Eggshell lustre finish on anodized AR receivers???

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The Anvil Arms lower I used in my first build was really a nicely finished piece, showing very good workmanship and finish. The black anodized finish has a very smooth eggshell luster to the finish. If I recall correctly, Jon's web site described this as some kind of teflon.

I used an upper from Delton for this build, and the workmanship and finish was not nearly as nice as that of the lower. It has some very small pitting residual from the casting process and some of the fillets look like they were left "as cast" and not machined. The annadized finish on this upper is matte black, though when the upper is wiped down with CLP, the oil really seems to cling to the texture of the matte finish, so in the end it matches the lower well enough. Since this was budget build, I never really questioned the quality of the upper, and indeed, it has run flawlessly for 5 years with a couple thousand round down the pipe.

Fast forward...

I was recently gifted a M&P stripped lower that also has a very nice eggshell luster to the excellent finish (just like the AA lower). While planning out my second build, I jumped on a recent sale at PSA for mil. spec. uppers (that according to their web site, came to them as an over run on an M16 A4 rifle government contract). The workmanship is very nice, with no machining marks, no pitting, very smooth and uniform surfaces. The finish is, however, as matte black as matte black can be.

So what are some manufacturers doing to get the eggshell/semigloss lustre on their annodized receivers.

and...

Is there anything that can be applied to my PSA upper to match the M&P lower?

This rifle will be a bench rest build and I want it to by purdy :p
 
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I have an extensive metal finishing background (actually used to anodize the black box for the B2 Stealth ;) )

My guess is they are employing some type of blast operation i.e glass bead, wet blast, etc prior to anodizing. This would provide for a smoother more consistent finish. Essentially the anodize will follow the existing topography. Quality of casting or lack thereof is a huge factor as well. Color is another story as anodize can be dyed almost any color.
 
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