I know what you mean. I know that there are some real dandy field grade or low grade guns out there which had great colors from factory but there was just as many that wasn't. I feel that most that restore these guns myself included try to make each one we color a bit too flamboyant or "ideal". I bet that you could express to them how you want it to look. There are ways to control coverage of the darker blues to an extent. This is a 00 grade I did that has full coverage of color but mostly browns and golds. I feel it turned out nice when paired with a plain straight grained stock.