Winchester color case hardening, then blued?

[Cowtown]

Howdy all,

When the original '73 Winchesters came out they were color case hardened as part of the metallurgical process, IIRC. At some later point Winchesters were then available in a blued finish, which I presume meant the metallurgy process changed. Does anyone know about when this occurred? I also presume that after this process changed, what we now call original Winchesters were then no longer offered with the color case as I doubt Winchester ran two lines of production, the color case look for aesthetics only as we today love on our rifles.

Thanks!

[Coffinmaker]

It actually doesn't require two assembly lines.  Just one.  At the point the receiver has completed the machining process, it is either
Cased or not.  Basic build-up is exactly the same. 
I'm not the know-all authority, but as far is I know, a blue receiver was available "on order" throughout the production life of the '73.
CCH being the most popular though.  Similarly, Octagonal barrels vis Round barrels.  At one time round barrels were most common.
Someone more knowledgeable than I will hopefully chime in with more information.

Coffinmaker

[The Pathfinder]

The way I remember (I may be wrong, but what's new) is that the 'standard' rifle was a round barrel with a blued receiver, the octagon barrel and color cased were options. The octagon barrel actually proving to be more popular than the round one in the end. Color casing was usually found on the 'high-end' or very customized guns. At least that what I remember. Now where did I put my coffee cup? Or my glasses? Or my keys?

[Cliff Fendley]

It actually doesn't require two assembly lines.  Just one.  At the point the receiver has completed the machining process, it is either
Cased or not.  Basic build-up is exactly the same. 
I'm not the know-all authority, but as far is I know, a blue receiver was available "on order" throughout the production life of the '73.
CCH being the most popular though.  Similarly, Octagonal barrels vis Round barrels.  At one time round barrels were most common.
Someone more knowledgeable than I will hopefully chime in with more information.

Coffinmaker

I could be wrong but I believe it's the other way. It appears blued receivers were far more common in fact most common old 73's you run across appear to have been blued. I'd say CCH was the option and many times when you do see ones with CC the wood has more figure. I also see far more surviving octagon barrels than round but do not know the numbers of each that were made.

From observation of the original 73's I've had apart the lever, trigger safety, hammers appear to be mostly if not all CCH and probably for the hardening effect more than appearance. Most of the time it's almost all worn off except in protected areas.

[Buck Stinson]

The model 1873 was first available with blued finish.  During the early production of the first model, color case hardening was added as a special order extra and continued as such until after 1900, when this special order extra was discontinued.

[Cowtown]

Is it accurate then to state that the color case hardening was a natural process within the metallurgy but then the metal was finished with  blueing if so requested otherwise the color case was somehow enhanced if no blueing was chosen? That is how I am interpreting this.

[The Pathfinder]

No, color case, just like bluing, is a process unto itself. If you search thru Cas City I'm sure there is an explanation of the process. The rifle parts are completed 'in the white' or bare metal, then the decision is made as to what type of finish is applied.

[Cowtown]

Got it. Thank you.