Thanks Snowdog!
Yes, it is cold blued, via Brownell's Oxpho Blue creme. The pictures actually don't do it justice because I couldn't quite adjust the white levels (the blanket behind the pistol is actually beige!). In real life, it is actually a shiny dark charcoal/black.
I spent quite a bit of time experimenting with bluing, and now know how to vary the shade of resulting blue. Basically depending on the choice of oil between coats of Oxpho, you can get it royal blue, blue/black, charcoal/black, or dark silver. The pistol was navy blue up until I got the new grips, but felt that they no longer matched
, so I "reblued" it to charcoal/black. The only catch is that it is almost too pretty to shoot--you would generally have to go >$1000 retail for a pistol this "pretty".
I suggest trying the Oxpho before anything else. It is $10 for a bottle that could do 3-4 pistols. If I understand it correctly, it has a mild parkerizing acid in it, which gives it the darker color. And if you end up painting over it, you at least get an additional layer of rust protection.
Send me a PM if you want more details on getting a particular shade, and I would be happy to talk you through as best as I can.
There is a lot of CC potential waiting to be brought out in this pistol. I haven't gotten the guts to break out the Dremel yet, since I don't CC. But I have little use for the ambi safety, and even the left side safety and slide release are about a quarter of an inch thicker than needed. They are begging for a melt job. And if SOMEONE would just spend the time to press a basic sheet metal grip, you would actually have a credible double stack CC weapon with a .82" slide and .98" handle. It might be an interesting niche business considering how many of these mil-surps are out here these days. But for price, it will be tough to justify much money because for the total price of pistol and upgrades you could just buy a dedicated 9mm Kahr, Glock, Ruger, etc., for CC.