I have a 1940's Marlin era Field Grade which I thought had original case colors, now I'm not so sure. Here's why, upon closer examination it appears the barrel roll stamp has been engraved over (and not very well), I'm thinking when the barrels were re-blued. So, now I'm not so sure if the gun had also been re-case colored at some point. To me the colors look right from the factory, I had a similar Field Grade from the same time-frame and if I remember correctly the colors are very similar, the "bronze and brown" colors look to be the same. The trigger guard niter blue also looks factory to me.
My thought (hope) is that the barrels were re-blued but the rest of the metal is factory (case colors and niter), but I would like the opinion of others as my "hoping" may be influencing my view. I think the chances of the factory touching-up the roll stamp on a Field Grade in the mid-40's is about 0%.
Thank you,
Bob
Here are some pics:
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