[bullseye308]

Would it be safe to color case harden a barrel? I really like the look but have never seen a barrel done that way. I would guess there is a reason for not doing it, or I don't get out as much as I should and just haven't seen one.

If not, I will be attempting to do it in a blue-black as referenced in another thread.

[Acorn Mush]

It is probably safe to color case-harden a barrel, but there may be problems with heat-distortion which will adversely affect accuracy.

The simplistic way I look at it is, there must have been a real good reason why it wasn't done in the past otherwise there would probably still be examples or written records of such work around today.

Just my open-onion (opinion).:D

[bullseye308]

I kinda thought so, but thought I'd tap this source of knowledge. I figured it might have something to do with the barrel cooling and warping slightly, or something along those lines.
Thanks.

[arcticap]

There's some archived posts on ALR that decribes the "Charcoal Bluing" process which can employ the same charcoal that's used for case coloring. But the original photos of any finished barrels are not there any more since ALR changed the program format of their forum.
The results can be unreliable due to the variations in temperature and methods. But experimentation and research could help to achieve a workable method.
BTW, the folks that are discussing the process are very capable long rifle builders. They still post on the new forum and will help anyone who asks for help, even if the individual members need to be PM'd about the process.

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=918.0

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/ns/store/productdetail.aspx?p=1026