M21 Receiver - The DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com

Did the M21 ever come with a case colored receiver? I have never seen one but often wondered if it was an option or ever done as an upgrade.

No.

Why would you consider that an upgrade?

Upgrade meaning engraving with case coloring.

Since the Win Model 21 used a high temsile steel, there was/is no need for case coloring. Case coloring results from the need to harden parts made of low tensile steel material. It is/was somewhat attractive but for todays modern receivers is not really needed and most case on modern guns is not due to heat treat. Spanish and Brit guns may be an exception where they are using historical methods.
CSMC will case color a Model 21 receiver.-Dick

Originally Posted By: jjwag69

Upgrade meaning engraving with case coloring.

I would not consider case coloring an upgrade on a Model 21.

...but a retractable sling would be.
It'd look just like a Frenchman's gun then!

Interesting thread. Color case by the traditional bone meal + other chemicals method involves heating to high temps and then quenching. Too much alchemy for me especially on modern heat treated chrome moly steel as in M-21 receivers. Cyanide "color case" might be better in this case but all it does is color the surface, no real effect on the strength of the metal. Like other posters I would ask, why do it? John Olin did the M21 in blued steel; why gild the lily? Silvers

Well, I wouldn't do it either; however, it seemed to me that someone, somewhere must have done it/seen it. I have seen may M21's of all vintage, but never saw a cased version and just thought it a bit odd. Better steel seems to be the answer. Thanks to all for your input!

Jim

I wouldn't consider it on a M21, but it brings up a good point; case coloring is yet another attribute that fell by the wayside as guns became more 'advanced'. If I were in 1935 buying a big-buck gun, such as a M21, I'd be pretty disappointed in a blued finish. I still would be today. A blued receiver screams "corporate cost cutting measure" to me. Is there any other high-end shotgun that gets shipped with a blued receiver?

My memory says that mdl 21 recievers were heat treated for hardness and that some of the early ones cracked because WW did a poor job. I saw a nice 20 gauge years ago that had a hairline crack at the junction of the standing breach and water table.
bill

Originally Posted By: GregSY

I wouldn't consider it on a M21, but it brings up a good point; case coloring is yet another attribute that fell by the wayside as guns became more 'advanced'. If I were in 1935 buying a big-buck gun, such as a M21, I'd be pretty disappointed in a blued finish. I still would be today. A blued receiver screams "corporate cost cutting measure" to me. Is there any other high-end shotgun that gets shipped with a blued receiver?

It wasn't cost cutting, it was that Chrome-Moly steel did not need case harding.
If all the other "high end"(as you say) doubles had been made of Chrome Moly instead of a soft steel, they would not have been case hardened eather.

Jim, here is a pic of a csmc gun that has been case colored.

Originally Posted By: GregSY

I wouldn't consider it on a M21, but it brings up a good point; case coloring is yet another attribute that fell by the wayside as guns became more 'advanced'. If I were in 1935 buying a big-buck gun, such as a M21, I'd be pretty disappointed in a blued finish. I still would be today. A blued receiver screams "corporate cost cutting measure" to me. Is there any other high-end shotgun that gets shipped with a blued receiver?

Case hardening is only needed when low tensile steel is used. The reason low tensile steel was used on receivers was that the material was easy to work but soft. The surface needed to be hardened which resulted in case colors as a byproduct. The coloring effect became so popular that it continues today on many firearms whether it is needed or not. A blued firearm such as a Model 21 or Superposed signifies the use of a modern material. The decision to not use case colors was not an economic one but a material decision. Now individuals expect case colors whether the firearm actually needs them or not. Those case colors that result from treatments other than actual case hardening may fade as with actual case hardening colors.
That said, i ordered my RBL with case colors because i wanted a darker reciever for the field. If the RBL would have been offered with a blued reciever, I would have been just as happy or happier.
-Dick

I understand that the lack of coloring was a metallurgically-driven decision, but nonetheless.... bluing is just a cheaper-looking finish - and I bet it's a cheap finish to apply as well. It simply is not 'rich'.

You can bet one of the arguments used internally at Winchester in favor of using the newest steels was 'no need for that pesky case coloring/hardening process'.

I'm not suggesting Wnchester should have case colored the M21, but some other finish would have been more fitting their top-of-the-line gun.

Case hardening a low carbon steel & heat treating it leaves a hard Case (outer surface) over a softer core. Heat treating a higher carbon alloy steel gives much more through hardening. Case hardened steels are normally left with the case at or very near to maximum hardness, as the core is still soft. Heat treated alloy steels will normally be drawn (tempered) to the desired degree of hardness dependant upon their use. Case hardening is not the proper treatment for steel having above about 20 points of carbon (this includes the M21 frame). I am not a great fan of the M21, so not trying to eulogise it, but the blued frame on the 21 was not for cost cutting, it was because of the type of alloy steel used it was not the proper finish.

Scott,

Thanks for the picture post, that is the first CC I have seen on a M21. Doesn't detract in any way in my mind, if fact it is rather striking.

Jim

As a matter of fact, Funeral Model or funeral finish Purdeys and other top grade guns are characteristically blued rather than colored. A Funeral Model Purdey ordered today would be in the neighborhood of $50,000 to $90,000 I assume, maybe closer to the lower figure.

The Galazan's calendar from a couple years back included a picture of a CSMC M-21 with very rich colors - much nicer in my opinion than on the gun pictured above.

I guess it is just a matter of taste. But case coloring on a Model 21? Yuch!! Savage Stevens weren't expensive guns, yet they have case coloring. So it wasn't a matter of money. Nothing looks as good to me as a nice rich blued gun of any kind- on a handgun or a shotgun. (Don't care that much for stainless although the finish lasts longer.) With engraving, it even looks better. No offense, but the gold on a case colored gun just doesn't look right to me. It stands out so much better on a blued gun. Maybe some of the Greyed Model 21s that were done are OK. But, that is one of the reasons why I never cared for an LC Smith. I never could get used to the case colors. I was never the least bit disappointed in the looks of a Model 21. Sorry. (I know John Olin is probably going to roll over in his grave after he reads this post.)