normal?
Thank you .

 

[peter meyer]

No never seen one for a ppk only for colt.
Happy Hunting!
Peter

 

[Deutschland]

For sure is news to me. Perhaps someone dipped the top of the magazine in blue remover to imitate the Colt style?

 

[Yoebuff]

I never saw one before. I was thinking the same as Deutsch.

 

[alvin]

I have a different thought on this.

Today, I fully disassembled my byf43 P.38 for cleaning. The magazine was also disassembled and cleaned. It is an Eagle/135 P.38v which is correct for the gun.

The excellent magazine is "two tone". No. Actually, it is single blue tone, but there is color change line on the body. I would think the magazine's top section had been hardened before salt blue was applied. The top section is harder than lower section, so salt blue color change line appears.

Here is the picture

 

[2bnag]

borrowed this from the 1911 forum. very interesting data: "The early 1911 magazines were full blue. Colt tempered the top of the magazine to give the fed lips some spring, and then blued the magazine. It was found that the heat blueing process was removing some of the temper, so the tempering process was moved to after the magazines were blued. The magazines were dipped in molten cyanide (around 1600 degrees F), and quenched in oil. The cyanide removed the blueing for as deep as the magazine was dipped. ...."

 

[Yoebuff]

Alvin, may be onto something. I would think since it really is an anomaly it isn't a normal part of blue process or the way they did it as 2bnag refers too but had to be something out of the ordinary such as Alvin described. Unless it was purposefully done for some reason.

 

[peter meyer]

When I first posted that I never seen one I contacted a friend of mine, and since he did not post his response to me I am taken the liberty to post what it is he forwarded to me.
Pete, I have seen some with a slight difference in color at the top but nothing that pronounced.
I was done at Colt to harden the tips. Could be the reason here too.
The top of the mags were getting bent up so maybe they experimented with hardening some.
Not sure why Colt stopped doing it.
So is it possible that Walther done some experimented?
Happy Hunting!
Peter

 

[jps-s]

If 2 tone PPK mags were original, we all would have already known about it. It wouldn't be just the case of one magazine.
I suspect Bubba has a lot to do with the two-tone mag we see in the photos. Regards, Jim Cate

 

[alvin]

I took out my prewar PPK magazine, the finish is very uniform.

Change in color should be related with maker and time. The example that I posted above was a Mauser magazine, not a Walther. For E/135 P.38v marked magazines, there are more color change examples. For example, this one listed on pre98.com,, it is original in my eyes, here is the link, please note the color change on the magazine body in the last picture of the ad:

M250 MAUSER E/135 P.38 MAG | Pre98 Antiques

I visited numerous auction preview sessions over years, but found all auctioneers displayed their guns without magazine, obviously, they have safety concerns.. but that also make magazine observation impossible for the viewers in the sessions.

 

[peter meyer]

To confirm as to whom done it, Bubba just stripping the bluing or actual hardening was done can easily be answered. Most rebuttable Machine shops or blade makers do have a Rockwell tester this would tell if there is a difference in harness from the lib to the base of the mag. in question as it was mentioned my friend has seen some but not as drastic difference as the mag. in question.


Happy Hunting!


Peter