Beretta Model 75 - Interesting Finish?

[circuitspore]

I have this sweet Beretta 75 with the longer barrel, but it has this cool brown/bronze bluing on the finish. I've done some Googling and I can't find any reference to this finish, what models it was offered on, how rare it is, etc. I'm assuming that it is factory because it looks very well done and the wear matches the rest of the pistol, but that is an assumption on my part. Does anyone have any more info on this finish? Thanks!

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Many European bluing jobs turn a sort of plum color over time- my German Sigs have it on various small parts, as does my H&K and last Walther.
Older blued Rugers tend to do it as well. Its the result of the salt solution they used back then.
I suspect thats whats going on with your Beretta. Cool gun!

 

[Jim Watson]

It was blue when it was new.
The plum color is due to age, alloy, bluing salts, bluing tank temperature, take your pick.
It is not intentional and adds no value. Might subtract some if a buyer was looking for a pristine example.

 

[circuitspore]

@NIGHTLORD40K @Jim Watson Thanks for the info! I like the way it looks; it kind of matches with the brown color of the grips, so I thought it was intentional.

 

[gobsauce]

There was a thread about.. a year? Or so ago. Basically, IRRC, the OP was asking about the metallurgical changes to Ruger revolvers, and older ones tend to go plumb like your Beretta did, and newer ones didn't.

Somehow, he got correspondence from Ruger explaining that sometime in the past, they changed their doping materials (again, if i recall correctly) in order to prevent their irons from going plumb.

 

[bannockburn]

circuitspore

Years ago I had an HK P7 that had a plum colored slide much like yours. I wrote to them and asked them how this happened and they wrote me back with three possible reasons why it was that way.

1) May have been caused by a difference in the metal they were using at the time.
2) May have been a difference in the heat treatment of said metal.
3) May have been caused by changes in the bluing solution they were using that day.

So there could have been any one, two, or a combination of all three that caused the bluing to take on the plum color.

 

[Monac]

I just recently got a Beretta Model 90, a 32 caliber automatic made in the 1980's. The frame is black anodized aluminum, the slide is steel with a black finish, but the hammer is slightly plum colored, I assume because it's made of a different steel than the slide. (Or, as bannockburn points out, a different heat treatment.)